Wiki source code of UNESCO Statements on Race
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| author | version | line-number | content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In 1950, UNESCO convened a summit to address the concept of race and combat racism, spurred by the | ||
| 2 | atrocities of World War II and Nazi ideologies. The resulting "Statement on Race," issued on July 18, 1950, aimed | ||
| 3 | to darify scientific knowledge about race and morally condemn racism. The summit brought together a panel of | ||
| 4 | primarily social scientists, induding Emest Beaglehole (psychologist), Juan Comas (anthropologist), | ||
| 5 | Luiz de Aguiar Costa Pinto (sociologist), Franklin Frazier (sociologist specializing in race relations), Morris | ||
| 6 | Ginsberg (founder of the British Sociological Association), Humayun Kabir (philosopher and politician), Claude | ||
| 7 | Lévi-Strauss (anthropologist), and Ash19t Montagu (anthropologist), who was a key fi81re in drafting the | ||
| 8 | statement. The statenent asserted that race was more a social construct than a fact, emphasizing | ||
| 9 | human equality across races, the lack of evidence for racial differences in rnental capacities, and the absence of | ||
| 10 | biological harm from racial mixing. tt also called for abandoning the term •race" in favor of •ethnic groups" due to | ||
| 11 | its misuse in popular discourse. | ||
| 12 | The plan laid out by the UNESCO statement was to disseminate scientific facts to dismantle racial prejudice, | ||
| 13 | aligning with UNESCOs constitutional mandate to promote equality and human rights. The organization | ||
| 14 | launched a campaign to spread these findings to a broad audience pamphlets, exhibitions, and | ||
| 15 | educational initiatives, aiming to foster a gobal culture of tolerance and peace. The statement influenced | ||
| 16 | significant outcones, such as the 1954 U.S. Suprene Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Which | ||
| 17 | desegregated schools. However, the 1950 statement faced criticism from natural scientists like Theodosius | ||
| 18 | Dobzhansky, Julian Hodey, and LC. Dunn for its sociological bias and lack of biological rigor, leading to a reised | ||
| 19 | statement in 1951 that acknowledged race as a biological concept in genetic terms but maintained the core | ||
| 20 | anti-racist stance. This revision and subsequent UNESCO declarations (e.g., 1963, 1978, 1995) continued to | ||
| 21 | shape global anti-racism efforts, though debates persisted about the balance between scientific accuracy and | ||
| 22 | political objectives. |
