Agassiz was an active promoter, not passive reflector, of scientific racism

Evidence

To claim that Agassiz was merely reflecting the popular ideas of his era would be selling his legacy short. He was a respected public intellectual and an active, influential advocate of racist ideas and policies. As an elite university, Harvard provided Agassiz intellectual legitimacy, and together, Harvard and Agassiz strengthened the myth that what we call “race” is a biological, not social, category. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 894

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader interest in property law as the afterlife of slavery, and Harvard’s institutional complicity claims.