The Color Line by William Smith is a textbook representative of society from the early 20th century asking and discussing philosophical issues of race, questioning the savageness of African Americans, and thinking about white and black identity. Excerpt: «The following pages attempt a discussion of the most important question that is likely to engage the attention of the American People for many years and even generations to come. Compared with the vital matter of pure Blood, all other matters, such as tariff, currency, subsidies, civil service, labor and capital, education, forestry, science and art, and even religion, sink into insignificance. For, to judge by the past, there is scarcely any conceivable educational or scientific or governmental or social or religious polity under which the pure strain of Caucasian blood might not live and thrive and achieve great things for History and Humanity…"
