White Privilege

Dr. Peggy McIntosh has written some seminal pieces that help us reflect on what privileges we may take for granted or conversely cannot take for granted. In her work, Dr. McIntosh describes how she became aware of how she “enjoyed unearned skin privilege and was “conditioned into oblivion about its existence.” Included in the second article listed below is a list of the ways that her privileges are manifested everyday. A few of the examples include:

•  “I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

• If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
• I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
• I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
• I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.”

 
Although Dr. McIntosh’s three articles on White Privilege are readily available on the Internet in pirated forms, she has not given permission to anyone to reproduce electronic copies. The copyright fees for print distribution of these three white privilege articles are used to help fund the SEED Project, a multicultural endeavor with K-12 teachers (www.wcwonline.org/seed). Dr. McIntosh is willing to send the first copy of all three articles for free, and after that you will need to pay a copyright fee and distribute only in print form.

The articles available include:

White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies, 1988.  11 pages.  Fee:  $1.00 per copy that you make.

 White Privilege:  Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, 1989.  3 pages.  Fee:  $.50 per copy that you make.

 White Privilege, Color and Crime, 1998.  10 pages.  Fee:  $1.00 per copy that you make.

 I encourage you to request these articles from Dr. McIntosh and to support her good work. For single copies send your mailing address to Dr. McIntosh at mmcintosh@wellesley.edu. For multiple copies, contact: SEED Project, Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA  02481.