The Origins of Race in the USA (PBS)

What did "race" refer to in the 16th and 17th centuries?

• a group of people from the same family or household

• a group of people with the same physical characteristics   

What were the two main factors driving the shift in the meaning of "race" in the 18th century?

Who were the first enslaved people in the Americas?

• Africans

• Indigenous people

What are some characteristics of indentured servants?

In what ways was slavery different from indentured servitude?

What three characteristics does the Science of Race combine?

• physical features, behavior, and legal rights

• behavior, family of origin, and social status

• physical features, religion, cultural practices

Which comes first?

• 
  

  placement of people into racial hierarchies based on physical appearance and perceived behavior

• slavery in the Americas 

Which of the following was NOT involved in 18th-century Enlightenment thinking about race?

• the impulse by scientists to categorize living things by their similarities and differences

• 
  

  the idea that certain racial groups had no history and therefore were inferior to Europeans

• Both were central components of Enlightenment thinking about race

True or False: The definition of Whiteness has changed over time in the United States, and at one point Irish Americans (Celts) were not considered White.

• True

• False