Perspective: White supremacy was at the core of 19th-century science. Why that matters today.
Tamara Lanier attends a news conference near the Harvard Club on March 20 in New York. By Christopher D. E. Willoughby Christopher D. E. Willoughby is a scholar-in-residence in the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, where he is writing a book on racial science and slavery in American medical schools.
Agassiz’s beliefs and position in the scientific community expose the central and largely unquestioned role of white supremacy in the history of American science. That history further justifies the need for reparations for slavery and American racism, while underscoring that they are only one part of the reckoning that needs to happen.
Agassiz and his cohort occupied some of the most prestigious positions in American science, with polygenists holding professorships at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Louisiana , among many other institutions. As the op-eds show, polygenesis was the norm in American science at the time, something believed by scientists as well as many average Americans. This support spanned class lines and cultural boundaries. In addition to the intellectually and politically active readership of the Liberator, at least one bar song was composed in defense of polygenesis and “Types of Mankind.”
The relationship between racism and science, then, was symbiotic. Agassiz and other scientists helped legitimize white supremacy as scientifically ordained, and white supremacy gave science popular appeal at an important juncture when scientists were attempting to define themselves as a coherent and authoritative profession.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Rep. Matt Gaetz hires ex-White House aide ousted for white nationalist tiesRep. Matt Gaetz has hired an ex-White House speechwriter who was forced out last year amid scrutiny over his ties to white nationalists
Read more »
Matt Gaetz Hires Speechwriter Fired From White House Over White Nationalist ConferenceZach GibsonOne of President Donald Trump’s top congressional allies announced on Friday that he’d hired a speechwriter who left the White House last year after it was reported he’d spoken at a conference attended by white nationalists.Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tweeted that he had brought on board “the talented
Read more »
Why the Mueller Report Is Causing ‘Breakdown-Level’ Stress Among White House StaffWhite House officials are concerned about being exposed by Mueller's report, according to NBC News
Read more »
Perspective | Mueller’s biggest bombshell? Trump told the White House counsel to lie.Perspective: Mueller’s biggest bombshell? Trump told the White House counsel to lie.
Read more »
Gaetz hires ex-WH staffer who attended conference with white nationalistsA former White House speechwriter who attended a 2016 conference featuring several white nationalists has been hired by a Republican congressman.
Read more »
MLB hands out suspensions after White Sox-Royals fightRoyals pitcher Brad Keller was suspended five games, while White Sox manager Rick Renteria and shortstop Tim Anderson each got one game.
Read more »
Anderson Cooper Challenges White House Spokesman To Have The 'Guts' To Admit His Boss Lies'Gidley said that Mueller had determined there was no collusion between theTrump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 U
Read more »
Sarah Sanders says White House does not have a culture of lyingSanders also disputed allegations that she misled the press.
Read more »
Trump blames McGahn after Mueller paints damning portrait with notes from White House aidesThe president, long suspicious of paper trails, seethes that contemporaneous memos by aides become primary source material for special counsel’s report.
Read more »
Mueller's report leaves open possibility of post-White House criminal exposure for TrumpSpecial counsel Robert Mueller abided by Justice Department guidelines that a sitting president can't be indicted, but in preparing the detailed 448-page report, the long-time law enforcement official has teed up an investigation into obstruction that could outlive President Donald Trump's time in the White House and his temporary immunity.
Read more »