Even more disturbing , racism was essentially created in America by the wealthy elite ruling class to keep poor Blacks and Poor whites from working together . There are hints that the two despised groups initially saw each other as sharing the same predicament . It was common , for example , for servants and slaves to run away together , steal hogs together , get drunk together . It was not uncommon for them to make love together . Only one fear was greater than the fear of black rebellion in the new American colonies . That was the fear that discontented whites would join black slaves to overthrow the existing order . In the early years of slavery , especially before racism as a way of thinking was firmly ingrained , while white indentured servants were often treated as badly as black slaves , there was a possibility of cooperation . Edmund Morgan