The southern states adopted Harvard’s polygenism as scientific proof for enslavement

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: The claim that enslaved Africans were “respected and revered” (paragraph 748) and celebrated as African-born connects to the reader’s oral-history thread; the slavery-defense use of polygenism resonates with the Lex Oppia-era weaponization of science for hierarchy in the modesty article.