Was enslavement in America always based on skin color?

it was kinda

Explanation:

sometimes people worked to pay off there debt from going to america under someone else's ship or money and they were europeans  

i would say yes it was.

Explanation:

indigenous people north and south were displaced, died of disease, and were killed by europeans through slavery, rxpe, and war. in 1491, about 145 million people lived in the western hemisphere. by 1691, the population of indigenous americans had declined by 90-95 percent, or by around 130 million people."