Greco-Roman societies lacked systematic color prejudice

Evidence

[S]ocial intercourse did not give rise among the Greeks and Romans to the color prejudice of certain later western societies. The Greeks and Romans developed no doctrines of white superiority unsupported by facts or theoretical justifications for a color bar. … The presence of large numbers of Negroes in a white society, according to some modern views, gives rise to anti-Negro feeling. Ethiopians were far from rare sights in the Greco-Roman, particularly the Roman, world. Yet the intense color prejudice of the modern world was lacking. Although it is impossible to estimate the Negro element in the classical world in terms of precise statistics, it is obvious that the Black population in Greece and Italy was larger than has been generally realized. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 444

[S]ocial intercourse did not give rise among the Greeks and Romans to the color prejudice of certain later western societies. The Greeks and Romans developed no doctrines of white superiority unsupported by facts or theoretical justifications for a color bar. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 444

Categorization

• XREF: This challenges the Whig assumption that racial prejudice is ancient and universal; connects to Foucault’s and Said’s points about how knowledge/power regimes (like slavery and empire) manufacture race, and to the argument that modern racism is a product of capitalism (Robinson’s core thesis). — connects to: Racial hierarchy and whiteness were invented inside Europe before modern capitalism; Colonial race was judged by conduct and affiliation rather than appearance; White is the most inferior of colors of morals of superiority. It follows that whiteness is the lack of characteristics that make a theme and give it its facets of colors. (+5 more)
• QUESTION: If Greco-Roman slavery did not produce color-based racism, what specifically about Atlantic slavery and capitalism generated it? This sets up Robinson’s argument that racism is a modern capitalist construction.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 444

Broader Connections

• Racial hierarchy and whiteness were invented inside Europe before modern capitalism #corroborates (0.70)
• Racism has no universal structure but only historically specific forms #qualifies (0.70)
• Racism exists as a variable spectrum, not a single invariant form #qualifies (0.70)
• Analysis must treat racisms in their historical specificity, not as one universal form #qualifies (0.65) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 632
• Colonial race was judged by conduct and affiliation rather than appearance #corroborates (0.60)
• White is the most inferior of colors of morals of superiority. It follows that whiteness is the lack of characteristics that make a theme and give it its facets of colors. #contradicts (0.40)