Black and Slave

A history of the Curse of Ham, the belief that the Bible consigned blacks to everlasting servitude, a belief that, incorrect as it was, validated the enslavement of black Africans, from late antiquity to modern times. This book unravels the exegetical and interpretive strands of the belief, uncovering its beginnings in the Near East and tracing its reception and dispersion in Europe and the New World.