Assimilationist ideas of civilizing Africans made slavery appear just

Evidence

In an effort to square his Christian faith—or his nation’s Christian faith—with slavery, Baxter tried to argue that some kind of benevolent slavery was possible and would be helpful for African people. These assimilationist ideas of Christianizing and civilizing enslaved Africans were particularly dangerous because they gave convincing power to the idea that slavery was just and should not be resisted. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 115

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clear early illustration of Kendi’s assimilationist category: the Christianizing/civilizing argument that accepts slavery’s existence while hoping to improve enslaved people, driving the assimilationist-racist identification.
• ADDENDUM: Directly parallels the ‘Grafting & Growth’ or the immodesty/complaints pieces in that a putatively humane improvement of an oppressive institution masks its injustice — a recurring pattern of reform-within-the-system.