Globalization of the United States, 1789-1861

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Stowe, Harriet Beecher. First Geography for Children. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Co., 1855.

Harriet Beecher Stowe. First Geography for Children. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Co., 1855. Title page.

Famous for her condemnation of American slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe in this schoolbook expressed racist contempt for non-white peoples around the world.

Read a passage from the book

Lesson XXII. / Races of Men.

The inhabitants of this world are different in their appearance according to the country they inhabit. Some are white, like the people of the United States; some have a dark, yellowish complexion; some are copper colored; and some are black. They are therefore divided into five classes according to their appearance. These classes are the European, the Asiatic, the African, the American, and the Malayan.

On the opposite page is a picture in which you have a specimen of each of these races. The middle and best looking is one of the European race. As we belong to that race, I need not describe it.

The one on your left hand is one of the North American Indians. They have copper-colored skins, straight, long, black hair, small, dark eyes, thick lips, and broad noses.

The lowest figure on the right hand is one of the African race. They have black skins, coarse, black, woolly hair, very thick lips, and flat noses.

Between the Indian and African is one of the Asiatic race. These have dusky, yellowish skins, of the color of dried orange peel, but sometimes a tawny white. They have straight, coarse, and black hair, and small, black eyes.

The figure above the African represents one of the Malay race. These have a brown skin, soft, curly black hair, and dark eyes. Some of them are not darker than some of the darkest-skinned people among us.