Yes, it was - same as I suppose it is a great inconvenience to you that the Brits were calling for the abolishing of slavery long before the Civil War.

That said, sure, scientific Racism was project of Western Civilization, but it seems really that America - at least where Black people were the subject (and maybe also Indians, but they were more to be exterminated - not enslaved) - put a lot more heart and soul into it than other participants.