For some time now, physical anthropologists have been disengaging themselves from the use of race as an objective characteristic of humankind. But historians, and especially historians of the United States, must continue to deal with race as a subjective reality — that is, with the idea or consciousness of race as a social force. Of course racial distinctions are never entirely free from cultural connections. Thus Africans brought in chains to colonial America were regarded as ideally fitted for servitude, not only because of their perceived physical characteristics (including intellect and disposition) but also because they were viewed as heathens and savages. Conversely, ethnocultural distinctions may have strong racial overtones, such as in the image and identity of twentieth-century Hispanic-Americans.