Boundaries of Blackness – the Racialization of Eritreans, Ethiopians, and Somalis over Time

Rebbeca Tesfai, Temple University

Between 1878 and 1952, the United States struggled to define race and whiteness/non-whiteness, with skin color, geography, religion, and political considerations all playing a role in legal decisions. By asking to be considered white in their petitions for naturalization, European- and Arab-Americans played an active role in their racialization. Though missing from these legal determinations of race, people from the Horn of Africa also participated in their racialization in the United States. Their path to doing so, however, was not as straightforward as making arguments in U.S. courts. Their racialization was based on several factors: (1) origin stories which highlighted interaction with the Middle East, (2) religion, and (3) Ethiopians using their knowledge of other countries and foreign politics to frame themselves in politically expedient and positive lights as early as the fourth century. However, their active role in these processes is rarely acknowledged and is the focus of my exploration here.

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 Presented in Session 151. The Global Color Line