There are plenty of evidences offered by proponents of both the sides of the question whether racism preceded slavery or vice versa.
Racism has its origins in the very beginning of the human society as there has always been prejudice, fear and hatred towards people who are different in their colour or place of origin.
Ruth Benedict was one of the first scholars to define racism in her book Race and Racism thus: “the dogma that one ethnic group is condemned by nature to congenital inferiority and another group is destined to congenital superiority”. Racism is only one of the contributing factors for justifying slavery. Racial prejudice of the dark skinned Africans by the white skinned Europeans was one of the major causes of the transatlantic slave trade. This trade was further reinforced by the racist ideology that considered the superiority of whites over the blacks. According to the UNESCO, the slaves were considered as property that was moveable and had no rights of possession or contract. The world body reiterates the view that racism was used for legitimising the slave trade and all its horrifying practices.
