We found out that some people considered anyone who wasn't white not to be a real man, as they weren't made "in the image of God" (God, of course, being white). There were some other theological questions that also had to be considered--such as, when God resurrects everyone as zombies at the end of days, will blacks still be black?
Quest. Whether Negroes shall rise so at the last Day?
Answ. The Pinch of the Question only lies--Whether White or Black is the better Colour? For the Negroes won't be persuaded but their Jett is finer and more beautiful than our Alabaster. If we Paint the Devil black, they are even with us, for they Paint him White, and no doubt are as much in the right on't as we; none amongst them, who are legitimate, being born white, but such as are a kind of Leprous Persons. And they boast of an Emperor of Rome, one of the best of 'em, ('twas Severus) and Saints, Fathers, and Martyrs without Number, who have been of that Colour.--But after all, unless we are very partial, there is something natural in't. Black is the Colour of Night, Frightful, Dark and Horrid; but White of the Day and Light, refreshing and lovely. Taking then this Blackness of the Negro to be an accidental imperfection . . . I conclude thence, that he shall not arise with that Complexion, but leave it behind him in the Darkness of the Grave, exchanging it for a brighter and a better, at his return again into the World.
--from Winthrop D. Jordan, White Over Black, pp. 258-59.
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