Final answer:
Scientific racism was indeed used to rationalize colonization and slavery by promoting the false idea that African people were biologically suited for labor, bolstering the institutions of slavery and colonization.
Step-by-step explanation:
Scientific racism became a tool that was utilized to justify and support the institutions of colonization and slavery during the 18th and 19th centuries. The belief that certain races were biologically inferior was propagated by individuals within the scientific community, which included noted figures like Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1805).
Jefferson, and others like him, argued that Africans were naturally predisposed to laborious tasks and had certain physiologies that made them suitable for the difficult working conditions of slavery, such as a reported higher tolerance to heat and a lesser need for sleep. These assertions were not scientifically valid and were instead pretexts to rationalize the subjugation of African people through enslavement and the colonialist policies of European powers.