[Thatcherite]

Sounds like Darwin was equating Negroes, Aborigines and gorillas. Not very PC if you ask me.

He was a man of his time, who had the viewpoint of men of his time. In fact he was more enlightened than most.

For example Darwin was a vehement opponent of negro slavery. Guess who he had enraged arguments about this subject with... Captain Fitzroy, the Christian Fundamentalist Captain of the Beagle, who justified slavery on Biblical authority (just as he rejected evolution on Biblical Authority). Their arguments on the subject were so furious that Darwin nearly left the Beagle in Argentina.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Link 1

I never saw any of the diminutive Portuguese with their murderous countenances, without almost wishing for Brazil to follow the example of Haiti; & considering the enormous healthy looking black population, it will be wonderful if at some future day it does not take place."

Link 3

[metmom]

For example Darwin was a vehement opponent of negro slavery. Guess who he had enraged arguments about this subject with... Captain Fitzroy, the Christian Fundamentalist Captain of the Beagle, who justified slavery on Biblical authority (just as he rejected evolution on Biblical Authority).

It was largely through the efforts of Wm. Wilberforce, a committed Christian, that the slave trade was abolished in England.