Slavery and prejudice were mutually reinforcing causes, each feeding the other

Evidence

Jordan (1962) noted that the available information for the years in question, especially 1619–1640, was very sparse and at best inconclusive. He argued for a compromise position, which held that economic, political, and cultural factors conducive to the rise of slavery as an institution worked simultaneously with antiblack prejudice to foster the ultimate subjugation of blacks. The enslavement of blacks and the existence of individual-level prejudice, Jordan (1968) wrote, “may have been equally cause and effect, continuously reacting upon each other, dynamically joining hands to hustle the Negro down the road to complete degradation” (p. 80). — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3323 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

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 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Prejudice and slavery reinforced each other in a feedback loop. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3323; Antiblack prejudice in America followed slavery rather than preceding it; Antiblack prejudice grew out of slavery rather than causing it. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3321 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Prejudice and slavery reinforced each other in a feedback loop. #corroborates (1.00) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3323
• Antiblack prejudice in America followed slavery rather than preceding it #complicates (0.85)
• Antiblack prejudice grew out of slavery rather than causing it. #complicates (0.85) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3321
• Slavery’s labor demands produced juridical racism rather than racial attitudes producing slavery. #complicates (0.82) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 634
• Plantation slavery produced juridical racism, not the reverse #complicates (0.82)
• Black-white racial collisions predated modern slavery by a thousand years #complicates (0.78)