NEGRO
. . .

To this premature ossification of the skull, preventing all further development of the brain, many pathologists have attributed the inherent mental inferiority of the blacks, an inferiority which is even more marked than their physical differences. Nearly all observers admit that the Negro child is on the whole quite as intelligent as those of other human varieties, but that on arriving at puberty all further progress seems to be arrested. No one has more carefully studied this point than Filippo Manetta, who during a long residence on the plantations of the Southern States of America noted that "the Negro children were sharp, intelligent, and full of vivacity, but on approaching the adult period, a gradual change set in. The intellect seemed to become clouded, animation giving place to a sort of lethargy, briskness yielding to indolence."
. . .

volume 17, page 327

Source: The Encyclopaedia britannica : a dictionary of arts, sciences, and general literature. Philadelphia : J. M. Stoddart, 1875-1890?. 9th ed. American reprint. / With a complete index by D. O. Kellogg. volume 17, pp. 325-328 (OCLC Number 4554599)

Comment:

Hmmm ... young black child ... 1870s ... Southern States plantation ... playing in the fields ... finding frogs, turtles, climbing trees ... curious ... lively ... turns, say, 14 years old and looks forward to a life of unending labor on a plantation ... ? ... nah.