UNESCO Statements on Race
The 1950 UNESCO Statement on Race
In 1950, UNESCO convened a summit to address the concept of race and combat racism, spurred by the atrocities of World War II and Nazi ideologies. The resulting "Statement on Race," issued on July 18, 1950, aimed to clarify scientific knowledge about race and morally condemn racism. The summit brought together a panel of experts, primarily social scientists, including:
- Ernest Beaglehole (psychologist) White (Jewish family)
- Juan Comas (anthropologist) Mexican / Spanish
- Luiz de Aguiar Costa Pinto (sociologist) Brazilian
- Franklin Frazier (sociologist specializing in race relations) Black
- Morris Ginsberg (founder of the British Sociological Association) Jewish
- Humayun Kabir (philosopher and politician) Indian
- Claude Lévi-Strauss (anthropologist) Jewish
- Ashley Montagu (anthropologist; lead contributor to the statement) Jewish
The statement asserted that race was more a social construct than a biological fact, emphasizing human equality across races, the lack of evidence for racial differences in mental capacities, and the absence of biological harm from racial mixing. It also called for abandoning the term "race" in favor of "ethnic groups" due to its misuse in popular discourse.
Goals and Educational Campaign
The plan laid out by the UNESCO statement was to disseminate scientific facts to dismantle racial prejudice, aligning with UNESCO’s constitutional mandate to promote equality and human rights. The organization launched a campaign to spread these findings to a broad audience through pamphlets, exhibitions, and educational initiatives, aiming to foster a global culture of tolerance and peace.
The statement influenced significant outcomes, such as the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in *Brown v. Board of Education*, which led to the desegregation of schools in the United States.
Scientific Criticism and Revisions
However, the 1950 statement faced criticism from natural scientists such as Theodosius Dobzhansky, Julian Huxley, and L.C. Dunn, who argued that it lacked biological rigor and leaned too heavily on sociological framing. This prompted the release of a revised statement in 1951, which acknowledged race as a biological concept in genetic terms but maintained the core anti-racist message of the original.
Legacy and Continued Influence
This revision, along with subsequent UNESCO declarations in 1963, 1978, and 1995, continued to shape global anti-racism efforts. Despite this, debates have persisted over the decades regarding how best to balance scientific accuracy with the political and ethical imperatives of combating racism.
See Also
