Final answer:
Race relations from 1492 to the Civil War were marked by European domination, the establishment of slavery based on race, and strained interactions between colonists, Native Americans, and Africans.
Step-by-step explanation:
The race relations that began with the settling of the Americas in 1492 up to the Civil War are a complex history of intergroup dynamics, dominated by the institution of slavery and the interaction between European colonists, Native Americans, and Africans.
Europeans brought a classist and racial view to the New World, one that associated non-Europeans with inferiority and servitude, establishing the transatlantic slave trade which saw millions of Africans forcibly transported and enslaved.
With the introduction of labor-intensive crops such as sugar and coffee, slavery became intrinsically tied to race as European colonists turned to Africans, whom they did not view as equals due to their non-Christian status and differing cultural norms. Despite the abolition of slavery following the Civil War, race relations continued to be strained, as evidenced by the implementation of Jim Crow laws, segregation, and ongoing discrimination.