Slavery was rationalized as punishment for sin and barbarism, not race

Evidence

In the commentary, Baynes said slavery was partly a curse for sins and partly a result of “civil condition,” or barbarism. “Blackmores” were “slavish,” he said, and he urged slaves to be cheerfully obedient. Masters were to show their superiority through kindness and through a display of “a white sincere heart.” — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 77

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘white sincere heart’ as proof of goodness connects to the reader’s immodesty essay — whiteness already coded as moral purity. — connects to: The leading southern Baptist theologian felt no moral qualm about owning slaves — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 105; American racialization of slaves ran on labor and land, not on religion — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 207