The Black Man's Place in South AfricaNielsen, Peter, active 1922-1937
History
The Black Man's Place in South Africa
Nielsen, Peter, active 1922-1937
Black people -- South Africa
Professor R.R. Marett in his handbook on Anthropology says, in
discussing the subject of race, "You will see it stated that the size of
the brain cavity will serve to mark off one race from another. This is
extremely doubtful, to put it mildly. No doubt the average European
shows some advantage in this respect as compared, say, with the Bushmen.
But then you have to write off so much for their respective types of
body, a bigger body going in general with a bigger head, that in the end
you find yourself comparing mere abstractions. Again, the European may
be the first to cry off on the ground that comparisons are odious; for
some specimens of Neanderthal man, in sheer size of brain cavity, are
said to give points to any of our modern poets and politicians.... Nor,
if the brain itself be examined after death, and the form and number of
its convolutions compared, is this criterion of hereditary brain-power
any more satisfactory. It might be possible in this way to detect the
difference between an idiot and a person of normal intelligence, but not
the difference between a fool and a genius."[10]
In his book, "The Human Body," Dr. Keith, in dealing with racial
characters, begs his readers to break away from the common habit of
speaking and thinking of various races as high and low. "High and low,"
he says, "refers to civilisation; it does not refer to the human
body."[11]
The foregoing authoritative opinions serve to show that the Bantu, as
compared with other races, labour under no apparent physiological
disabilities to hinder them in the process of mental development. Let us
now consider in the light of modern psychology upon first-hand and
reliable evidence the allegation of mental inferiority that is
constantly brought against these people.
THE MIND OF THE NATIVE.
The white man has conquered the earth and all its dark-skinned people,
and when he thinks of his continued success in the struggle for
supremacy he feels that he has a right to be proud of himself and his
race. He looks upon the black man as the fool of the human family who
has failed in every way, whereas he, the lord of creation, has achieved
the impossible, and this comparison which is so favourable to himself
naturally leads him to set up achievement as the sole test of ability.
If asked why the African Native has never accomplished anything at all
comparable with the feats of the European or the Asiatic the average
white man will answer, without hesitation, that it is because the Native
has always lacked the necessary capacity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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