Overview
Lee D. Baker explores what racial categories mean to the American public and how these meanings are reinforced by anthropology, popular culture, and the law. Focusing on the period between two landmark Supreme Court decisions-Plessy v. Ferguson (the so-called ""separate but equal"" doctrine established in 1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (the public school desegregation decision of 1954)-Baker shows how racial categories change over time. Baker paints a vivid picture of the relationships between specific African American and white scholars, who orchestrated a paradigm shift within the social sciences from ideas based on Social Darwinism to those based on cultural relativism. He demonstrates that the greatest impact on the way the law codifies racial differences has been made by organizations such as the NAACP, which skillfully appropriated the new social science to exploit the politics of the Cold War.
Full Product Details
Author: Lee D. Baker
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9780520211681
ISBN 10: 0520211685
Pages: 313
Publication Date: 23 November 1998
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
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Reviews
With care and precision, Baker shows how by the mid-20th century, African American intellectuals and leaders selectively appropriated anthropology -specifically, the work of Franz Boas-in their efforts to affirm notions of racial equality. Thus, From Savage to Negro documents the paradoxically liberating and normalizing potentiality of anthropological thought. * History of Anthropology Review * . . . an innovative examination of the 50-year period between Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954), during which ideas about racial inferiority were supplanted by notions of racial equality in law, science, and public opinion. * Social Forces * From Savage to Negro is more than a historic academic discourse on race and anthropology. It is truly a remarkable elucidation of the construction of race in anthropology and its influence in American politics and must be read. * Black Scholar: Journal of Black Studies and Research * Through its interrogation of anthropological and political discourses about race and racial formation, From Savage to Negro topples historical myths about the nation's legacy of state-sanctioned segregation and racial difference. * Nation *
"""Through its interrogation of anthropological and political discourses about race and racial formation, From Savage to Negro topples historical myths about the nation's legacy of state-sanctioned segregation and racial difference."" * Nation * ""From Savage to Negro is more than a historic academic discourse on race and anthropology. It is truly a remarkable elucidation of the construction of race in anthropology and its influence in American politics and must be read."" * Black Scholar: Journal of Black Studies and Research * "". . . an innovative examination of the 50-year period between Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954), during which ""ideas about racial inferiority were supplanted by notions of racial equality"" in law, science, and public opinion."" * Social Forces * ""With care and precision, Baker shows how by the mid-20th century, African American intellectuals and leaders selectively appropriated anthropology—specifically, the work of Franz Boas—in their efforts to affirm notions of racial equality. Thus, From Savage to Negro documents the paradoxically liberating and normalizing potentiality of anthropological thought."" * History of Anthropology Review *"
Through its interrogation of anthropological and political discourses about race and racial formation, From Savage to Negro topples historical myths about the nation's legacy of state-sanctioned segregation and racial difference. -- The Nation
Author Information
Lee D. Baker is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at Columbia University and Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University.
