The Curse of Ham

A subject of great interest to me has always been Religion. Not one in particular, but all. Over the years, I have done a lot of reading on the subject to fulfill my personal curiosities. Back in our introductory reading, a reference was made about the curse of Ham. Initially, this so-called curse didn’t stick out in my mind, but then I noticed another Ham reference in the Frederick Douglass narrative,

“It is nevertheless plain that a very different-looking class of people are springing up t the south, and are now held in slavery, from those originally brought to this country from Africa; and if their increase will do no other good, it will do away the force of the argument, that God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right. If the lineal descendants of Ham are alone to be scriptural enslaved, it is certain that slavery at the south must soon become scriptural” (Douglass 318).

To clarify, it is believed that Ham was cursed after seeing his father, Noah, naked and the curse was that of servitude. However, it seems that the curse has been misinterpreted to be the curse of black skin. I don’t understand the reasoning because it’s unclear what Ham’s real crime is and I couldn’t find anything in the bible to confirm the actual curse of black skin itself. (See Genesis 9:22-27) As for Douglass with being new to reading and writing, I find it interesting that he was aware of the reference. It had to have been a common topic from the “spiritual” white masters. Many have clarified the curse is nothing more than a misunderstanding, but I think it was a way for  Europeans to justify the act of slavery and nothing more because there is no direct quote to the curse being applied to those with black skin.