The exhibition brings together the everyday experience of living with race, its history as an idea, the role of science in that history, and the findings of contemporary science that are challenging its foundations. www.understandingrace.org
From about the 1690s until 1794, both free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6-acre burial ground in Lower Manhattan, outside the boundaries of the settlement of New Amsterdam, later known as New York. Lost to history due to landfill and development, the grounds were rediscovered in 1991 as a consequence of the planned construction of a Federal office building. www.nps.gov
The mural was produced during one of the most active periods of the Chicano arts and civil rights movements. The mural was originally created in 1978 by El Congreso de Artistas Cosmicos de las Americas de San Diego (Mario Torero, Rocky, El Líon, and Zade). In 1996 the mural was restored by Mario Torero and Carmen Kalo, assisted by Ernesto de la Loza. Location: Estrada Courts (Boyle Heights, Los Angeles). Acrylic on stucco, 32′ x 24′.
Franz Boas posing for figure in US Natural History Museum exhibit entitled “Hamats’a coming out of secret room.” Circa1895. National Anthropology Archives.
In the “doll test,” psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark used four plastic, diaper-clad dolls, identical except for color. They showed the dolls to black children between the ages of three and seven. When asked which they preferred, the majority selected the white doll and attributed positive characteristics to it. The Clarks concluded that “prejudice, discrimination, and segregation” caused black children to develop a sense of inferiority and self-hatred. The Supreme Court cited this work in the Brown v. Board of Education case. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-brown.html.
Photo: Gordon Parks, Ebony Magazine, v. 2, no. 9, 1947 July, p.21.
The Task Force on Race and Racism was created in 2012 to bring attention to and address the experiences and status of anthropologists who are members of historically marginalized groups. The Task Force aims to develop strategies for implementing the recommendations of the 2010 Final Report Commission on Race and Racism in Anthropology.