Answer to Question #246727 in History for Dan

Question

How was science used in the 19th century to support white supremacy?

Answer 1

Before the nineteenth century, scientists almost universally agreed on monogenesis, the concept that God created all humans as one species and that phenotypic distinctions such as skin color and hair type, which supposedly differentiated races, were fashioned by climate. However, scientists increasingly attributed to polygenesis during the first half of the nineteenth century, believing that not only had God created different races, but that those races could only live-in specific climes. Black people were created for the tropics, while white people were created for temperate zones. Racism and science had a synergistic relationship back then. White supremacy was legitimized as scientifically mandated by Agassiz and other scientists, and white supremacy offered science general appeal at a crucial time when scientists were seeking to identify themselves as a cohesive and authoritative profession.