While clearly refusal of liquor to blacks and Indians are part of this
privileging of alcohol, it is not that simple in the colonial period. 
Especially in the South but throughout the North as well, indentured servants
were refused access to alcohol.  This also included youth and often women
except in a familial context.  Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum speak of the
unlicensed taverns on the edge of Salem Village which attracted "outsiders,"
youth, indentured servants, and slaves and served as a focal point for the
turmoil that would erupt into the witchcraft panic.

On another point many African-Americans chose not to drink.  Frederick Douglass
in his Narrative explained that slaves would be given as much drink as they
wanted on holidays so they would think that this was all freedom was.  Douglass
said that he refused to be sucked into this.  From his perspective alcohol was
associated with whiteness and to be avoided because of its inferiority.

Mark C. Smith
American Studies and History
University of Texas


Quoting David Fahey <[log in to unmask]>:

> I know nothing specifically about Canada, but looking at this
> question from a global perspective, I think that whites were
> suspicious about the ability of blacks and "indigenous" peoples to
> drink responsibly.  I don't think that there was the same concern
> about Asian peoples.  For them, the concern that Europeans most often
> showed seems to have been opium and other non-alcoholic drugs.  In
> other words, I don't know whether "whiteness" and responsible
> drinking were tied together, if you factor in Asians.
>
> At 12:39 PM 5/31/2006, you wrote:
> >For what it is worth, I am of the impression that during the period
> >of American Slavery in the deep south, the slaves were not
> >"permitted" or at least given alcohol because the slave masters
> >worried about their behavior when intoxicated. I seem to remember
> >there were exceptions to this on the plantations but for the most
> >part it was generally desirable to keep alcohol away from them.
> >This would certainly lend to a sense of "whiteness" and privilege in
> >Antebellum Southern American White Culture. I cannot speak to the
> >Canadian culture...
> >
> >As for sources, I am on the road and do not have access to sources...
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Steve Powell
> >Odessa Pictures, Inc.
> >View our Demo Reel Online at:
> ><http://odessapictures.com/>http://odessapictures.com/
> >Tel: +1.716.316.6710
> >On May 28, 2006, at 12:48 PM, Robert Campbell wrote:
> >
> >>Hello,
> >>A colleague of mine has asked about secondary literature on liquor
> >>as a white privilege, particularly in the Canadian context. My work
> >>certainly has assumed that privilege, but it does not discuss how
> >>access to alcohol can be part of the process of creating "whiteness."
> >>Regards,
> >>Robert Campbell
> >>
> >>
> >>Robert A. Campbell, Ph.D.
> >>Department of History
> >>Capilano College
> >>2055 Purcell Way
> >>North Vancouver, BC
> >>Canada V7J 3H5
> >>604.986.1911 x2477
> >>FAX 604.990.7838
> >>[log in to unmask]
> ></blockquote></x-html>
>