As this meme passed down through generations, it became more pervasive and it also became more complete. When slavery in the New World began, both blacks and whites were enslaved, black slaves could gain freedom, and slavery was not a condition of birth. However, as that changed, the memes surrounding African-Americans also changed. Not only were blacks seen as not equal to whites, but they were seen as incapable of becoming equal to whites. Therefore, when Jim Crow segregation was first challenged under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court determined that separate facilities were not inherently unequal, despite overwhelming evidence that the facilities provided for African-Americans were factually inferior to those provided for whites. While this meme has been challenged by newer ideas and has, generally, not stood up to scientific, moral, and religious challenges, vestiges of it remain in almost every American person. As a result, many Americans, of...
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