ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author provides a sociological analysis of the early exploitation of Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans by European Americans as well as the dominant sociological explanations for racial/ethnic conflict. Social scientists argue that to understand race, racism, and race relations, it is important to take history into account in order to comprehend why these patterns of racial inequality first arose and the ways they influence modern-day race relations. The author uses the power-conflict perspective on racial/ethnic inequality to understand the ways racial exploitation manifested itself in the form of slavery, the confiscation of Native American land, and the land and labor exploitation of Mexican Americans from early European contact. He explores how the concept of race emerged in conjunction with colonialism and the slave trade. The author concludes with an analysis of the various ways racial minority groups actively resisted their oppression during that era.
