"It was and it lasted for centuries and we're still dealing with the fallout from that," Arden said. "Because even if the practice has still gone away, the thinking that some folks are better than others because of their skin color still linger."

And they also still had class issues! All the prejudice that Henry knew from before and a whole slew of new ones!

"So if you see people with skin colors you're not expecting here, or other differences than you're used to, just understand that it's not something wrong with them, they're just not like you. And if you ask them a question like you asked me, they might be terribly insulted or have their feelings hurt."

She gave him a smile. "I know you didn't mean to be rude or hurtful, so I'm not offended. But I did wanna make sure you knew that, because you don't seem like somebody who wants to hurt people like that."