Slavery in Colonial America began in the early 1600s, with the first Africans brought to Jamestown in 1619. However, slaves constituted only a small percentage of the population remained until about 1680, when the Royal African Company lost its monopoly on transporting slaves to the colonies and ambitious Americans rushed to profit from the lucrative slave trade. From here, the supply and importance of slaves in the colonies grew and grew. From 1500 to 1800, approximately 400,000 slaves were brought from Africa to colonial America, and this only includes slaves directly from Africa, not counting slaves born in America (Cohen and Kennedy 59). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThis powerful institution of slavery in America initially began for economic purposes (mainly plantation labor), however, by the end of the seventeenth century, slavery's importance and wealth grew incredibly, obviously motivated and influenced by racial discrimination. (Cohen and Kennedy 62). So, from the beginning, blacks (as well as other people of color) were seen as inferior and inferior to whites. As America's slavery, success, and wealth grew, so did these prejudices, racism, and white privilege. Unfortunately, 51 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, all of these racial aspects still exist in America today. And while this is a major crisis in today's society, people tend to think of it as an independent and isolated issue, when in reality white privilege and racism are like an umbrella that encompasses a wide variety of crises. So, by understanding the meaning and definition of white privilege, you can recognize its negative impact on minorities and oppressed groups in America, such as people of color, women, and the LGBT+ community. The white privilege and racism that developed during the times of slavery is still prominent and evident in America today and negatively impacts people of color. A group is privileged when it defines the mainstream and the culture, the social and cultural norms, is considered the most sophisticated, and has the most institutional power, all of the above which easily applies to the white race in America (Goodman 13-15). White privilege can be seen at the local level, as in a shopping mall filled only with white mannequins, or at the national level, as in the recent Confederate battle flag controversy. American social and dominant norms are based on the white race, which is seen almost everywhere as default and "normal," as when the beauty/cosmetics brand Dove sold a skin tanning lotion that claimed it worked for "normal skin dark" on the bottle (Colomba Vende...1). The white race also has the most institutional power in America, as previously stated, with 95% of management positions held by white men in American industry (Kendall 2). Therefore, this allows whites to establish policies/procedures in their favor, and possibly suppress and deny rights to minorities (Goodman 15). Going back to the Confederate flag, this is perhaps one of the biggest indicators of white privilege and how it negatively impacts people of color in America, primarily black people in this particular situation. The flag is one of the greatest symbols of white supremacy and racism, yet it is still present in public places throughout the United States (Guelzo 1). The Confederate flagrepresents a system based “on the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery – subordination to the superior race – is its natural and normal condition,” according to the Vice President of the Confederate States Alexander Stephens (2). And while the flag virtually disappeared after the passage of the 13th Amendment, it was revived by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and by segregationists in the 1950s, and both groups adopted the flag as a symbol of racism, racism, discrimination, and segregation (2). Today, however, even with this knowledge of the flag's history and meaning, it is not unlikely to see a Confederate flag on a daily basis, especially in the Southern (formerly Confederate) states. There was a recent anti-flag protest after Dylann Roof shot and killed 9 black people at an African American church in South Carolina, and photos emerged of him with Confederate flags on his clothing and of him holding small Confederate flags (1). However, little progress has been made on this issue so far. Now that explanations and evidence have been provided for white privilege and racism in America past and present, it is important to recognize intersectionality and the effects of racism on non-racial minority groups, such as women, who are oppressed and are not equal to men in society, politics and the economy. However, within this inequality there is further inequality. The feminist movement really began to gain traction in the 1800s, around the same time that another social revolution was taking place: Social Darwinism, which took Darwin's ideas about the survival of the fittest and applied them to society, providing justification for racism, to oppression, to white power. and inequality. In other words, “calls for women's rights arose simultaneously with the spread of evolutionary ideas about racial development, sexual difference, and social progress” (Newman 22). This simultaneous development made possible the entry of white women into the public sphere at a time when “new forms of corporate and monopoly capitalism were creating large gaps in wealth between an educated white ruling class and an impoverished (often immigrant and non-immigrant) working class white)” (23). This issue, combined with the heavy racism and inequality already in place at the time, meant that any progress made for women only applied to white women. Furthermore, the characteristics of white European women were what became known as “feminine” and what was seen as beautiful and desirable by men (23). Unfortunately, the racism and white privilege that developed within the feminist movement in the nineteenth century never made it and still exists in feminism today. This feminism that fails to recognize intersectionality and feminist issues specific to women of color is often dubbed “white feminism.” White feminism is everywhere and seems to be more widespread than real, intersectional feminism. For example, it is known that women generally earn $0.76-$0.78 for every dollar a man earns. However, this wage gap is specific only to white women, who earn 78% of what white men earn (for the same job). African American women earn 64% of white men's earnings, Hispanic women earn 54%, and Native American women earn 65% (Hill 11). Asian-American women are the only group whose wage gap is smaller than that of white women, earning 90% of what white men earn (11). To further demonstrate that feminism is intersectional and that race is heavily involved, basically a.