Scientific Racism
In the early years of the 20th century, Social Darwinism was widely used as a means of prohibiting African Americans and European immigrants from seeking out equal opportunities in the political, social, and economic establishment. As science grew by leaps and bounds, society gave scientists increasing influence to shape public opinion and affect public policies. The purpose of scientific racism was to produce results that justified and protected a system that allowed for the exploitation of minority groups by those who sought political and economic advantages.
The lives of African Americans had always been curtailed, first because of the sanction given to slavery and after the Civil War, with states being allowed to follow Jim Crow laws. These laws were derived from the Black Codes, which established legal segregation in the south. Enacted in the states of the former Confederacy, these laws
systematized a "separate but equal" status for African American citizens that resulted in economic, educational and social disadvantages. These laws were used as a basis to segregate restaurants, rail cars, and restrooms while also restricting job opportunities for many African American citizens.
In the early years of the 20th century, blacks were targeted on the basis of racial
inferiority and in one of the most prominent displays of social Darwinism,
Blacks were sought to be recruited for the army, “... out of the great
exigency to fill the military ranks (Ciment, 2007: 128), or due to the fear of
the endangerment of white women if black men stayed at home while white men were
dispatched to war (Thomas, 2008: 47), or on account of a political agenda to
avoid having a treacherous fifth column in the country during war time (Early,
2008: 12).” These reasons reveal the inferior manner in which Blacks were treated in spite of offering themselves for national service.
The discrimination against blacks, relative to the tenets of Social Darwinism was seen from the fact that, in spite of the exemplary service provided by them in the battlefield during the war, “after the war several studies were carried out to prove that blacks were physically ineligible for
combat duty because their brains were considered to be smaller than whites.”
(Roshnavand, Torghabeh 42). Blacks were given menial jobs in the military and the navy and the Marines barred Blacks from all aspects of service in their units. They were promised special privileges after the war, but “…African-American stevedores received the worst treatment of all black troops serving in World War I” (Bryan) attesting to the inferior manner in which they
were looked upon.
systematized a "separate but equal" status for African American citizens that resulted in economic, educational and social disadvantages. These laws were used as a basis to segregate restaurants, rail cars, and restrooms while also restricting job opportunities for many African American citizens.
In the early years of the 20th century, blacks were targeted on the basis of racial
inferiority and in one of the most prominent displays of social Darwinism,
Blacks were sought to be recruited for the army, “... out of the great
exigency to fill the military ranks (Ciment, 2007: 128), or due to the fear of
the endangerment of white women if black men stayed at home while white men were
dispatched to war (Thomas, 2008: 47), or on account of a political agenda to
avoid having a treacherous fifth column in the country during war time (Early,
2008: 12).” These reasons reveal the inferior manner in which Blacks were treated in spite of offering themselves for national service.
The discrimination against blacks, relative to the tenets of Social Darwinism was seen from the fact that, in spite of the exemplary service provided by them in the battlefield during the war, “after the war several studies were carried out to prove that blacks were physically ineligible for
combat duty because their brains were considered to be smaller than whites.”
(Roshnavand, Torghabeh 42). Blacks were given menial jobs in the military and the navy and the Marines barred Blacks from all aspects of service in their units. They were promised special privileges after the war, but “…African-American stevedores received the worst treatment of all black troops serving in World War I” (Bryan) attesting to the inferior manner in which they
were looked upon.
American president, Theodore Roosevelt tolerated the subordination of African Americans to whites and thought of them as an inferior race. He never deviated from the words he wrote to his good friend Owen Wister:
"I entirely agree with you that as a race blacks are altogether inferior to whites and are not their intellectual or social equal ."
["Letters of Theodore Roosevelt", ed. Morison, V, 226. (1908)]
"I entirely agree with you that as a race blacks are altogether inferior to whites and are not their intellectual or social equal ."
["Letters of Theodore Roosevelt", ed. Morison, V, 226. (1908)]