The Uniqueness and Permanence of Modern Racial Prejudice

Key Insight

Modern slavery presents a unique challenge to abolition compared to ancient slavery, primarily because 'the immaterial and transitory fact of slavery combines in the most disastrous way with the material and permanent fact of racial difference.' In antiquity, slaves and masters often shared the same race and could be superior in education, allowing them to easily combine after emancipation. The 'traces of servitude' were limited in duration, as freedmen quickly became indistinguishable from freeborn citizens.

For modern societies, the difficulty lies not in changing the law but in changing mores. The Negro, born in degradation and as an alien due to servitude, carries the 'outward sign of his ignominy' at birth through his race. Even if the law grants him freedom, 'only God can obliterate its trace.' This racial difference is viewed as an immutable basis for inequality, making it far more tenacious than purely legal distinctions.

Whites in the United States often perceive Negroes as lacking 'common features of humanity,' viewing their visage as hideous, intelligence limited, and tastes base—'something intermediate between brute and man.' Therefore, after abolishing slavery, societies must still destroy 'three prejudices that are far more intangible and tenacious: the prejudice of the master, the prejudice of race, and the prejudice of the white man.' This deep-seated 'aristocracy founded on visible and imperishable signs' makes the blending of Negroes and Europeans a 'chimera.'