Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Race, Ethnology, Scientific Practitioners, Mathematics, Societies, Universities

People mentioned:

Jean B Lislet-Geoffroy, Thomas Fuller, Jacobus E J Capitein, Anton W Amo, Johann F Blumenbach, Mungo Park, John Barrow

    Begins: 'Whatever (says an eminent writer) may be the general character and disposition of the negroes in their own country, they are influenced in a considerable degree, as we may naturally imagine, by their condition in a state of slavery, a circumstance that soon effaces the native, original impression, which distinguishes one nation from another in negroes new imported, and creates a similitude of manners, and an uniformity of character throughout the whole body'. Discusses the characteristics of black Africans in Africa and in slavery. Provides examples which demonstrate the 'capacity of the negroes for the mathematical and physical sciences' and other branches of European learning. (243) Celebrates the abolition of the slave trade by the British Parliament.