Naturalization of Slavery and Discrimination in the United States: An Analysis of the Roles of Protestantism, Capitalism and Social Darwinism in the Formation of Demeaning Black Stereotypes

Abstract

After the first encounter between the Occident and the non-white, non-Christian subjects in the fifteenth century, the
Western mind began to Otherize blacks through a deliberate exaggeration of their physical and sociocultural differences. This
process of Otherization and inferiorization was reinforced by the West’s employment of a stereotypical representational strategy
which depicted the Negroid either as a noble child of nature or a demonic savage. In the pre-emancipation United States where
the slave trade had turned into one of the most lucrative businesses of the day, these objectifying stereotypes were so
preponderant that they battered down and almost vanished the real black presence. By demoting blacks to a subhuman status
and portraying them as brutish, heathen and depraved, the dominant white society could easily justify the atrocious deeds
perpetrated against blacks during the slavery era. Even after the emancipation, the extant demeaning stereotypes served as
powerful instruments in the hands of white dominators to impose discrimination and segregation on the subalternized blacks.
This paper analyzes the roles of Protestantism, Capitalism and Social Darwinism in the formation and perpetuation of
demeaning black stereotypes, and tries to demonstrate how these major religious, economic and scientific trends of the day
naturalized the institution of slavery and the pervasive discrimination against blacks.