Crania Americana -the most important book in the history of scientific racism

On display at the Whipple Library, Cambridge, is a book described as the 'most important book in the history of scientific racism'
Current research into this book is revealing how racist ideas travelled between the United States and Europe in the 19th century.
Crania Americana, published in Philadelphia in 1839 by Samuel George Morton, is being studied by Cambridge University PhD student James Poskett at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science.
His research has uncovered, for the first time, just how influential this book was in scientific circles that included the likes of Charles Darwin and James Cowles Prichard.
www.hps.cam.ac.uk/library/Fpage.html

[@MermaidsandGenies]

Well done video. I measured the Morton skulls in 1988 and have read a great deal of his of his writings. FYI, Darwin held Morton held in low esteem and wrote a letter in Lyell in which he said that Morton was "wanting of the facts." Also, a major race issue in the 1840's was the annexation of Mexico, and the fact that Morton sent tried to send his book to John C, Calhoun suggests he wanted to influence that issue. Many people only focus on the issues of slavery and Native American displacement, when discussing Morton but I think Mexico may have been a more prominent public issue at the time.

[@JVDAWG1]

Remember: Divergent evolution in humans stopped at the neck.

[@elsalolz]

Really informative video, would be better if it talked more about how the theories were wrong.

[@Clavote]

That was superb! Excellent research and impressive prints. Thanks!

[@alexlukens8168]

Thanks so much. John Collins who did the lithographs, was my great great grandfather.

[@mikkenieminen9603]

Skulls have been collected from battlefields for thousands of years. There is a difference in skull structures of different races. It is not all bs!!!

[@Cyberphunkisms]

we have a lot of work to do

[@RobertWesleyBranch]

Thank you for this very important work.

[@MrShriniketpatil]

Maybe humans are different, so what???

[@shivnarayanthakur6389]

Eye opener. Thank you!

[@neverendingjourneystilllea5271]

Thanks

[@dolopierre709]

I appreciated this video!

[@mr.j3371]

I thought it was the skull to body ratio that determined intelligence. But this is very interesting. Thank you for posting it.

[@Andres259764]

SPANISH SUBTITLES PLEASE TANK YOU

[@techisgod]

Scottish Gaelic Subtitles Please. Thank you.

[@deebs12]

What are we going to do? Be mad at science itself for making groups of people differently? I don’t understand the outrage over acknowledging different cranial structures. I suppose what matters is what we do with the information. 🐧☕️ It is what it is.

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

Well perhaps because Africans have all of the skull shapes present in all other groups. As a matter of facts there are more differences found on the continent than all others outside of the continent combined.

[@Taniellaful]

Because the earlier Homo sapiens, had smaller skulls, then they did not have a lot of information nor do they have the bones that we found today in Ethiopia. But they use the excuse that earlier species were more primitive because of their small skull, and he sourced Africans with small skulls to try to prove that they were inferior. Modern day we know now that all modern day humans, Homo sapiens come from the bones that were found in Ethiopia from 300,000 years ago. We now know that we all share the same DNA and connection to these bones. This book was pseudoscience, his work was highly discredited but contributed to harmful stereotypes that lasted for centuries…. Until now, we know about the Neanderthals and we know who contains their DNA. We now know that we all come from African bones.

[@Taniellaful]

Your response was an example of intellectual insanity, you know nothing of science or evolution. Otherwise you would have not made such a redundant statement.