Whiteness designates the set of policies, norms, practices, values, and representations that support the hegemonic position of White people in racialized societies. This concept was first articulated by Du Bois (Black Reconstruction in America: 1860–1880. Harcourt, Brace and Company. https://archive.org/details/blackreconstruc00duborich, 1935) and subsequently expanded upon through critical studies of whiteness. Whiteness can be thought of in how it operates: as property, as a hidden racial norm, and as a power structure that defines humanity, citizenship, and rights. This article presents the historical foundations of this category as a social mechanism of power and the theoretical implications of this concept, its interdisciplinary developments, and its incidence in various territories and global contexts, including the United States, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and Brazil.