Cincinnati Talks About Race in Exhibit

What comes to mind when you think about race? That's what the exhibit "Race, Are We So Different" hopes to address. Presenting the analogy of an impressionist painting that looks different the more you look at it, the project of American Anthropology Association poses many questions about Race and invites Cincinnati to examine the answers.

The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal is hosting the "Race" presentation. I spent nearly three hours touring the 5,000 square feet of interactive exhibits and came away hoping, as does the American Anthropological Association, that their efforts help promote an understanding of race. They also hope to convey three messages:

Race is a recent human invention

Race is about culture, not biology

Race and racism are embedded in institutions and everyday life

So What is Race?-

"Race" was created to justify privilege, power and opportunity, the exhibits explain. It was a concept neither addressed nor documented during early history. Original human divisions were based on religious or pagan beliefs with the first racial event in 1492 when Jews were expelled from Spain. "Race: Are We So Different?" laid out a chronology of other significant "Race"-defining events. Here are just a few:

-1500- The concept of the "European Chain of Being" laid a framework for sorting humans into races.

-1525- A German, Lorenz Fries, created an engraving depicting natives encountered in the Caribbean as dog-headed cannibals.

-1640- When 3 Caucasian and 1 Negro indentured servants escaped, all of them were punished; but only the Negro was sentenced to a lifetime of servitude, creating a lifelong Negro slave.

-1662- Colonial Slave Laws defined who was a slave. If your mother was a slave then her children would be slaves. If she were free, her children would be free.

-1669- Colonial law declared killing a slave was not a non felony.

-1679- A law forbade free Negroes and Indians from owning Christian servants.

-1692- A Law forbade Negroes from owning own horses.

-1705- Negroes, Mulattos and Indians declared as real estate.

-1758- Linneaeus, a Swedish Naturalist, presented 4 human racial classifications plus a Monster and Feral category (Wild)

-1784- Thomas Jefferson declared race was an obstacle to equality

-1862 - The Homestead Act granted the right to settle Native American lands.

-1880- Jim Crow laws restricted Negroes from full participation, legislating separate facilities from Whites.

-1882- The Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese workers from entering the country.

-1883- The U. S. Supreme acknowledged "State's Rights" to continue "Jim Crow" practices.

1924- The "Virginia Racial Integrity Act" banned whites from marrying non whites.

1944- Japanese were interred and lost all of their land and property.

As slavery initially existed, it involved all people and religions; but it was individual acts, practices and legislation that defined slavery as an evolving institution separating and reducing only African Americans to a lifetime of servitude. Instead of admitting the need for slavery and the power to enslave as the reason, one expert says men created a system that invented "Race" and used it to justify their actions then and now.

Race- Legislated and Adjudicated

Emigration to America was once legally granted only to Whites and Negroes. But as people from many countries wanted to enter the US, it was left to our system of laws and court cases to define exactly who was white and who was not.

-1922- Ozawa v U. S.- Although he argued his skin was as white as any man in the room, Ozawa, a Japanese native, was declared non-white and denied emigration.

-1923- U. S. v. Bahagat Singh Thihnd, Asian Indian's were decided to be Caucasian.

Race's legal definition changes depending ancestry and geography:

-In Virginia you were a Negro by virtue of 1/16% Negro blood.

-In Florida it was 1/8%

- Alabama went by the 1 drop of blood rule.

Like an Avocado?

One exhibit explains how Brazilian, Jefferson Fish, uses the avocado to illustrate the thinking on "Race" and how classifications change depending on the region. In the US, we see the avocado as a vegetable and use them in salads. In Brazil it is a fruit, combined with sweets and served as a dessert. In America, "Race" has been customarily Black, White or Mixed, while Brazil has at least 134 terms to describe skin color.

What Does Science Say?

Contrary to popular belief, science verifies "Race" is not skin color and skin color is not "Race." Anthropologist, Alan Goodman, cites color as skin's adaptation to the sun. Dark skin is a result of tropical climates where melanocytes in skin produce melanin to protect skin from UV Radiation in sunlight. Skin color helps to balance Folic Acid and Vitamin D. Pale skin allows more Vitamin D absorption.

One of the "Race" exhibits invites you to consider a flight from Norway to a Tropical climate and the drastic contrast in skin color from one destination to the other. You would see paler skins in the northern hemisphere and darker skins when you arrived in the south. But if you walked the entire distance, from country to country, you would see a gradual light-to-dark shift along the way.

All humans share common ancestry with origins in Africa nearly 200,000 years ago. A world map showed a DNA migration from Africa to Asia and Europe. It is an illustration of how, from group to group, whatever the "Race," there is, at best, a 7% variation in DNA. Most common DNA variables are carried by people everywhere and not allocated by race.

A few additional scientific facts to consider:
-If the rest of the world blew up and only Africa remained, the majority of the world's DNA traits, 97%, would be preserved.

-Genetically, according to scientists, we are all "Africans," all of us have our origins in that continent.

-Sickle Cell Anemia, thought to be a disease unique to African American, is a response to Malaria and found in other races as well.

-A thousand years from now, we will still have light and dark skin colors, but most of us will be more "in between."

Myths and the Truth

One exhibit explains how we "..structure society around notions of race" with many myths of expertise in a certain "thing" based on which race is deemed best at it; and these cultural norms change over time.

-Whites are considered good at cycling, but in the 1800s, cycling was a sport dominated by African Americans.

-Basketball, now dominated by African Americans, was once the sport of Eastern European Jews.

-Boxing was an Irish man's skill.

-Sprinting was an African Americans sport.

-Distance running was a European trait.

- An African American professor and contributor to the exhibit says he is often mistaken for a coach as his "Race" is deemed athletic and not intellectual.

Scientific Justification of Race?

One "Race" exhibit explains it as "a matter of cultural interest rather than scientific substance." Science didn't create "Race", they say, which didn't keep scientists over the years from trying to justify racial biases.

-In 1792 one anatomist introduced the "Facial Angle" theory with a chart of characteristics that illustrated Negroes as having angular faces and Whites as having flat features, with a range of angles of the races in between.

-In 1839 Samuel Morton compared race and skull size. Measuring skulls, filling them with mustard seeds or lead shot, he decided Caucasians had larger skulls and, therefore, greater brain capacity. Upon his death he was praised for giving "...the Negro his position as inferior."

-Swedish anatomist, Anders Retzius, developed a formula for measuring the roundness of heads.

-A German developed a hair color table for determining race.

-Eugene Fisher was the architect of Racial Hygiene principles used by the Nazis.

-In 1879 the Bureau of American Ethnology addressed what they called "The Indian Problem."

-A slaves desire to run away was deemed "Runaway Sickness."

-Linnaeus' system of racial classification remains an influence to this day.

At some point in time, every human aspect: foot size, heads, legs, arm length, has been used to sort racial differences.

Why Did Man Create Race?

Racial distinctions provide privileges for some and hurt others. Traditionally laws have favored White citizens over other races with a history full of examples:

-Native Americans lost 95% of their land and exist as tenants on state land in a country they once dominated.

-Mexicans lost land holdings in California.

-Japanese interred during World War II lost everything.

-GI Bill privileges helped create a middle class, but those benefits often excluded Blacks.

-Social Security originally excluded farm workers and maids as both were predominately non white job categories.

There were many more exhibits explaining various practices which use "Race" to shut out non-White citizens:

-"Tracking" for school children allows placement in class levels based on testing, grades, but also on teacher recommendation, a practice that may doom even the most gifted student to a lower learning "Track" leaving them less prepared for college.

-Inner city residents are more likely to suffer lead poisoning due to unabated lead in older building.

-Unconscious biases effect health care for minorities causing documented lower levels of care.

-Residential areas with air quality below EPA standards due to industrial pollution are more likely to be populated by people of color.

-Alaskan Natives are more likely to have mercury poisoning in their fish supply.

-Native Americans are the only ethnicity routinely used in naming sports teams. One display kiosk showed Native Americans in a brief video stating "I am not a mascot" To draw attention to the issue, the University of North Colorado intramural basketball team recently renamed themselves the "Fighting Whites."

Seeds Of Understanding

"Race: Are We So Different," is an exciting collection of exhibits with video and audio presentations and interactive displays with information about "Race" you may not have heard before. It was an ideal educational experience for Black History Month as, in addition to educating, the information presented may serve to plant new seeds of understanding.

This exhibit can be seen at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal through April 26 and will travel to other cities across the country through 2011. It is well worth seeing if it comes to your area.

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"Race: Are We So Different" exhibit at Cincinnati Museum Center