Early slave apologists framed enslavement as an improvement over African freedom.

Evidence

In Portugal, their lot was “quite the contrary of what it had been.” Zurara imagined slavery in Portugal as an improvement over their free state in Africa. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 55

Categorization

• XREF: This is a concrete instance of the ‘blessing in disguise’ rationalization Kendi describes as the intellectual scaffolding of slave policy. — connects to: Rushdoony argued transatlantic slavery increased Black freedom. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 459