The Conservation of Races: The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 2Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt)
Philosophy
The Conservation of Races: The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 2
Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt)
African Americans -- Race identity; African Americans -- Social conditions; United States -- Race relations
We find upon the world's stage today eight distinctly differentiated
races, in the sense in which History tells us the word must be used.
They are, the Slavs of eastern Europe, the Teutons of middle Europe, the
English of Great Britain and America, the Romance nations of Southern
and Western Europe, the Negroes of Africa and America, the Semitic
people of Western Asia and Northern Africa, the Hindoos of Central Asia
and the Mongolians of Eastern Asia. There are, of course, other minor
race groups, as the American Indians, the Esquimaux and the South Sea
Islanders; these larger races, too, are far from homogeneous; the Slav
includes the Czech, the Magyar, the Pole and the Russian; the Teuton
includes the German, the Scandinavian and the Dutch; the English include
the Scotch, the Irish and the conglomerate American. Under Romance
nations the widely-differing Frenchman, Italian, Sicilian and Spaniard
are comprehended. The term Negro is, perhaps, the most indefinite of
all, combining the Mulattoes and Zamboes of America and the Egyptians,
Bantus and Bushmen of Africa. Among the Hindoos are traces of widely
differing nations, while the great Chinese, Tartar, Corean and Japanese
families fall under the one designation--Mongolian.
The question now is: What is the real distinction between these nations?
Is it the physical differences of blood, color and cranial measurements?
Certainly we must all acknowledge that physical differences play a great
part, and that, with wide exceptions and qualifications, these eight
great races of to-day follow the cleavage of physical race distinctions;
the English and Teuton represent the white variety of mankind; the
Mongolian, the yellow; the Negroes, the black. Between these are many
crosses and mixtures, where Mongolian and Teuton have blended into the
Slav, and other mixtures have produced the Romance nations and the
Semites. But while race differences have followed mainly physical race
lines, yet no mere physical distinctions would really define or explain
the deeper differences--the cohesiveness and continuity of these groups.
The deeper differences are spiritual, psychical, differences--undoubtedly
based on the physical, but infinitely transcending them. The forces that
bind together the Teuton nations are, then, first, their race identity
and common blood; secondly, and more important, a common history, common
laws and religion, similar habits of thought and a conscious striving
together for certain ideals of life. The whole process which has brought
about these race differentiations has been a growth, and the great
characteristic of this growth has been the differentiation of spiritual
and mental differences between great races of mankind and the
integration of physical differences.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account