The rise of racial slavery in the New World was one of the most significant developments in modern history, shaping the economy, society, politics and culture of at least four continents over the course of centuries. How and why did it happen? The answer to that question is essential to any full understanding of the world we inhabit today. It is not surprising, then, that historians have spent sev...
Harpham’s reinterpretation of slavery’s intellectual origins offers a provocative challenge to the conventional narrative that racial difference was the primary driver of African enslavement. By emphasizing the English reliance on Roman legal frameworks—where slavery was a product of circumstance rather than innate inferiority—he reframes the early justifications for slavery as rooted in perceived similarity rather than otherness. This irony underscores how deeply entrenched traditional justific...