Polygenism served as a pseudoscientific justification for white supremacy

Evidence

As direct descendants of Louis Agassiz, we celebrate many of his groundbreaking contributions to natural science. We also lament the widespread damage he wrought with the theory of polygenism, which he used to promulgate the supposed inferiority of African people. For too many years we have ignored his role in promoting a pseudoscientific justification for white supremacy. We see this as a collective failure to live up to our values of anti-racism and compassion. Now is the time to name, acknowledge and redress the harm done by Louis Agassiz. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 889

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines polygenism’s function: a theory asserting separate origins of races, used to claim African inferiority.
• XREF: connects to: White Citizens’ Council propaganda fused white supremacy, nationalism, and Christianity — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 556; the MOC “The False Compass: How Racial Categories Reorder Bodies, Minds, and the Self”