Darger

Student: Sam Darger

Biology 1020 Human Origins
Saturday Class
Instructor: Dr. Teri Potter
On the Concept of Race
This essay will look at the concept of race. We will examine the topic from both a
Biological and a Social perspective. This paper will include a historical overview of how race
has been defined, its use, and changes over time. Ethical concerns will be discussed, and this
paper includes a criticism of Eugenics. Racial impacts will be examined, and the merits of race
will also be touched upon.

The concept of race has been used to quantify, classify, profile, and even
qualify/disqualify various individuals. A classroom Race talk1 on the concept of race and
equality was discussed with 230 students, and about 63% selected race as a biologicallyconstructed concept. Jonathan Lightfoot stated We are all born human and acquire socially
constructed identity labels that position us and determine our life path and trajectory. Race is a
troublesome (illogical, incoherent, scientifically baseless) concept that is rooted in notions of
white European supremacy. Unfortunately, along with the awareness this topic of race in human
individuals lends itself to some controversy.

Biologists historically have used race for categorization and classification purposes. Take
case in point, the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) who used race to tie moral,

Lightfoot, J. (2010). CLASSROOM RACE TALK. Race, Gender & Class, 17(1), 148-153.
Retreived from http://search.proquest.com/docview/312320479?accountid28671

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social, and various cultural attributes to different skin colors. Linnaeus used race for biological
determinism, ranking individuals in different groups. Sources2 state that Linnaeus was also a
pioneer in defining a now discredited concept of race as applied to humans. Nonetheless,
Linnaeus, and other early biologists have had a shaping influence on the concept of race.

Social perspective on race can be underscored in todays news, for example: the value of
black lives was recently expressed by reporter Jaleesa Jones, in USA Today (July 6th 2015) in a
report headlined Black Lives Matter painted on a confederate statue at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The article was published in regards to a historic statue that was recently vandalized. This comes
in the wake of the death of various black individuals such as Eric Garner (2014), and Trayvon
Martin (2012), and of media portrayal of a church shooting (June 17 of 2015) of an African
Methodist church in Charleston, NC these events relating to race by nature are stirring up a lot
of controversy.

Historically race has been defined by various people and cultures. From the times of
ancient Egypt came a four group classification of red people, yellow people, white people, and
black people. The people of ancient Egypt were viewed as the red people, those to the north as
the white race, those to the east as the yellow people, and to the south the black people. The
definition has not changed much over time, but the impacts of race can certainly be observed.

There are many ethical concerns regarding race. Concerns include, but are not limited to,
a historical extent of atrocities ranging from individual racial targeting of individuals, to that of
mass genocide. Unfortunately the concept of race has often been demonstrated extreme racial
2

Dev.laptop.org/pub/content/wp/en/Carolus_linnaeus.html, accessed July 14, 2015 under the section titled Mankind.

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division among the human species, and has exacerbated other issues such as animosity as it
separates people into various groups and sub-groups.

Founder of Eugenics - Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) brought about the radical idea that
government should strive for race improvement by such means as sterilization, prohibition of
mixed raced marriages, and by condoning arranged marriages. He perpetuated a movement that
led to racist laws, genetic screening, segregation, genocide, compulsory sterilization, and Nazi
ideals.3 After a mass genocide in 1945 The Nuremburg War Crimes Trials brought 22 Nazi
officials to court to address concerns arising from Germans having found mass graves in 1943. If
this history serves correct, and not denied, then it can appears by deductive reasoning that Hitler
and his government had exemplified Galtons ideological legacy down to the letter.

Critics may argue that race helps better understand the human species, and provides
diverse benefits to various persons, such as specific medical care, decision making, and other
targeted race based solutions. To be sure a study was done by Tufts University (April 10, 2006)
to examine race and its affect on human decision making. Consequently the study indicated that
Racial Diversity Improves Group Decision Making In Unexpected Waysdiverse groups
perform better than homogenous groups when it comes to decision making hence I endorse
this reports suggestion that diversity (when unified) in race is more beneficial than its separation
thereof.

Okeagu, J.E., Ikegwu, E., Moore, B.A., Okeagu, E.N., Brixton, R.N, Okeagu, C.U.,Ghee, V.M. (2010), THE
DIALECTICS AND SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE AMERICAN EUGENICS MOVEMENT ON AFRICAN
AMERICANS. Paper presented at the 922-1011. Retrieved from http://searc.proquest.com/docview/1315737101?
accountid=28671

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The merits of race simply include the ability to acknowledge how the skin color of
various human species may appeal to the anthropological study of various individuals such
adaptation to hot or cold climates. Admittedly race can even help determine what disease types
are more predominant in one race as opposed to another, but as a result of the racial paradigm social atrocities such as Eugenics, mass ethical concerns, racial profiling, racial discrimination,
and a host of other problems are unfortunately entrenched in the concept of race.

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References
Lightfoot, J. (2010). CLASSROOM RACE TALK. Race, Gender & Class, 17(1), 148-153.
Reporter Jaleesa Jones, in USA Today (July 6th 2015) news report headlined Black Lives
Matter
Tufts University. Racial Diversity Improves Group Decision Making In Unexpected ways,
According to Tufts University Research. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 April 2006.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060410162259.htm
Okeagu, J.E., Ikegwu, E., Moore, B.A., Okeagu, E.N., Brixton, R.N, Okeagu, C.U.,Ghee, V.M.
(2010), THE DIALECTICS AND SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE AMERICAN EUGENICS
MOVEMENT ON AFRICAN AMERICANS. Paper presented at the 922-1011.