A viral claim circulating on TikTok by the account “Black History Teacher @Chemistry” alleges that “white people have always indulged in cannibalism,” further claiming that they “ate their slaves” and consumed Black people after emancipation and following lynchings.
The Claim
The video asserts that white people routinely practiced cannibalism against enslaved and free Black people throughout American history.
What the Historical Record Shows
Historians agree that there is no credible evidence supporting the claim that white Americans commonly or systematically ate enslaved Africans or free Black people. Extensive historical records documenting slavery, lynching, and racial violence do not show widespread cannibalism as a characteristic practice.
However, the claim appears to draw from a different, documented aspect of history: the collection and commercial use of human body parts.
Researchers have documented cases in Europe and North America where human remains—including bones, teeth, skin, and fat—were used for medical research, museum collections, anatomical study, and, in earlier centuries, certain folk remedies. Some Black victims of racial violence had their remains taken without consent for scientific collections or as gruesome souvenirs. These practices were unethical and dehumanizing but are distinct from cannibalism.
Lynching and Body-Part Souvenirs
Historical records confirm that some victims of lynchings were mutilated and that body parts such as bones, teeth, or fingers were sometimes taken as macabre souvenirs by members of lynch mobs. These acts reflected extreme racial hatred and dehumanization. There is no reliable evidence that such practices involved the routine consumption of victims’ bodies.
Verdict
The statement that white people “have always indulged in cannibalism” and “ate their slaves” is not supported by credible historical evidence. While history contains well-documented examples of slavery, lynching, grave desecration, and the exploitation of Black bodies, these atrocities should not be conflated with claims of widespread cannibalism without reliable historical documentation.
Accurate discussions of history are important because they distinguish between documented facts and unsupported assertions. The historical record overwhelmingly documents racial violence, exploitation, and the theft of human remains, but it does not support the claim that white Americans generally or systematically consumed enslaved or free Black people.
If you’d like, I can also rewrite this in a more journalistic, neutral, or fact-check style suitable for publication.
