It seems that Charles Darwin’s evolution theory somehow originated from his wish for slavery abolition, rather than from scientific reasons, according to Adrian Desmond and James Moore. The two writer’s new book focuses on Darwin’s biography and on specific events that made him create the well-known theory of evolution.

The authors suggested that Darwin might have been influenced in his childhood by the way his family’s slaves were treated like. Desmond and Moore go as far as they say that his entire childhood experience about slaves’ situation made him initiate the pursuit for his evolution theory.

Still, things were not so simple those days, as it seems that Darwin had first thought about the natural selection theory in the 1830s, long before his 1859’s publication of the book On the Origin of Species. The naturalist allegedly used the natural selection theory to point out the relation between the human races and hence, the fact that all people are equal, despite of their skin color.

However, a similar approach had been already made by Darwin’s grandfather, which also fought for the principle of equality between men. He is mostly known for a cameo that showed a black man who wondered whether he is a “man” and a “brother.”

Overall, Darwin’s most popular book about natural selection and the origins of species was surrounded by “prejudices,” as the author himself admitted. A few years after the book’s publication, Darwin was forced to remove all references to humankind from the book, but it is certain that he had already changed the way that men perceive their siblings.