Antiblack prejudice in America followed slavery rather than preceding it

Evidence

In a controversial paper, the Handlins (1950) argued that black indentured servants were regarded and treated much the same as white servants when they first arrived in the American colonies in 1619. Over a period of roughly 40 years, they argued, the status of black servants deteriorated, whereas that of white servants improved. Thus, by around 1660, blacks had been reduced to a cheap, available, and easily exploited pool of servants whose bondage was viewed as lifelong. Importantly, this analysis suggested a gradual, not a rapid, degradation of blacks and transformation of the attitudes toward them. Such a pattern of events was more consistent with the view that antiblack prejudice resulted from the establishment of slavery, than with the claim that a deep psychological antipathy toward blacks preceded slavery. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3321 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Lawrence’s plans appear to have changed when Agassiz entered the picture, a shift that was likely propelled as much by self-interest as philanthropic vision. … Most of the textiles Lawrence’s business sold, a business that had made him extraordinarily wealthy, were made from cotton that was planted, picked, ginned, baled, and shipped by enslaved men, women, and children. In other words, his livelihood depended on slavery’s preservation—or, at a minimum, on access to cheap, black labor. … The Lawrence family professed to be anti-slavery. But business came first. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed, “Cotton thread holds the Union together; unites John C. Calhoun and Abbott Lawrence.” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1051 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: American racialization of slaves ran on labor and land, not on religion — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 207; Antiblack prejudice grew out of slavery rather than causing it. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3321; Genteel abolitionist opposition coexisted with slavery-dependent fortunes — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots: My Fight with Harvard…, 1051 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Antiblack prejudice grew out of slavery rather than causing it. #corroborates (0.99) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3321
• Plantation slavery produced juridical racism, not the reverse #corroborates (0.97)
• Genteel abolitionist opposition coexisted with slavery-dependent fortunes #complicates (0.72) — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1051