I suspect that the story was well known around the camp by the next morning, and probably due to Ham blabbing about it. If Ham did not hesitate to tell his brothers, why hesitate to tell everyone else. Perhaps this is why Noah became angry at him. 

Regardless of Noah’s source of information, his response was one with broad implications. Canaan, the youngest son of Ham, was to be cursed. He was to be the lowest servant  to his brothers. While some understand the “brothers” of verse 25 to refer to his fellow man, I believe it refers specifically to Canaan’s earthly brothers, the other sons of Ham. 

In this way, Canaan’s curse is intensified in these three verses. In verse 25, Canaan will be subservient to hisbrothers; in verses 26 and 27, to his father’s brothers, Shem and Japheth.

Viewed in this way, it is impossible to see any application of this passage to the subjugation of the Black people of the earth. Ham was not cursed in this passage, but Canaan. Canaan was not the father of the Black peoples, but the father of the Canaanites who lived in Palestine and who threatened the Israelites. These scripture say NOTHING about cursing black people. So get off that. It is NOT in the Bible. Period! Amen. Don’t shout me down when I’m preaching good!  Praise God!

Now, I want you to notice something else. 

In verse 26, it is not Shem who is blessed, but Shem’s God - Yahweh: “He also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant” (Genesis 9:26).

By this, the godly line is to be preserved through Shem. From his seed the Messiah was said to come. The blessing comes not from Shem, but through Shem. The blessing flows out of the relationship which he has with Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. And the servitude of Canaan is one of the evidences of this blessing.