History of Race

History of Race

early civ: race not big deal: Egypt: art showed difference but no distinction Greece: no evidence of matter Rome: black emperor 195 AD

1555: slaves brought from Guinea to England exploration led to discovery of other peoples slavery pre-dates Europeans in Africa slaves were losers of wars slavery=free labor

European "scientists": skin color determined intelligence + morality most people 1700s-1800s were uneducated people listened to educated white guys

Bottom Line

race is a modern idea race has no genetic basis most variation is within, not between, races slavery pre-dates race race is not biological but belief in it is real race was used to justify inequalities colorblindness will not end racism

“Biologically, Homo sapiens is one race. It is only by recognizing this fact and understanding its history that we might one day have a society in which all people are treatedicity or culture.” Dr. Robert Sussman, Prof. of Physical Anthropology Washington University, The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea, Harvard University Press, 2014