Major funding for backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National

Endowment for the Humanities, the University of Virginia, the Joseph and

Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation.

From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, this is backstory.

Welcome to backstory, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines.

I'm Brian Bellow.

Today we're bringing you the second of two shows that highlight other podcasts

that feature great historical stories. We'll hear from the podcast,

Seen on Radio, and one called, What's Ray Saying?

We'll also revisit a piece from the backstory archives.

On today's episode, we're exploring the history of whiteness in America.

What does it mean to be white? Where did this idea come from?

And how has whiteness shaped our country?

We're going to start with an episode from the podcast, Seen on Radio.

Host John Buen has taken on an ambitious project, a multi-part history of whiteness called,

Seeing White.

These episodes chart a long and complicated history with the help of

Frank Conversations and workshops from the Racial Equity Institute.

The third episode in the series explores how the laws and structures of

chattel slavery in the American colonies helped produce the definitions of whiteness we know today.

We'll let Buen take it from here.

Oh, now Miss Scarlett, you come on and be good and eat just a little.

...