Part 16

It would be out of place to enlarge on this subject, because the essential point that anthropology can contribute to the practical discussion of the adaptability of the negro is a decision of the question how far the undesirable traits that are at present undoubtedly found in our negro population are due to racial traits, and how far they are due to social surroundings for which we are responsible. To this question anthropology can give the decided answer that the traits of African culture as observed in the aboriginal home of the negro are those of a healthy primitive people, with a considerable degree of personal initiative, with a talent for organization, and with imaginative power, with technical skill and thrift. Neither is a warlike spirit absent in the race, as is proved by the mighty conquerors who overthrew states and founded new empires, and by the courage of the armies that follow the bidding of their leaders. There is nothing to prove that licentiousness, shiftless laziness, lack of initiative, are fundamental characteristics of the race. Everything points out that these qualities are the result of social conditions rather than of hereditary traits.

It may be well to state here once more with some emphasis that it would be erroneous to assume that there are no differences in the mental make-up of the negro race and of other races, and that their activities should run in the same lines. On the contrary, if there is any meaning in correlation of anatomical structure and physiological function, we must expect that differences exist. There is, however, no evidence whatever that would stigmatize the negro as of weaker build, or as subject to inclinations and powers that are opposed to our social organization. An unbiassed estimate of the anthropological evidence so far brought forward does not permit us to countenance the belief in a racial inferiority which would unfit an individual of the negro race to take his part in modern civilization. We do not know of any demand made on the human body or mind in modern life that anatomical or ethnological evidence would prove to be beyond the powers of the negro.

The traits of the American negro are adequately explained on the basis of his history and social status. The tearing-away from the African soil and the consequent complete loss of the old standards of life, which were replaced by the dependency of slavery and by all it entailed, followed by a period of disorganization and by a severe economic struggle against heavy odds, are sufficient to explain the inferiority of the status of the race, without falling back upon the theory of hereditary inferiority.

In short, there is every reason to believe that the negro, when given facility and opportunity, will be perfectly able to fulfil the duties of citizenship as well as his white neighbor. It may be that he will not produce as many great men as the white race, and that his average achievement will not quite reach the level of the average achievement of the white race; but there will be endless numbers who will be able to outrun their white competitors, and who will do better than the defectives whom we permit to drag down and to retard the healthy children of our public schools.

The anthropological discussion of the negro problem requires also a word on the “race instinct” of the whites, which plays a most important part in the practical aspect of the problem. Ultimately this phenomenon is a repetition of the old instinct and fear of the connubium of patricians and plebeians, of the European nobility and the common people, or of the castes of India. The emotions and reasonings concerned are the same in every respect. In our case they relate particularly to the necessity of maintaining a distinct social status in order to avoid race-mixture. As in the other cases mentioned, the so-called instinct is not a physiological dislike. This is proved by the existence of our large mulatto population, as well as by the more ready amalgamation of the Latin peoples. It is rather an expression of social conditions that are so deeply ingrained in us that they assume a strong emotional value; and this, I presume, is meant when we call such feelings instinctive. The feeling certainly has nothing to do with the question of the vitality and ability of the mulatto.

Still the questions of race-mixture and of the negro’s adaptability to our environment represent a number of important problems.

I think we have reason to be ashamed to confess that the scientific study of these questions has never received the support either of our government or of any of our great scientific institutions; and it is hard to understand why we are so indifferent toward a question which is of paramount importance to the welfare of our nation. The anatomy of the American negro is not well known; and, notwithstanding the oft-repeated assertions regarding the hereditary inferiority of the mulatto, we know hardly anything on this subject. If his vitality is lower than that of the full-blooded negro, this may be as much due to social causes as to hereditary causes. Owing to the very large number of mulattoes in our country, it would not be a difficult matter to investigate the biological aspects of this question thoroughly. The importance of researches on this subject cannot be too strongly urged, since the desirability or undesirability of race-mixture should be known. Looking into a distant future, it seems reasonably certain that with the increasing mobility of the negro, the number of full-bloods will rapidly decrease; and since there is no introduction of new negro blood, there cannot be the slightest doubt that the ultimate effect of the contact between the two races must necessarily be a continued increase of the amount of white blood in the negro community.

This process will go on most rapidly inside of the colored community, owing to intermarriages between mulattoes and full-blooded negroes. Whether or not the addition of white blood to the colored population is sufficiently large to counterbalance this levelling effect, which will make the mixed bloods with a slight strain of negro blood darker, is difficult to tell; but it is quite obvious that, although our laws may retard the influx of white blood considerably, they cannot hinder the gradual progress of intermixture. If the powerful caste system of India has not been able to prevent intermixture, our laws, which recognize a greater amount of individual liberty, will certainly not be able to do so; and that there is no racial sexual antipathy is made sufficiently clear by the size of our mulatto population. A candid consideration of the manner in which intermixture takes place shows very clearly that the probability of the infusion of white blood into the colored population is considerable. While the large body of the white population will always, at least for a very long time to come, be entirely remote from any possibility of intermixture with negroes, I think that we may predict with a fair degree of certainty a condition in which the contrast between colored people and whites will be less marked than it is at the present time. Notwithstanding all the obstacles that may be laid in the way of intermixture, the conditions are such that the persistence of the pure negro type is practically impossible. Not even an excessively high mortality and lack of fertility among the mixed type, as compared with the pure types, could prevent this result. Since it is impossible to change these conditions, they should be faced squarely, and we ought to demand a careful and critical investigation of the whole problem.

It seems to my mind that the policy of many of our Southern States that try to prevent all racial intermixture is based on an erroneous view of the process involved. The alleged reason for this type of legislation is the necessity of protecting the white race against the infusion of negro blood. As a matter of fact, this danger does not exist. With very few exceptions, the unions between whites and negroes are those of white men and negro women. The increase of races, however, is such that the number of children born does not depend upon the number of men, but upon the number of women. Given, therefore, a certain number of negro women, the increase of the colored population will depend upon their number; and if a considerable number of their children are those of white fathers, the race as a whole must necessarily lose its pure negro type. At the same time no such infusion of negro blood into the white race through the maternal line occurs, so that the process is actually one of lightening the negro race without corresponding admixture in the white race.

It appears from this consideration that the most important practical questions relating to the negro problem have reference to the mulattoes and other mixed bloods,—to their physical types, their mental and moral qualities, and their vitality. When the bulky literature of this subject is carefully sifted, little remains that will endure serious criticism; and I do not believe that I claim too much when I say that the whole work on this subject remains to be done. The development of modern methods of research makes it certain that by careful inquiry definite answers to our problems may be found. Is it not, then, our plain duty to inform ourselves, that, so far as that can be done, deliberate consideration of observations may take the place of heated discussion of beliefs in matters that concern not only ourselves, but also the welfare of millions of negroes?

* * * * *

I hope the discussions contained in these pages have shown that the data of anthropology teach us a greater tolerance of forms of civilization different from our own, and that we should learn to look upon foreign races with greater sympathy, and with the conviction, that, as all races have contributed in the past to cultural progress in one way or another, so they will be capable of advancing the interests of mankind, if we are only willing to give them a fair opportunity.

NOTES

Page 8.

A general presentation of these data will be found in F. RATZEL, History of Mankind; SOPHUS MÜLLER, Urgeschichte Europas.

Page 9.

A. PENCK, “Das Alter des Menschengeschlechtes” (_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, vol. xl, pp. 390 _et seq._); PENCK AND BRÜCKNER, Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter (Leipzig).

Page 10.

TH. WAITZ, Anthropologie der Naturvölker (2d ed.), vol. i, p. 381.

Page 13.

GEORG GERLAND, Das Aussterben der Naturvölker; F. RATZEL, Anthropogeographie, vol. ii, pp. 330 _et seq._

Page 14.

1. HENRY BARTH, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa (2d ed., London, 1857-1858), vol. ii, pp. 253 _et seq._; vol. iii, pp. 425 _et seq._, 528 _et seq._; vol. iv, pp. 406 _et seq._, 579 _et seq._

2. GUSTAV NACHTIGAL, Sahărâ und Sûdân, vol. ii, pp. 391 _et seq._, 691 _et seq._; vol. iii, pp. 270 _et seq._, 355 _et seq._

Page 16.

MARY WHITE OVINGTON, Half a Man, the Status of the Negro in New York (New York, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1911).

Page 18.

1. ROBERT BENNETT BEAN, “On a Racial Peculiarity in the Brain of the Negro” (_American Journal of Anatomy_, vol. iv [1905]).

2. Fr. P. MALL, “On Several Anatomical Characters of the Human Brain, said to vary according to Race and Sex, etc.” (_Ibid._, vol. ix, pp. 1-32).

Page 21.

1. H. KLAATSCH, “The Skull of the Australian Aboriginal” (_Reports from the Pathological Laboratory of the Lunacy Department, New South Wales Government_, vol. i, part iii [Sydney, 1908], pp. 3-167); “Der primitive Mensch der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart” (_Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte_, 80 Vers. zu Cöln, part i, p. 95); Anatomische Hefte, 1902.

2. C. H. STRATZ DEN HAAG, “Das Problem der Rasseneinteilung der Menschheit” (_Archiv für Anthropologie_, N. S., vol. i, pp. 189 _et seq._).

3. OTTO SCHOETENSACK, “Die Bedeutung Australiens für die Heranbildung des Menschen aus einer niederen Form” (_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, vol. xxxiii [1901], pp. 127 _et seq._).

4. D. J. CUNNINGHAM, “The Lumbar Curve in Man and Apes” (_Cunningham Memoirs_ [Dublin, 1886]).

Page 24.

1. KARL PEARSON, “On the Relationship of Intelligence to Size and Shape of Head, and to other Physical and Mental Characters” (_Biometrika_, vol. v, pp. 136 _et seq._).

2. L. MANOUVRIER, “Les aptitudes et les actes dans leurs rapports avec la constitution anatomique et avec le milieu extérieur” (_Bulletins de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris_, 4^o series, vol. i [1890], pp. 918 _et seq._).

Page 25.

P. TOPINARD, Éléments d’Anthropologie générale, p. 620. The value for African negroes is here very small. Another series quoted by Topinard (_Ibid._, p. 622), consisting of 100 skulls of each group, gives the following averages: Parisians, 1551 cc.; Auvergnats, 1585 cc.; African negroes, 1477 cc.; New Caledonians, 1488 cc. (a misprint in Topinard’s book makes this appear as 1588 cc.).

Page 26.

1. L. MANOUVRIER, “Sur l’interprétation de la quantité dans l’encéphale” (_Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris_, 2d series, vol. iii, pp. 284, 277, 281).

2. F. GALTON, “Head Growth in Students at Cambridge” (_Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland_, vol. xviii, p. 156).

Page 27.

A. DA COSTA FERRAIRA, “La capacité du crâne chez les Portugais” (_Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris_, Série V, vol. iv [1903], pp. 417 _et seq._).

Page 28.

H. H. DONALDSON, The Growth of the Brain (1895); RAYMOND PEARL, “Variation and Correlation in Brain-Weight” (_Biometrika_, vol. iv, pp. 13 _et seq._).

Page 29.

FRANKLIN P. MALL. See note 2 to p. 18.

Page 36.

R. H. LOCK, Recent Progress in the Study of Variation, Heredity and Evolution (1906), pp. 73 _et seq._; A. L. BOWLEY, Elements of Statistics (1901).

Page 41.

R. WIEDERSHEIM, Der Bau des Menschen (4th ed., 1908); The Structure of Man an Index to his Past History (1895).

Page 44.

J. KOLLMANN, “Beiträge zur einer Kraniologie der Europäischen Völker” (_Archiv für Anthropologie_, vol. xiii; vol. xiv, pp. 1, 79, 179); “Die Rassenanatomie der Hand und die Persistenz der Rassenmerkmale” (_Ibid._, vol. xxviii, pp. 91 _et seq._).

Page 45.

1. J. DENIKER, The Races of Man.

2. B. A. GOULD, Investigations in the Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers (New York, 1869); J. H. BAXTER, Statistics, Medical and Anthropological (Washington, 1875).

3. H. P. BOWDITCH, “The Growth of Children” (_Eighth Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts_ [Boston, 1877]).

4. GEO. W. PECKHAM, “The Growth of Children” (_Sixth Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Wisconsin_).

5. OTTO AMMON, Zur Anthropologie der Badener (Jena, 1899), p. 514; EDV. PH. MACKEPRANG, “De Värnepligtiger Legemshøjde i Danmark” (_Meddelelser om Danmarks Antropologi_ [Kopenhagen, 1907], vol. i); HANS DAAE, Legemets udvikling hos Norges mandlige ungdom.

Page 46.

WILLIAM Z. RIPLEY, The Races of Europe (New York, 1899), p. 381.

Page 48.

1. For general data on growth see S. Weissenberg, Das Wachstum des Menschen (1911).

2. F. BOAS and C. WISSLER, Statistics of Growth (_Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education for 1904_, pp. 25-132).

Page 49.

E. MEUMANN, Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die experimentelle Pädagogik (Leipzig, 1907), vol. i.

Page 50.

1. RIEGER, Ueber die Beziehungen der Schädellehre zu Psychologie, Psychiatrie und Ethnologie (1882).

2. JOSEPH ENGEL, Untersuchungen über Schädelformen (Prag, 1851).

3. G. WALCHER, “Ueber die Entstehung von Brachy- und Dolichokephalie” (_Zentralblatt für Gynäkologie_, vol. xxix [1904], No. 7); see also ANTON NYSTRÖM, “Ueber die Formenveränderungen des menschlichen Schädels und deren Ursachen” (_Archiv für Anthropologie_, vol. xxvii, pp. 211 _et seq._).

4. OTTO AMMON, Zur Anthropologie der Badener (Jena, 1899), p. 641; Die natürliche Auslese beim Menschen (1893); see also DE LAPOUGE, “Recherches sur l’anthropologie de l’Ille-et-Vilaine” (_Bulletin de la Société scientifique et médicale de l’Ouest_ [Rennes, 1895]).

Page 51.

1. RIDOLFO LIVI, Antropometria Militare (Rome, 1896), pp. 87 _et seq._

2. F. C. SHRUBSALL, “Physical Characters and Morbid Proclivities” (_St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Reports_, 1904, vol. xxxix, pp. 63 _et seq._).

Page 52.

See, for instance, W. Z. RIPLEY, The Races of Europe (New York, 1899).

Page 53.

FRANZ BOAS, Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants, being partial report on the results of an anthropological investigation for the U.S. Immigration Commission (Senate Document No. 208, 61st Congress, 2d session, Washington, 1910); Abstract of the Report on Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants (Washington, 1911).

Page 59.

WALCHER. See note 3 to p. 50.

Page 60.

F. BOAS, “The Cephalic Index” (_American Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. i, pp. 448 _et seq._).

Page 65.

GUSTAV FRITSCH, Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrikas (Breslau, 1872), pp. 30 _et seq._

Page 68.

1. C. KELLER, “Die Haustiere als menschlicher Kulturerwerb” (_Der Mensch und die Erde_ [Berlin, 1906], vol. i, pp. 165-304); Naturgeschichte der Haustiere (Berlin, 1905). Studer, Die prähistorischen Hunde in ihrer Beziehung zu den gegenwärtig lebenden Rassen (Zürich, 1901).

2. BECKMANN, Geschichte und Beziehung der Rassen der Hunde (Brunswick, 1894-95).

Page 69.

W. BOGORAS, The Chukchee (Publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition [Leyden, 1904-1909], vol. vii, pp. 73 _et seq._). Compare, however, J. A. ALLEN, “Report on the Mammals collected in Northeast Siberia by the Jesup North Pacific Expedition” (_Bulletin American Museum of Natural History_ [New York, 1903], vol. xix, p. 126).

Page 73.

1. K. PEARSON, “Mathematical Contributions to the Theory of Evolution, III” (_Philosophical Transactions_, 1896-97, pp. 253 _et seq._).

2. H. H. RISLEY and E. A. GAIT, Census of India, 1901 (Calcutta, 1903), vol. i, pp. 489 _et seq._

Page 74.

1. G. NACHTIGAL, Sahărâ und Sûdân, vol. ii, pp. 424 _et seq._

2. RUDOLF MARTIN, Die Inlandstämme der Malayischen Halbinsel (Jena, 1905), pp. 1011-1012.

Page 77.

FRANCIS GALTON, Natural Inheritance. KARL PEARSON, “Law of Ancestral Heredity” (_Proceedings of the Royal Society of London_, vol. lxii, pp. 387, 388); “Law of Reversion” (_Ibid._, vol. lxvi, pp. 142 _et seq._); “On a Criterion which may serve to test Various Theories of Inheritance” (_Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Anthropologie_, vol. vii [1904], pp. 524 _et seq._).

Page 78.

1. R. H. LOCK, Recent Progress in the Study of Variation, Heredity and Evolution (1906); BATESON, Mendelism.

2. FRANZ BOAS, “Zur Anthropologie der nordamerikanischen Indianer” (_Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie u. Urgeschichte_, vol. xxvii [1895], pp. 366 _et seq._); “The Half-Blood Indian” (_Popular Science Monthly_, vol. xlv [1894], pp. 761 _et seq._).

Page 80.

F. VON LUSCHAN, “Die Tachtadschy und andere Ueberreste der alten Bevölkerung Lykiens” (_Archiv für Anthropologie_, vol. xix, pp. 31-53).

Page 82.

KARL PEARSON, “On the Laws of Heredity in Man” (_Biometrika_, vol. ii [1902-03], pp. 357 _et seq._); FRANZ BOAS, “Heredity in Anthropometric Traits” (_American Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. ix [1907], pp. 453 _et seq._).

Page 84.

1. CH. B. DAVENPORT, “Heredity of Eye-Color in Man” (_Science_, N. S., vol. xxvi [1907], pp. 589-592); “Heredity of Hair-Form in Man” (_American Naturalist_, vol. xlii, pp. 341-349).

2. G. and CH. DAVENPORT, “Heredity of Hair-Color in Man” (_American Naturalist_, vol. xliii, pp. 193-211).

Page 86.

OTTOKAR LORENZ, Lehrbuch der gesammten wissenschaftlichen Genealogie (Berlin, 1898), pp. 289 _et seq._, 308, 310, 311.

Page 89.

W. JOHANNSEN, Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre (Jena).

Page 91.

M. D. and RAYMOND PEARL, “On the Relation of Race Crossing to the Sex Ratio” (_Biological Bulletin_, vol. xv [1908], pp. 194 _et seq._).

Page 100.

1. GUSTAV KLEMM, Allgemeine Cultur-Geschichte (Leipzig, 1843), vol. i, pp. 196 _et seq._ His opinions are accepted by A. WUTTKE, Geschichte des Heidentums (Breslau, 1852-53), vol. i, p. 36.

2. CARL GUSTAV CARUS, “Ueber die ungleiche Befähigung der verschiedenen Menschheitsstämme für höhere geistige Entwicklung” (_Denkschrift zum hundertjährigen Geburtsfeste Goethe’s_, Leipzig, 1849).

3. J. A. DE GOBINEAU, Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines (Paris, 1853-55).

4. NOTT and GLIDDON, Types of Mankind (Philadelphia, 1854); Indigenous Races of the Earth (Philadelphia, 1857).

5. THEODOR WAITZ, Anthropologie der Naturvölker, vol. (2d ed., Leipzig, 1877).

6. HERBERT SPENCER, Principles of Sociology.

7. EDWARD B. TYLOR, Researches into the Early History of Mankind; Primitive Culture.

Page 101.

THEODOR WAITZ, Anthropologie der Naturvölker (2d ed., 1877), vol. i, p. 387.

Pages 106, 109.

HERBERT SPENCER, The Principles of Sociology (New York, 1893), vol. i, pp. 55 _et seq._, 59-61.

Page 111.

G. M. SPROAT, Scenes and Studies of Savage Life (1868), p. 120.

Page 112.

1. HERBERT SPENCER, l.c., p. 70.

2. FRANZ BOAS, “The Growth of Indian Mythologies” (_Journal of American Folk-Lore_, vol. ix [1896], pp. 1-11).

3. J. MOONEY, “The Ghost-Dance Religion” (_Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, pp. 641 _et seq._).

Page 113.

1. OVIEDO Y VALDÉS, Historia General y Natural de las Indias [1535-57] (Madrid, 1851-55), Bk. xlii, Chaps. 2, 3 (quoted from SPENCER, Descriptive Sociology, No. II, pp. 42-43).

2. RUDOLF LEHMANN, Schopenhauer.

Page 114.

G. TARDE, Les Lois de l’Imitation.

Page 116.

FRANCIS GALTON, Natural Inheritance; Hereditary Genius. KARL PEARSON, _Biometrika_.

Page 117.

1. A. WERNICH, Geographisch-medicinische Studien nach den Erlebnissen einer Reise um die Erde (Berlin, 1878), pp. 81 _et seq._

2. RUDOLF VIRCHOW, “Die physischen Eigenschaften der Lappen” (_Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie u. Urgeschichte_, vol. vii [1875], pp. 34 _et seq._; also vol. xxii [1890], p. 411).

Page 118.

1. W. H. R. RIVERS, “Observations on the Senses of the Todas” (_Journal of Psychology_, vol. i [1905], pp. 322 _et seq._).

2. The complete results of this study have not been published. The tests on hearing were published by FRANK G. BRUNER, The Hearing of Primitive Peoples (New York, _Science Press_, 1908).

Page 120.

CHARLES DARWIN, Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H. M. S. _Beagle_ round the World (New York, 1895), pp. 228-229.

Page 121.

A brief résumé of FREUD’S theory will be found in the _American Journal of Psychology_, vol. xxi (1910).

Page 126.

1. For a history of these attempts, see P. TOPINARD, Éléments d’Anthropologie générale (Paris, 1885), pp. 1-147.