Download
1 / 15
180 likes | 438 Vues
WHAT IS IT? Eugenics was a dark period for the science of genetics. It was an early 20th century movement that tried to put an end to social ills (crime, disease, etc) by ensuring that those who caused them were never born. These people were described as “unfit”.
E N D
WHAT IS IT? Eugenics was a dark period for the science of genetics. It was an early 20th century movement that tried to put an end to social ills (crime, disease, etc) by ensuring that those who caused them were never born. These people were described as “unfit”
HOW HAS SCIENCE BEEN USED TO IDENTIFY OTHERS and TO IMPACT SOCIAL POLICIES? WHO WAS CONSIDERED “FIT” AND WHO WAS “UNFIT” ? “Fit” people were blond, blue-eyed Nordic types. The “unfit” included former slaves (African Americans), immigrant Asian workers, Indians, Hispanics, Eastern Europeans, Jews, dark-haired “hill folk,” poor people and those who were ill.
WHO WAS BEHIND THIS? Some of the most respected scientists from universities like Yale, Harvard and Princeton faked data in order justify racist aims. They declared that things like talent, poverty, intelligence and a person’s character were passed on genetically. WHY DID THIS MOVEMENT HAPPEN? Immigration and racial conflict were everywhere in the early 20th century. Race fears and class bias were the basis for this movement. Elists and “progressives” reinvented genetics into a racist idealogy with the goal of populating the earth with people who were “superior” both racially and socio-economically.
THE RESULTS: Certain people were encouraged to marry and have children. They were featured in state fairs. Other, “unfit” people were discouraged from having children. Some people were sterilized so that they could not have children. This system of beliefs reached full power in the extermination camps of Nazi Germany.
Von Luschan's chromatic scale Von Luschan's chromatic scale was used to establish racial classifications of populations according to skin color. The scale was used extensively throughout the first half of the 20th century in race studies, however it was abandoned by 1950 because it was inconsistent. Colors were compared to the skin on the underarm (where you get little sun exposure) Von Luschan scale 1–5 Very light or white, "Celtic" type 6–10 Light or light-skinned European 11–15 Light intermediate, or dark-skinned European 16–21 Dark intermediate or "olive skin” 22–28 Dark or "brown" type 29–36 Very dark or "black" type Does the color of your skin determine your race?
Plessyv. Ferguson BACKGROUND INFORMATION of Plessyv. Ferguson Homer Plessy was ⅞ white and resided in Louisiana, where the Separate Car Act segregated blacks and whites. He had fair skin and was chosen to buy a ticket to sit in the white cars. Plessy was denied despite having purchased a ticket. The case end up in the US Supreme Court.
Plessyv. Ferguson U.S. SUPREME COURT RULING of Plessyv. Ferguson The main argument regarding to the case was whether or Louisiana’s Separate Car Act violated the “equal protection of the law” clause of the US 14th Amendment.The Supreme Court voted 7 to 1 in favor of Ferguson. EXPLANATION OF THE SUPREME COURT RULING The justices concluded that separate facilities for blacks and whites did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment so long as they were equal. The major opinion of the court acknowledged that the 14th amendment intended to establish equality for the races in the eyes of the law. However, the majority opinion stated that "in the nature of things it [14th Amendment] could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races unsatisfactory to either."
Plessyv. Ferguson EFFECTS OF THE SUPREME COURT RULING The Supreme Court ruling established a legal precedent that reinforced segregation laws across the United States. The ruling lasted until 1954 when the Supreme Court reversed the racial segregation policy in the United States in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. MLA citation: PLESSY v. FERGUSON. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 27 September 2013. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1851-1900/1895/1895_210>.
Do you consider President Barack Obama a white president or a black president? Image source: http://blog.myheritage.com/2008/06/the-myheritage-family-tree-get/
Station One – Learning ObjectivesHow do you define your identity? • Biology • How does your DNA determine your own identity? • Human Geography • How does culture influence your identity?
Station Two – Learning ObjectivesHow are you identified by others and how does this impact you? • Biology • How has science been used to identify others, and how does science impact social policies? • Human Geography • How does society identify you and how does these social views impact policies?
Station Three – Learning ObjectivesHow much control do you have over your identity or that of your children? • Biology • How do your personal choices affect the expressions of your genes? • Human Geography • How do places affect identity and how can we see identities in places?
