The term race relations originated in 1911 assuming races were natural group designations.

Evidence

The first recorded use of the expression race relations was in the tide of a study of the economic status of “Negroes” in various counties of Georgia in the United States that was published in 1911. The article compared the status of blacks and whites as groups but had nothing to say about the relations between individual blacks and whites. It simply assumed that the two groups were properly designated races (Brooks, 1911). This assumption brought with it a series of highly questionable beliefs about the nature of racial differences in the human species which made the expression potentially misleading. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 653

Categorization

• DEFINE: Pins the genealogical origin of the term ‘race relations’ to a specific 1911 study.
• XREF: Connects to Omi & Winant’s observation that the racial-formation idiom replaced ‘race relations’ precisely because of this naturalizing assumption. — connects to: The phrase race relations originated in a 1911 Georgia economic study; Race was once understood as a fixed natural essence, not a social construct. — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 1671

Broader Connections

• The phrase race relations originated in a 1911 Georgia economic study #expands (1.00)
• Race was once understood as a fixed natural essence, not a social construct. #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 1671