[S]cholars of history and religion alike have failed to comprehend that proslavery Southerners were drawn to Genesis 9:20-27 because it resonated with their deepest values. . . [W]hite Bible readers understood the transgression as a violation of familial loyalty that marked Ham and his African descendants as utterly devoid of honor and thus fit for slavery. In other words, proslavery Americans were unconsciously drawn to the tale of Noah's drunkennes because it cast slavery's origins in an episode of primal dishonor.