Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Program
Liberal Studies
Advisor
Karen Miller
Subject Categories
Africana Studies | Other American Studies
Keywords
Weekly Caucasian, New York City, Draft Riots of 1863, whiteness, print culture, J. H. Van Evrie
Abstract
J. H. Van Evrie believed in the biological basis of white racial supremacy and Black inferiority beliefs which he spread in his publications throughout the 19th century. He generated support for Copperhead politicians, pro-slavery Northern Democrats, who would enact his racial policies, in his newspaper the Weekly Caucasian, published in New York City during the Civil War. He adapted the presentation of his racial theories to appeal to the economic concerns of among working-class white men and Irish immigrants by using allegories about the Civil War. The newspaper created a sense of white nationalism and racial solidarity with the Confederacy by locating blame for the war on white abolitionists, insisting that emancipation would upend capitalist systems and racial hierarchies, and arguing the United States was created to protect the interests of white men. An analysis of three of the newspaper’s columns published between 1862 and 1863 reveals the role of right-wing print culture in creating a racial identity and motivating the political participation of its readers. The impact of the Weekly Caucasian is evident in the symbolic violence of a mob protesting conscription into the Civil War in the New York City Draft Riots in July 1863.
Recommended Citation
Meyer, Anna, "White Supremacist Print Culture and the Creation of White Working-Class Ideology in 1860s New York City" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5487