Southern enslavers adopted Harvard’s polygenism as justification for slavery

Evidence

In her meticulous piece, Ellie reported that Agassiz made a declaration in 1850 at a meeting for the Advancement of American Science in Charleston, South Carolina, that the races were “well marked and distinct” and did not originate “from a common center…nor from a common pair.” This was before the Civil War, so the southern states pounced on the esteemed scientist from Harvard’s theory of polygenesis. They saw it as proof of racial inequality, and in support of enslavement. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 743

Categorization

• XREF: Polygenism as scientific cover for slavery resonates with the moral-panic and immodesty panics material — legitimating doctrines supplied by elites to entrenched interests.