I began teaching a course on whiteness more than fifteen years ago. After teaching various race-relations courses for some thirty-five years, it dawned upon me that the emphasis was on the wrong variable. Whiteness contributed to many social problems, but much greater stress was placed on blackness. From early college, on talking about race, practically no emphasis was placed on whiteness. As I researched and thought about it, I could see that whiteness was a larger descriptive and explanatory variable than had been given attention. Having to write my own text and other materials for the class, the present work is continuing emphasis on trying to understand why and how whiteness became such a trying and problematic subject.