Race is a modern invention. Humans have always felt divided into groups, but these divisions had been based on familial / tribal / religious affiliation[1] rather than physical appearance.
Our modern concept of race, one in which physical appearance was the defining factor, only started to coalesce in the 17th and 18th centuries.
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
"Race: The Power of an Illusion", California Newsreel + PBS + ITVS, a three-part documentary series, 2hr 52min total
background: This series was originally published on the "PBS Origins" channel. PBS Origins is produced by 📔PBS Digital Studios. While this content has been removed from all of PBS's websites, PBS Origins has continued and become a reasonably popular channel.