Europeans already possessed race as a ready concept before enslaving Africans

Evidence

Cedric Robinson’s Black Marxism traces the development of race from racial capitalism. It provides a careful historiography of the evolution of different groups of Africans — Fulani, Fon, Wolof, Igbo, Yoruba, and others — into Negroes because of the economic imperatives of Europe as they colonized and enslaved Black and Brown peoples. Robinson argues that Europeans already had “race” handy as a concept that was applied to Slavs, Jews, the Irish, the Mongols, and later Arabs, Indians, and Africans. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 56

Categorization

• XREF: Robinson’s point that race predated its application to Africans parallels the argument that race-as-concept could be retargeted toward Muslims — a necessary premise for racialization. — connects to: Racism is real but race is only an idea manufactured by racist practice.; Colonial use of ‘black’ did not necessarily denote African descent — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 124; European racism predates African enslavement and originated as intra-European domination (+8 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• European racial ideology predated and justified the African slave trade, not vice versa #corroborates (0.95) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 401
• European racism predates African enslavement and originated as intra-European domination #corroborates (0.90)
• European racism began inside Europe before capitalism or African encounters #corroborates (0.90) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 17
• European racial ideology predates colonial encounters and was extended to non-Europeans later #corroborates (0.90) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 401
• European racism began as intra-European class domination before it was applied to Africans. #corroborates (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 384
• Slaveholders rationalized African enslavement through pre-existing racist ideas #corroborates (0.85) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 90
• Racialism was already routine in Europe by the close of the Middle Ages #corroborates (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1429
• European racial hierarchy is ancient, predating modern slavery #corroborates (0.80)
• Racial hierarchy and whiteness were invented inside Europe before modern capitalism #corroborates (0.80)