This previous answer by /u/sowser to a similar question may be of interest to you. Yes, it was a concept, and there were terms for it, though not one single undisputed term. And some of the terms could actually be used quite differently from how we might use "racism" today, as sowser explains. But among them were "negrophobia", "race hatred", and "prejudice".

I would also add to that answer that a lot of what you encounter (at least in U.S. history) is couched in terms of racial superiority and inferiority. You can see as examples this 1851 book, or this 1878 Popular Science article, or this 1868 book entitled White Supremacy and Negro Subordination.

This, of course, is all from a black American vs. white American perspective. If you are interested in racism in other contexts and eras in history, maybe someone else can chime in.