Twain- The Reluctant Racist

"This gem...offers a fierce condemnation of racial prejudice and a society that condoned slavery" proclaims the writer of the back summary of Pudd'nhead Wilson. Unfortunately, I just don't see this novel as being solely against racism. It is true that Twain offers a strong argument for the fact that one's environment and childhood can strongly influence who they are as a person, thus foiling the justification for slavery that blacks were born as inferior beings. He also presents a very unfavorable picture of slavery as a whole, describing it as an unjust institution where mothers contemplate such extremes as killing their children and then committing suicide in order to avoid being sold. From this I can almost certainly conclude that Twain was opposed to slavery. However, does this mean he was opposed to racism? That is a separate matter.
Twain was raised in a society where it was almost considered scientific fact that non-whites were in some way inferior to caucasians. Even liberal, forward-thinking northerners who abhorred slavery and worked to end it usually did not believe that blacks were completely intellectually, physically, and morally equal to whites. Though Twain was certainly open-minded for his generation, he probably would have some small prejudices in the back of his mind. We can see this in the novel through the characters. Chambers AKA Tom is considered racially black, and he is probably the most morally corrupt character, caring little for others and actually behaving maliciously towards all. His mother Roxana is the only other non-white main character, and she is sneaky, somewhat unintelligent, and altogether unimpressive. The most morally sound and upstanding characters are Pudd'nhead Wilson and Tom AKA Chambers, both of whom are purely Caucasian. Maybe a coincidence, but I think this division shows what Twain unconsciously thought of non-whites.
While it is notable to consider the idea that nurture, or their upbringing, crafted fake Tom into a despicable person and fake Chambers into a moral one, this doesn't really make sense in the context of the novel. Tom was raised in the same manner as his uncle York, of whom he is put under the care of when his "father" dies. They both were wealthy white men, descended from the First Families of Virginia, practically considered nobility at this time. However, his authentically white uncle turns out to be a relatively fair and good man, while Tom is simply selfish. On the other hand, Chambers is treated in much the same manner as his fellow slave Roxana, but he turns out much more considerate and respectably humble than her. This shows how, although Twain certainly wanted to be a free-thinking, liberal man, he inevitably tended towards a slightly racist perspective.