document updated 1 year, 29 days ago, on Mar 22, 2023
the origins of race
Throughout history, in-groups and out-groups had always existed, but it was based mostly on familial, tribal, or religious affiliation, rather than physical appearance.
Our modern conception of race, one in which physical attributes were the defining factor, only started to coalesce in the 17th century.
1662 — Partus sequitur ventrem, a law of hereditary slavery: children of enslaved women would be born into slavery
1667 — Black slaves who converted to Christianity would remain as slaves, regardless of baptism
1669 — "An act about the casual killing of slaves"; masters who killed slaves deemed resisting were exempt from felony charges
1670 — free Black people were prohibited from purchasing servants who weren't also Black
1680 — "An act for preventing Negroes Insurrections ... the frequent meeting of considerable numbers of negroe slaves under pretence of feasts and burialls is judged of dangerous consequence"; slaves were prohibited from carrying weapons, and slaves couldn't leave their master's property without permission
1691 — anti-miscegenation: White women are punished for having children with Black or mixed men