# A different America **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986 "2013-09-16T17:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/1 "2013-09-16T17:08:55Z")
How different would America have been if there wasn’t a sizable black community living in it? Culturally, economically etc. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/2 "2013-09-16T17:11:55Z")
For clarification: does this imply there had never been a significant black community, or that the black community left at some point in time? ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/3 "2013-09-16T17:15:55Z")
No rock ‘n’ roll. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/4 "2013-09-16T17:20:56Z")
[See above.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/5 "2013-09-16T17:21:16Z")
A cross between Texas and Canada? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/6 "2013-09-16T18:07:35Z")
There are lots of Black people in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/7 "2013-09-16T18:42:15Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > There are lots of Black people in Texas. That’s why we have to bring Canada in. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/8 "2013-09-16T19:04:21Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > No rock ‘n’ roll. And no [Soul Music](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_music). ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/9 "2013-09-16T19:05:08Z")
Fear of an Irish Planet ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/10 "2013-09-16T19:07:09Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > No rock ‘n’ roll. Or jazz. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/11 "2013-09-16T19:12:09Z")
No jazz, r&b, rock-n-roll means that Latin music may have filled that gap, as it has made numerous essays into popular American music since the start of the 20th Century. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/12 "2013-09-16T19:18:17Z")
OP, do you mean North America or the United States? B/c there have been Black Africans in Canada almost as long as the U.S.; Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson’s lineage goes back to the Africans who emigrated to Nova Scotia. ---
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/13 "2013-09-16T19:18:31Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > For clarification: does this imply there had never been a significant black community, or that the black community left at some point in time? Well I was thinking something along the lines of no Africans imported for slavery, so there never being a significant black community. That’s also why I asked for the economic differences. ---
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/14 "2013-09-16T19:19:45Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > OP, do you mean North America or the United States? B/c there have been Black Africans in Canada almost as long as the U.S.; Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson’s lineage goes back to the Africans who emigrated to Nova Scotia. The US specifically. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/15 "2013-09-16T20:02:30Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > That’s why we have to bring Canada in. Got it! Where all the white wimmin at? I think hip hop would take a definite hit. And without all those black slaves in the USA, would the Civil War fires get started? That would change a whole lot of things. No slaves: different economy for Southern states, no Civil War so no reparations, no razing and rebuilding of the South… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/16 "2013-09-16T20:09:29Z")
The United States might be a significantly smaller country. No large black population implies there was no mass slavery. Politicians of the slave states were one of the main proponents of western expansion - they wanted the belt of land from Texas to California as new territory for slavery. This [map](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_coG9X1YZe4Y/SqqleERfVUI/AAAAAAAAAbI/ZTrxbjusZO8/s400/mexicomap1839.jpg) shows what Mexico looked like before we started taking land from them. ---
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/17 "2013-09-16T20:09:49Z")
What about race relations? Without a large local ethnic group like African-Americans would things like segregation have lasted longer for other ethnic minorities and newly arrived immigrants? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/18 "2013-09-16T20:35:17Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > What about race relations? Without a large local ethnic group like African-Americans would things like segregation have lasted longer for other ethnic minorities and newly arrived immigrants? There would be some Americans of African descent who immigrated to America but they would be a small minority in a predominantly European-American population. I think the best comparison would be with Asian-Americans - another non-white group that immigrated here from someplace other than Europe. There would be some individual prejudices but too small a population to lead to widespread institutionalized racism. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/19 "2013-09-16T20:44:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There would be some Americans of African descent who immigrated to America but they would be a small minority in a predominantly European-American population. I think the best comparison would be with Asian-Americans - another non-white group that immigrated here from someplace other than Europe. There would be some individual prejudices but too small a population to lead to widespread institutionalized racism. Chinese in particular lived through a considerable period of institutionalized racism. I think you’re right in that there would be nothing but a shadow of Jim Crow type oppression. Oh… almost certainly no Civil War. Probably some other conflict based on two or more factions of states getting their ya-yas out. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986/20 "2013-09-16T20:47:14Z")
There would be other social and cultural divisions that would rise to take the same place. The overall amount of bigotry would remain just about the same. If everyone had the same skin color, we’d discriminate on the basis of hair color, or height, or handedness. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-america/668986.md?page=2)