Well the argument why they were not human was also the reason that churchmen (don't ask me exatly who, I'd have to look it up in the library) were claiming that there's no life on the other side of the Sahara, so the people who lived there could not be humen. The same applied for Indians (they were suposedly soulless).
But the point about people being made after god's image also meant that all who were cripled, deformed, different were not of god's image and could be enslaved (but they were usually just a handy target for casual agresion and sadism against another).
The debate on weather blacks and Indians had soul was started by Bartolomeo de las Casas (not sure on the spelling) in the early 16th century.
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