In the first eleven chapters of Genesis, our tradition describes a God who tried to work with all human beings at once. This is universal history - and it was an abject failure. God winds up expelling us from Eden, witnessing the first murder, drowning most of the world and then deliberately confusing us with different languages. It doesn't say much for us. But, frankly, it wasn't a great record of accomplishment on God's part, either.
History takes a major turn with the twelfth chapter of Genesis.
For here, God doesn't deal with everyone in the whole world all at once together. God calls Abraham. However literally you take these stories in the pre-history of Genesis, with this twelfth chapter our ancestors express an important insight. Yes, all human beings, every one of us - male and female, black and white and brown and yellow, each one of us is created in the image of God. Yes, we share that common heritage as human beings.