Origins of Race

Races's Skulls

Race was created by scientists arguing a polygenetic theory. According to the American Anthropological Association (2007), polygenism theorizes that different races are different species with separate origins. In the 1820's and 1830's a physician, Samuel G. Morton, argued that there were different races and attempted to prove this by taking hundreds of skulls and measuring their brain capacity. He believed any skull's race could be identified simply by measuring it's size. It can be seen in the figure Race's Skulls how Morton organized his findings. He asserted that Europeans had the HIGHEST cranial capacity, specifically English being the highest, and that Africans had the LOWEST. These assertions have survived because there is a notion of white supremacy throughout the world.