“Christianity has also proven to be more pliant than principled.”

One of Jones’s boldest suggestions is to locate the “roots” of American racism not in 1619 or other defining moments in the history of American slavery, but much further back, within religious practices developed in the aftermath of the Columbian Encounter. In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued an edict praising Columbus for extending European dominion to lands “not previously possessed by any Christian owner.” The declaration was part of what became known as the “Doctrine of Discovery,” an enduring if amorphously defined set of proclamations and legalistic rituals created in the late 15th century to validate European appropriation of the territories of the Western Hemisphere and justify colonization...

Tracing the Origins of American Racism as a Path to Healing

In “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy,” Robert P. Jones explores the harmful legacy of a 15th-century Christian doctrine used to justify expansion and colonization in the New World.

Ned Blackhawk, September 2023, New York Times 

(Author of THE REDISCOVERY OF AMERICA: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History.)