White people

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Before the modern age, Europeans did not think of themselves as "white." They defined their race, ancestry or ethnicity in terms of what place or culture they were from, for example Greek or Roman.

The idea of a single white race came into use starting in the 17th century. The term white was invented during American slavery to make European Americans seem different from enslaved African Americans. The people who were the strongest supporters of the white race being supreme in 20th century Europe were fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. They felt that some European peoples such as Slavs as a different race even though they were white.

References

  1. ↑ Painter, Nell Irvin (18 April 2011). The History of White People. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-07949-4.
  2. ↑ "The Origin of the Idea of Race". PBS. Retrieved 2024-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. ↑ "Historical Foundations of Race". National Museum of African American History and Culture.