The Cycle of Racism Against the Black NativesIn the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries

Race is defined according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as “a group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution.” Race was furthermore defined by Europeans during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These classifications were made based on observable physical differences including skin and hair color, hair type, body proportions, and skull measurements. As the dictionary notes, “The notion of race is nearly as problematic from a scientific point of view as it is from a social one” and this is supported by the number of changes in the way race is viewed over different time periods. In Shakespeare’s Tempest of the sixteenth century, the made-slave Caliban is viewed by his race by Prospero, and likewise Caliban judges Prospero by race. Furthermore in Behn’s Oroonoko of the seventeenth century, Oroonoko was explored and admired because of his distinguished intellegence ...