Notes

The National Museum of African American History and Culture defines race as a "human-invented, shorthand term used to describe and categorize people into various social groups based on characteristics like skin color, physical features, and genetic heredity". The term race is synonymous with America's upbringing. Before the 1500s it was used to identify groups of people with a connection, the term as it is now is a human invention. Its original definition now includes identifying people based on their physical traits, appearance, or characteristics. Ideas spread around this time that white people were inherently stronger and smarter because of their skin color and ancestry. They used these to justify the enslavement of millions of people across the globe. Enslavement is a concept that has almost always existed in human history. Before the 16th century, enslavement was allowed for all non-Christians. Even the term "white" was not always used in human history. There is not much evidence the English referred to themselves as "white people" until 1613. As "whiteness" evolved more people started looking down at other races. They started calling Indians and Africans subhuman and savage. These atrocities united the white people which made it more prevalent all over the world. 

The first Africans captured and taken to America happened in the early 1600s. The groups of people worked together to survive the hard labor they were forced to do. Enslavement eventually became somewhat of a temporary status, there were ways Africans could escape slavery. These ideas were present from the beginning, but did not become law until much later