Original sentence: From the 18th century to the mid-20th century, "negro" (later capitalized) was considered the correct and proper term for African Americans
Edited sentence: From the 18th century to the mid-20th century, "negro" (later capitalized) was considered the correct and proper term for African Americans, a time when slavery formed the economic backbone of Western society.Reducing people of African descent to the status of simply "negroes" was a political necessity in order to justify the buying and selling of African people to work on slave plantations