Sometimes it is noted that, even before 1600, when the slave trade had justbegun, before Africans were stamped by it—literally and symbolically—thecolor black was distasteful. In England, before 1600, it meant, according to theOxford English Dictionary: “Deeply stained with dirt; soiled, dirty, foul.Having dark or deadly purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving death,deadly; baneful, disastrous, sinister. Foul, iniquitous, atrocious, horriblywicked. Indicating disgrace, censure, liability to punishment, etc.” AndElizabethan poetry often used the color white in connection with beauty