During this time in history, people started to believe a myth called Social Darwinism. This was the idea that our society depended on Natural Selection for humans, or "survival of the fittest". This idea based around social class, economics, politics, and religion. Whites were thought to be the most skilled and advanced in these areas, which led to the belief that white people were the most "fit" to survive, and other races were not. This was also a way for people to justify treating blacks with the least amount of respect and privileges. Scientists can conclude that this relates to Darwin's theory of Natural Selection, even though his work wasn't based around different races. For years after, whites were treating blacks and other races differently due to this myth, which limited black people from experiencing different parts of life. |