The use of the term race to describe distinct categories of people is surprisingly recent. In 1508, William Dunbar, a Scottish member of King James IV’s court, wrote a poem called “The Dance of Sevin Deidly Sins.” One of the verses listed among those guilty of Envy, “bakbyttaris of sindry racis”—backbiters of sundry races. Some scholars believe this is the earliest use of the word “race” in the English language.3 Dunbar employed race to mean family lineage—kinship groups descended from the male line. He probably borrowed racis from the Spanish word raza, which the Spanish applied to breeds of
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