Race Unmasked : Biology and Race in the Twentieth Century

305 Pages·2014·1.433 MB·English

by  Yudell, Michael

B I O L O G Y A N D R A C E
I N T H E 2 0 T H C E N T U R Y
M I C H A E L Y U D E L L
FOREWORD BY J. CRAIG VENTER
RACE
UNMASKED

MICHAEL YUDELL
RACE
UNMASKED
Biology and Race
in the Twentieth Century
FOREWORD BY J. CRAIG VENTER
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2014 Michael Yudell
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yudell, Michael.
Race unmasked : biology and race in the twentieth century / Michael Yudell.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-16874-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-53799-5 (electronic)
1. Eugenics—History—20th century. 2. Race—History—20th century. 3. Human
biology—History—20th century. I. Title.
HQ751.Y83 2014
363.9'2009'04—dc23
2013043152
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover design: Mary Ann Smith
References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither
the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
To Gerald Gill,
for all that you gave

CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xiii
INTRODUCTION 1
1. A EUGENIC FOUNDATION 13
2. CHARLES DAVENPORT AND THE BIOLOGY OF BLACKNESS 31
3. EUGENICS IN THE PUBLIC’S EYE 45
4. THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL AND THE
SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RACE 57
5. COLORING RACE DIFFERENCE 75
6. BIOLOGY AND THE PROBLEM OF THE COLOR LINE 95
VIII CONTENTS
7. RACE AND THE EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS 111
8. CONSOLIDATING THE RACE CONCEPT IN BIOLOGY 139
9. CHALLENGES TO THE RACE CONCEPT 167
10. NATURALIZING RACISM: THE CONTROVERSY
OVER SOCIOBIOLOGY 179
11. RACE IN THE GENOMIC AGE 201
EPILOGUE: DOBZHANSKY’S PARADOX AND THE FUTURE
OF RACIAL RESEARCH 211
Notes 219
Bibliography 259
Index 275
FOREWORD
J. CRAIG VENTER, PH.D.
T
he concept of race is a deeply embedded historical challenge for
human societies, one that Michael Yudell clearly illustrates in this
excellent book. In my research on the human genome, we have also
found race to be a social construct, not a scientific one. Despite the many
claims otherwise, science and scientists are not infallible or unbiased
when it comes to conceptualizing race. After all, as this book shows, some
very notable scientists, even some from recent history, have espoused “sci-
entific theories” to support their racial beliefs. Classification of species has
been a part of science for centuries; thus scientists have struggled with
these ideas for centuries.
Only recently, however, have we learned to measure the genetic code
quantitatively and acknowledged that most of the previous classification
was based primarily on visual differences. This type of behavior is clearly
a human trait. We like people who look like us. We view the “same” as
safe and reinforcing, and difference as foreign and potentially dangerous.
One of the many ironies of this overly simplistic, crude classification sys-
tem is that at some point in human history there may have been a selec-
tive advantage for being wary of the potentially disease-carrying stranger
coming to your cave, village, or town. Perhaps that is one reason such
narcissistic genetic traits are with us today. Yet despite these tendencies
toward self-liking, our genomes show evidence of extensive interbreeding
going back tens of thousands of years.
One of the reasons I moved into molecular biology and genomics is
that it is a quantitative field. You either have the DNA sequence or you
don’t. It is either accurately measured or it is not. And the discovery that