In 1777 it was revealed that there were not only white negroes and other weird and wonderful hybrids in Loango, there were also black Jews with some striking customs. This was revealed in a book by Christian George Andreas Oldendorp. The scientists of the Enlightenment were as fascinated by these black Jews as they had been by the white negroes and other hybrids. Some, such as Theophil Ehrmann, were dubious about Oldendorp’s revelation. But leading Enlightenment figures such as Anton Büsching, Conrad Malte-Brun, Johann David Michaelis, Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann, Kurt Sprengel, and others debated their importance from a racial and historical standpoint. Other black Jews were invoked by Paul Jakob Bruns. The Ethiopian Jews had been introduced to Enlightenment thinkers by James Bruce. Jews, who were anxious to be seen as white, were not much interested in black Jews. An exception was Ludwig Markus, who wrote about Loango Jews and others, including the Falashas of Ethiopia. Black Indian Jews were brought into the conversation and became an important object of Enlightenment speculation about race and color determinism. The idea of a color spectrum for Jews was born.