Articles
The articles in this collection represent original research for RACE—The Power of an Illusion (compiled in 2003-2004) as well as some more recent additions. They help illuminate and expand upon key themes from the film, many of which continue to be relevant today.
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Origin of the Idea of Race
by Audrey Smedley
Anthropologist Audrey Smedley explains how race was institutionalized in the 19th century as a worldview to justify slavery, inequality, and establish who should have access to privilege, power, status, and wealth, and who should not.
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The Race Pit
by Alan H. Goodman
Professor Alan Goodman explains how biological anthropologists continue to confuse and misunderstand race, which harms that field of study and provides ammo for racists.
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The Historical Origins and Development of Racism
by George M. Fredrickson
Historian George M. Fredrickson provides a brief overview of how ideas of race and racism evolved throughout the centuries, tied to interpretations of the bible, science, and culture.
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Africans, Slavery, and Race
by John Cheng
Historian John Cheng argues that ideas of racial inferiority of Africans developed and hardened in the late-17th and 18th centuries, well after the start of the transatlantic slave trade, in order to justify their place in society.
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Racial Preferences for Whites: The Houses That Racism Built
by Larry Adelman
Executive Producer Larry Adelman of the Race Series compares two families - one white, one black - to show how the playing field has been tilted to give whites an advantage over other groups.
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Unlikely mix – Race, biology and drugs
by Troy Duster
Sociologist Troy Duster warns of attempts by pharmaceutical companies to market certain drugs to specific racial groups, exposing them as apparent marketing ploys with potentially dangerous consequences.
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Slavery, and the Idea of Race
by California Newsreel
A look at how racial classifications developed to discourage class solidarity between African slaves and white indentured servants in the colonies, and changed over time due to specific historical circumstances.
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What Does the Census Tell Us About Race?
by Jean Cheng
Historically, the census was used to target or exclude certain groups. But since the Civil Rights era, it has been used to measure which groups are being excluded.
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The Misuse of Race in Medical Diagnosis
by Richard Garcia
Pediatrician Richard S. Garcia cautions against using race to diagnose patients, providing examples of children who were misdiagnosed due to their appearance and went years before their conditions were known.
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The Hidden Cost of Being African American
by Michael Hout
A look at how the government created massive wealth inequities between African Americans and whites through residential segregation, why those issues still persist today, and what should be done about it.
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A Racialized Medical Genomics: Shiny, Bright and Wrong
by Robert Wallace
Medical researcher Robert Wallace rebuts assertions that race is biological and argues against the creation and marketing of different medicines based on a patient's race.
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Scientific and Folk Ideas About Heredity
by Jonathan Marks
Jonathan Marks provides an anthropological and historical perspective into why we classify people the way we do, and why those classifications, while culturally important, don't hold up from a biological standpoint.
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Segregated Housing and the Racial Wealth Gap
by Larry Adelman
This explainer shows how government-mandated policies of segregated housing led to the creation of the extreme racial wealth gaps experienced across the US today.
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A Long History of Racial Preferences: For Whites
by Larry Adelman
Executive producer of the Race series Larry Adelman provides a historical overview of how institutions and public policies have benefited whites at the expense of other groups to explain the extreme wealth gap between white and Black people.
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Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Race
by Larry Adelman
Some quick facts about race that help dispel common myths and misconceptions.
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The Hispanic Color Divide
by John Moreno Gonzales
A look at a study that finds black Latinos have higher levels of education, but experience higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and lower household incomes than non-black Latinos.
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Why Humans haven't Evolved into Subspecies
by California Newsreel
While humans appear diverse in terms of physical traits, variations in our genetic makeup are in fact very limited since humans have not had the time and isolation to evolve into separate subspecies.
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Race and Gene Studies: What Differences Make a Difference?
by Larry Adelman
Executive producer of the RACE series Larry Adelman breaks down how to interpret genetic discoveries that appear to suggest differences along racial lines.
