Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface: Who’s Black and Why? ix
4. Note on the Translations xv
5. Part I
6. Introduction: The 1741 Contest on the “Degeneration” of Black Skin and Hair 3
7. 1. Blackness through the Power of God 44
8. 2. Blackness through the Soul of the Father 47
9. 3. Blackness through the Maternal Imagination 68
10. 4. Blackness as a Moral Defect 70
11. 5. Blackness as a Result of the Torrid Zone 82
12. 6. Blackness as a Result of Divine Providence 89
13. 7. Blackness as a Result of Heat and Humidity 96
14. 8. Blackness as a Reversible Accident 99
15. 9. Blackness as a Result of Hot Air and Darkened Blood 105
16. 10. Blackness as a Result of a Darkened Humor 111
17. 11. Blackness as a Result of Blood Flow 114
18. 12. Blackness as an Extension of Optical Theory 121
19. 13. Blackness as a Result of an Original Sickness 141
20. 14. Blackness Degenerated 158
21. 15. Blackness Classified 168
22. 16. Blackness Dissected 184
23. Part II
24. Introduction: The 1772 Contest on “Preserving” Negroes 193
25. 1. A Slave Ship Surgeon on the Crossing 200
26. 2. A Parisian Humanitarian on the Slave Trade 211
27. 3. Louis Alphonse, Bordeaux Apothecary, on the Crossing 221
28. Select Chronology of the Representation of Africans and Race 231
29. Notes 245
30. Acknowledgments 291
31. Credits 295
32. Index 297