History of Racism I of III
- 10 years ago
1. THE COLOUR OF MONEY
An examination of prevailing attitudes towards human difference in the writings of some of the major philosophers and historians of antiquity, including Herodotous, Aristotle, and Plutarch. The episode also assesses the implications of Old Testament dogmas concerning the pre-destined attributes of the different ‘races’ (specifically, the idea that the major racial groups were supposedly the descendants of Noah’s sons - Ham, Shem and Japheth – and that Black people were victims of ‘The Curse of Ham’). The development of the idea of ‘race’ is traced as a pseudo-biological category throughout the English Tudor period (particularly the literary application of the concept in Shakespeare). Significant changes in ideas about race are identified that coincided with the event that would shape racial ideas for centuries: the Columbian adventure in the ‘New World’ and the subsequent development and institutionalisation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
An examination of prevailing attitudes towards human difference in the writings of some of the major philosophers and historians of antiquity, including Herodotous, Aristotle, and Plutarch. The episode also assesses the implications of Old Testament dogmas concerning the pre-destined attributes of the different ‘races’ (specifically, the idea that the major racial groups were supposedly the descendants of Noah’s sons - Ham, Shem and Japheth – and that Black people were victims of ‘The Curse of Ham’). The development of the idea of ‘race’ is traced as a pseudo-biological category throughout the English Tudor period (particularly the literary application of the concept in Shakespeare). Significant changes in ideas about race are identified that coincided with the event that would shape racial ideas for centuries: the Columbian adventure in the ‘New World’ and the subsequent development and institutionalisation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade