Historical Scientific and Medical Beliefs Used to Justify Slavery | NOVA

Learn how race-based biological and medical beliefs were developed and promoted by White doctors and influential figures to justify enslaving Black people in the United States with this video adapted from the NOVA film Critical Condition: Health in Black America. These unscientific ideas falsely claimed that Black people’s health and behavior could be corrected by forced labor and punishment, providing a so-called scientific justification for slavery.