33. Black People Are Whites With Leprosy?
Benjamin Rush reasoned that black people were simply whites afflicted with a form of leprosy that darkened their skins, enlarged their lips, and turned their hair woolly. He even coined a term for the illness: “negritude”.
Rush advocated for ending slavery and discrimination against blacks by curing them of their illness, and transforming them into whites. His remedy was to “burn away the black” with acids, to remove the dark skin and woolly hair, and reveal the wholesome and healthy whiteness beneath. Rush was trying to help – and it should not be forgotten that he was an implacable foe of slavery and an early advocate of abolition – but it is a good thing that his “cure” for blackness was not adopted- although, sadly, America’s war on race still burned on fierce.