Post by eurofed on Sept 2, 2020 22:21:00 GMT
ITTL, events during the American Revolution and the formative period of the USA led to American culture developing a good degree of tolerance and assimilation acceptance for Catholics, Romance-speakers, Southern/Eastern Europeans and (light-skinned) South/East Asians, as well as 'civilized' Natives that embraced European culture and Christianity, and did not oppose US expansion. The Natives that clung to their traditional lifestyle and violently resisted European colonization got crushed as ruthlessly as OTL or worse. As a result, Manifest Destiny got free rein (and a lot of favorable circumstances) and the USA gradually absorbed all of North America, northern South America, and Australia/New Zealand/Polynesia through a sequence of victorious wars, peaceful purchases, and negotiated political unions between late 18th century and early 20th century. The US expansion process and its unification of the Americas and Oceania might well involve also the rest of South America and the Philippines, but in any case these areas at least became client states of the USA and bound to it by a Pan-American equivalent of EU/NATO. The event sequence included America fighting the World Wars alongside a 'nice' equivalent of the CP/Axis powers coalition (Germany, Italy, Poland-Lithuania, Hungary-Croatia-Romania, Japan-Korea) vs. a 'nasty' Entente bloc (joined by Turkey and possibly China as well). The USA never established any significant legal barrier or serious socio-political opposition to European, (light-skinned) Asian, or Latino immigration, or political union with Latin American nations, although serious poverty or backwardness might still be a relevant concern (although easily overruled by significant economic or strategic value, or a need for workforce).
On the other hand, American society became as intolerant of Blacks as OTL or worse, and decided the near-optimal solution to the slavery issue and the race issues its legacy created was abolition followed by mass population transfer of the African diaspora in the Americas to Africa. A few Blacks went of their own free will hoping for a better deal, or at least deemed collaboration was the best available choice. Resisters were rounded up and forcibly deported. US government, private groups, and public opinion gave strong support to the population transfer program and decided its economic and humanitarian costs were a good bargain to eliminate the legacy of slavery forever in the Americas. Supporters of letting freedmen and free Blacks stay and be assimilated in American society found themselves marginalized and ostracized. Sometime between early 19th century and early 20th century the mass deportation process got accomplished for the vast majority of the African diaspora in the Americas.
As the borders of America expanded, people of predominantly African ancestry in the annexed territories found themselves corraled in the program. Even if part of South America did not experience US annexation, American influence and example were so strong and compelling that local governments (e.g. an independent Brazil) cooperated with the program and/or came to think it was a good idea. However American culture never developed an equivalent of the one-drop rule, and embraced a notion of racial identities similar to the one of Latin America. Mixed-race people that could pass as non-Blacks, self-identified as a different racial group, and lacked too many ties to the Black community were usually allowed to stay and assimilate in American society. The ones with prevailing African features and/or strong ties to Black culture usually had to go. In all likelihood US officers used equivalents of the pencil test and the brown paper bag test to make a quick decision in dubious cases. Wealth, education, socio-economic factors, celebrity status, family ties, and self-identification surely played a significant role as well, up to and including clear exceptions to the deportation process.
The Americans made some genuine effort to enact the population transfer in humane conditions if feasible, ideally similar to the ones poor European and Asian immigrants got to travel to the New World. On the other hand, they had no qualms shipping any resister in chains, the same way their ancestors came. European, Asian, and Latin American immigrants took the place of the Blacks in the US workforce.
The destination for millions of Americo-African deportees was West Africa, where they established a bigger and stronger equivalent of Liberia as a US client state. Tropical disease proved to be a serious problem and claimed a severe death toll, although the settlers could lessen the problem by moving inland, and situation considerably ameliorated after antimalarial medications got available. The USA was willing to provide a reasonable amount of economic and logistic support to the settlers, and after it defeated the Entente powers in the World Wars, it was open-minded to award the Liberia equivalent a sizable portion of West Africa. It seems likely that Americo-African immigrants were going to band together and merge out of their shared experience and for mutual support regardless of their cultural-linguistic differences, much like Jewish immigrants to Israel did. It also seems likely that Americo-Africans were going to form an elite class that dominated indigenous Africans, much like OTL Liberia if on a much bigger scale involving several millions and a sizable chunk of West Africa.
How much big, strong, stable, and developed do you deem this super-Liberia is going to be? Would it become more similar to the rest of post-colonial Africa or to Israel? How is its presence going to affect Africa at large?
By the way, once TTL USA seized control of Oceania and annexed ANZ, it decided Indigenous Australians and Melanesians were too African-like to deserve the same tolerance that Native Americans, Asians, and Polynesians got, and best dealt with the same way as Blacks. Indigenous Australians got transferred to Melanesia (mostly New Guinea), which was set up as another independent client state.
On the other hand, American society became as intolerant of Blacks as OTL or worse, and decided the near-optimal solution to the slavery issue and the race issues its legacy created was abolition followed by mass population transfer of the African diaspora in the Americas to Africa. A few Blacks went of their own free will hoping for a better deal, or at least deemed collaboration was the best available choice. Resisters were rounded up and forcibly deported. US government, private groups, and public opinion gave strong support to the population transfer program and decided its economic and humanitarian costs were a good bargain to eliminate the legacy of slavery forever in the Americas. Supporters of letting freedmen and free Blacks stay and be assimilated in American society found themselves marginalized and ostracized. Sometime between early 19th century and early 20th century the mass deportation process got accomplished for the vast majority of the African diaspora in the Americas.
As the borders of America expanded, people of predominantly African ancestry in the annexed territories found themselves corraled in the program. Even if part of South America did not experience US annexation, American influence and example were so strong and compelling that local governments (e.g. an independent Brazil) cooperated with the program and/or came to think it was a good idea. However American culture never developed an equivalent of the one-drop rule, and embraced a notion of racial identities similar to the one of Latin America. Mixed-race people that could pass as non-Blacks, self-identified as a different racial group, and lacked too many ties to the Black community were usually allowed to stay and assimilate in American society. The ones with prevailing African features and/or strong ties to Black culture usually had to go. In all likelihood US officers used equivalents of the pencil test and the brown paper bag test to make a quick decision in dubious cases. Wealth, education, socio-economic factors, celebrity status, family ties, and self-identification surely played a significant role as well, up to and including clear exceptions to the deportation process.
The Americans made some genuine effort to enact the population transfer in humane conditions if feasible, ideally similar to the ones poor European and Asian immigrants got to travel to the New World. On the other hand, they had no qualms shipping any resister in chains, the same way their ancestors came. European, Asian, and Latin American immigrants took the place of the Blacks in the US workforce.
The destination for millions of Americo-African deportees was West Africa, where they established a bigger and stronger equivalent of Liberia as a US client state. Tropical disease proved to be a serious problem and claimed a severe death toll, although the settlers could lessen the problem by moving inland, and situation considerably ameliorated after antimalarial medications got available. The USA was willing to provide a reasonable amount of economic and logistic support to the settlers, and after it defeated the Entente powers in the World Wars, it was open-minded to award the Liberia equivalent a sizable portion of West Africa. It seems likely that Americo-African immigrants were going to band together and merge out of their shared experience and for mutual support regardless of their cultural-linguistic differences, much like Jewish immigrants to Israel did. It also seems likely that Americo-Africans were going to form an elite class that dominated indigenous Africans, much like OTL Liberia if on a much bigger scale involving several millions and a sizable chunk of West Africa.
How much big, strong, stable, and developed do you deem this super-Liberia is going to be? Would it become more similar to the rest of post-colonial Africa or to Israel? How is its presence going to affect Africa at large?
By the way, once TTL USA seized control of Oceania and annexed ANZ, it decided Indigenous Australians and Melanesians were too African-like to deserve the same tolerance that Native Americans, Asians, and Polynesians got, and best dealt with the same way as Blacks. Indigenous Australians got transferred to Melanesia (mostly New Guinea), which was set up as another independent client state.