One of several key themes in the interrelated concerns of departments of Black/Africana/African-Americanstudies is defining & theorizing race, racism andracializationin historical and comparative terms. One long-standing 'transformationist' scholarly strategy within Black studies has been to analyze common-sense racial categories (such as 'black' and 'white') as products of historical processes and conditions, rather than universal givens.

Usingmultiple examples withevidence(all evidence must be cited )from Smedley- Race in North america, Fields Fields- The soul of inequality in american Life and Gossett- Race The history of an idea in America. list and then analyze the main social, legal and economic factorspropelling the evolution of 'racial ideology' and the 'racial worldview'in North America, between ca. 1400 -1900.