Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview

by Audrey Smedley

Few topics in the Western intellectual tradition have been subjected to as much scrutiny and analysis as the topic of race. This book examines the evolution of the concept. It shows that late-eighteenth-century North Americans came to believe that their society was composed of biologically exclusive and permanently unequal human groups, each with distinctive behavioral, moral, spiritual, and intellectual characteristics, led people to see biophysical and behavioral features as innate and immutable. In the nineteenth century, differences between whites, American Indians, and blacks were magnified in the popular mind and in scholarly writings to the point that these groups were seen as separate species, justifying the preservation of “racial” slavery and the subsequent dehumanization of freed blacks. With the application in the late nineteenth century of the racial worldview to European peoples and the subsequent twentieth-century inhumanity and brutality of Nazi race ideology, the concept of race came under attack. Liberal ideology coupled with advances in science prompted criticism of “race” and efforts to eliminate the term from the lexicon of science.In a sweeping work that traces the idea of race through three centuries of North American history, Audrey Smedley shows race to be a cultural construct used variously and opportunistically throughout time, although the scientific record shows little common agreement on its meaning. Tracing the social and historical processes that helped shape the idea of race, Smedley argues that race was and is a folk worldview, fabricated as an existential reality out of elements of English cultural history and the conquest and enslavement of physically distinct populations. The schism between science and popular thought on race, which appeared in the mid-twentieth century, continues today. If progressive scientists no longer accept the biological idea of race, will society eventually also reject it?The second edition expands its coverage of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly in matters of IQ testing and changing racial attitudes, including the contemporary movement aimed at identifying a “mixed race” category in the U.S. census. Smedley further examines the economic, social, and political factors after World War II that directly or indirectly affected the public’s thinking about race and discusses how the Civil Rights Movement and television during the 1950s and 1960s prompted greater attention to race and racism, causing many to rethink their beliefs and values. The first edition was named a 1994 Outstanding Book on Human Rights in North America by the Gustavus Myers Center.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Race, Anthropology, College, Social Justice, Sociology

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1993

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite anthropological/historical book on race and human diversity in North America, and a mainstay of my undergraduate and graduate teaching on these topics for close to a decade. As in the previous three editions of this book, Audrey Smedley provides a clear, detailed, and historically-informed account of the development of the ideology of race that is such an important part of our North American "worldview". She writes as an anthropologist - sensitive to cultural differences, and skeptical of simplistic biological explanations - and I find her arguments extremely convincing. She clearly demonstrates how we can unravel what I like to call the "central paradox of race"...the linked notions that biological race doesn't "exist", but race plays a hugely significant role in the lived experiences of American people. How can something both "not exist" and play a significant role in people's lives? The answer is, of course, to decouple race in its biological and social senses: the former is not supported by biological science, while the latter can mean the difference between life and death.

The main attraction of the fourth edition is the addition of of a second author, namely Audrey Smedley's son Brian D. Smedley, one of our leading scholars of health disparities. He has contributed a new final chapter to this book which concisely presents an excellent summary of the extensive research literature suggesting that the causes of "racial" or "ethnic" differences in morbidity and mortality have social and environmental causes that are intimately tied to our "racial worldview", and are not to be found in biological or genetic differences between populations.

For anyone with an interest in exploring the historical and anthropological roots of American understandings of race, this book is an indispensable guide. Highly recommended.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this would work better as an encyclopedia than a monograph. There's at least 3 separate projects here. 1) A comparative study of the history of slavery globally 2) A historical study of racial thinking from ancient times to present and 3) An (underdeveloped) analysis of contemporary race relations in the United States.
I also have to note that the book simply does not live up to the title. In about 300 pages of actual content, there were maybe 20 pages on Asian people, most of which was East Asian. The vast majority of the book focused on Black, white, and indigenous people and didn't even limit itself to North America, instead spending significant amounts of time talking about Europe and even brief moments spent on South America. Very strange.
Still, anyone who is interested in race needs to have this book on permanent standby, as it will tell you anything you want to know about the history of racial formation in both theory and praxis in America.

[Courtney B · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is some decent material here, particularly relating to intellectual history/white conceptions of racial categories over time. I would have preferred a more chronological take, as the book is organized in a decently confusing way. I read the 4th edition, published in 2018 and have no idea why the publisher has not edited the book to be more current. Why is Smedley referring to Black people as "Negroes" for example? Why is there no discussion of race from the minority perspective? Historians have written excellent books on how African Americans resisted white supremacist ideas and founded the abolitionist movement. This fourth edition, nevertheless, makes the incredibly outdated assertion that white people like William Lloyd Garrison, were the first abolitionists. If you are going to keep publishing books like this, making "new editions" and charging more money for them, you need to update them. Historians have written a lot about race since the 1970s!

[Hillary Borders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for Public History Seminar

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written by anthropologist, Audrey Smedley, and traces the development of the concept of race in North America. Her thesis is that the American concept of race largely derived from the British, who dehumanized the Irish before dehumanizing Africans and Native Americans. She describes British racsim as more dehumanizing that that of the Portugese, French, Spanish and Germans. She then spends several chapters looking at scientific racism, the attempt in the 19th and early 20th century to prove a genetic and biological distinction between the white race and other racial groups. What is most striking is how duped science was by the racist worldviews of its day, and how that blindness caused them to ignore evidence of blacks' common humanity with whites. In short, the "facts" were interpreted in light of their extreme racist bias.

This book is good companion to Fredrickson's Racism: A Short History, in that his thesis is that racism began with the European persecution of Jews. In any case both Smedley and Fredrickson show clearly the historical process by which race became the sociopoolitical construct of today. Smedley holds hope in science (with its current evidence from the Human Genome Project) overcoming racist folk beliefs. However, after reading her extended treatment of the folly of 19th and 20th century science I find it ironic that she believes science will eventually overcome the racist bias in our society.

[York · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book is very good when it discusses historical conceptions of race and racism in the US, it seriously suffers in both non-race related history and in analyzing contemporary race issues. The author erroneously claims, for example, that the division between science and religion happened much later than it did (to say nothing of centering this discussion on science and religion on Europe exclusively) but then goes on to give a very confusing analysis of race in the US today. The black/white division is no longer applicable to the modern US, and the lack of focus these chapters have means that the book as a whole became a slog for me. However, there is an excellent assembly of readings at the end of the book and I wonder if a new edition might be able to correct some of the errors in this one.

[James Hatton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent survey of the origins and consequences of the concept of race.

Having read this detailed and well-researched book, I am convinced that biological race does not exist. Furthermore, I am convinced that the artificial framework of race was constructed to benefit those persons who were defined as belonging to the choice hierarchical levels in that framework. I strongly recommend this book.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the history of the construction and social justification of the race and racial ideology of North America, particularly the United States. It does not delve into the phenomena and mechanism of contemporary racism and racial injustice, but provides a good solid foundation for further study in this realm.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was truly an exceptional read! I learned so much about how the social construction of race has impacted the educational system - public schools. This book dives into the historical perspective of racial views and how these views have impacted America. If you like history or social justice - you will love this book!

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book that I read in college & set the tone for what would be a fiercely rapid deconstruction of 18 years of institutional racial brain-washing. Historically describes the distinctive U.S. racial system that has no 'in-between,' in non-transcendental, and is highly institutionalized.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

So racism is less than 400 years old. No, there was no racism in the ancient world. You're thinking of xenophobia.

For a tremendously interesting and well written book on a very important issue, please read this amazing book.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

read in college and loved it.

[Roger Singh]

Great read for historians, I learned a lot about orgins of racial hatred in the U.S.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

My biggest issue is there is a footnote that basically says "google it" and I cannot take a historian seriously if that is how they conduct research. Do primary source research.