Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“In Ways Unacademical”: The Reception of Carleton S. Coon's The Origin of Races

  • Published:
Journal of the History of Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines the controversy surrounding anthropologist CarletonS. Coon's 1962 book, The Origin of Races. Coon maintained that thehuman sspecies was divided into five races before it had evolved into Homo sapiens and that the races evolved into sapiens at different times. Coon's thesis was used by segregationists in the United States as proof that African Americans were “junior” to white Americans and hence unfit for full participation in American society. The paper examines the interactions among Coon, segregationist Carleton Putnam, geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky, and anthropologist Sherwood Washburn. The paper concludes that Coon actively aided the segregationist cause in violation of his own standards for scientific objectivity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Carleton Putnam. 9 March 1998. Washington Post, sec. C, p. 6.

  • Carleton Putnam Dies at 96: Led Delta and Wrote on Race. 16 March 1998. New York Times, p. 7. 1961. The Citizen. Vol. 6. 1958. “A Northerner on the Race Issue.” Richmond Times-Dispatch, p. 14. 1962. “A Plea for Moderation.” Charleston News and Courier, sec. A, p. 8. 1963. “Proceedings of the Thirty-first AnnualMeeting of the American Assocation of Physical Anthropologists.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 21: 399–403. 1961. “Science and the News.” Science 134: 1868–1869. 1963. “Science and the Race Problem.” Science bd142: 558–561. 1958. “Supreme Court's “Arrogance’ Viewed by Distinguished Northerner.’ ” Richmond Times Dispatch, p. 14.

  • Baker, L.D. 1998. From Savage to Negro. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barkan, E. 1992. The Retreat of Scientific Racism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beatty, J. 1987. “Weighing the Risks: Stalemate in the Classical/Balance Controversy.” Journal of the History of Biology 20: 289–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birdsell, J. 1963. “The Origin of Races.” Quarterly Review of Biology 28: 178–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blakey, M.L. 1987. “Skull Doctors: Intrinsic Social and Political Bias in the History of American Physical Anthropology.” Critique of Anthropology 7: 7–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brace, C.L. 1982. “The Roots of the Race Concept in American Physical Anthropology.” In: A History of American Physical Anthropology, 1930–1980, ed. Frank Spencer, pp. 11–29. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coogan, K. 1999. Dreamer of the Day: Francis Parker Yockey and the Postwar Fascist International. New York: Autonomedia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coon, C.S. 1981. Adventures and Discoveries. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1968. “Comment on Bogus Science.” Journal of Heredity 59: 275.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1963. “Comments.” Current Anthropology 4: 363.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1963. “Letter to the Editor.” Science 140: 208.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1965. Living Races of Man. New York: Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1962. The Origin of Races. New York: Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1939. The Races of Europe. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1982. Racial Adaptations. Chicago: Nelson Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1954. The Story of Man. New York: Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coon, C.S., Garn, S. and Birdsell, J. 1950. Races: A Study in the Problem of Race Formation in Man. Springfield IL: C.C. Thomas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobzhansky, T. 1961. “A Bogus ‘science’ of Race Prejudice.” Journal of Heredity 52: 189–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1963. “A Debatable Account of the Origin of Races.” Scientific American 208: 169–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ——1962. Mankind Evolving: The Evolution of the Human Species. New Haven CN: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1968. “More Bogus ‘science’ of Race Prejudice.” Journal of Heredity 59: 102–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1963. “Possibility that Homo Sapiens Evolved Independently 5 Times is Vanishingly Small.” Current Anthropology 4:360, 364–366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duke, D. 1998. My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding. Covington LA: Free Speech Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, L.C. and Dobzhansky, T. 1952. Heredity, Race, and Society. New York: New American Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fried, M. 10 October 1962. “Letter to the Editor.” New York Times, p. 46.

  • Garn, S.M. 1962. “The Newer Physical Anthropology.” American Anthropologist 64: 917–918.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, H.E. 1961. “The Equalitarian Dogma.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 4: 480–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, H.E. and George, W.C. 24 October 1962. “Letter to the Editor.” New York Times, p. 34.

  • Garrett, H.E., George, W.C. and Putnam, C. 1964. Race: A Reply to Race and Intelligence: A Scientific Evaluation by the Anti-Defamation Leage of B'nai B'rith. Washington DC: National Putnam Letters Committee.

    Google Scholar 

  • George, W.C. 1962. Biology of the Race Problem. Washington DC: National Putnam Letters Committee.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giles, E. 1999. “Coon, Carleton Stevens.” In: American National Biography, pp. 429–431. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilkeson, J.S. Jr. 1991. “The Domestication of ‘Culture’ in Interwar America, 1919–1941.” In:The Estate of Social Knowledge, eds. J. Brown, and D.K. van Keuren, pp. 153–174. Baltimore MA: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, A. and Hammonds, E. 2000. “Reconciling Race and Human Adaptability: Carleton Coon and the Persistence of Race in Scientific Discourse.” Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers 84: 28–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. 1989. Primate Visions. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herskovits, M.J. 1961. “Rear-Guard Action.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 5: 122–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howells, W.W. 1989. “Carleton Stevens Coon.” Biographical Memoirs 58: 109–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——9 December 1962. “Our Family Tree.” New York Times, sec. 7, p. 3.

  • Hunt, E.E. Jr. 1982. “Carleton Stevens Coon: 1904–1981.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 58: 239–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klineberg, O. et. al. 1956. “Does Race Really Make a Difference in Intelligence?” U.S. News and World Report 41: 7476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuttner, R.E. (ed.). 1967. Race and Modern Science. New York: Social Science Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasker, G.W. 1999. Happenings and Hearsay: Experiences of a Biological Anthropologist. Detroit MI: Savoyard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leacock, E. 1963. “Report on Section H.” Science 139:638.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lesseig, C.T. 1994. “Roast Beef and Racial Integrity: Mississippi's ‘Race and Reason Day,’ October 26, 1962 [sic].” Journal of Mississippi History56: 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, W.D., and Newton, W.P. 1979. Delta: The History of an Airline. Athens GA: University of Georgia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman, L. 1997. “Gender and the Deconstruction of the Race Concept.” American Anthropologist 99: 545–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks, J. 2000. “Human Biodiversity as a Central Theme of Biological Anthropology: Then and Now.” Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers 84: 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, E. 1962. “Origin of the Human Races.” Science 138: 420–422.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGurk, F.C.J. 1956. “A Scientist's Report on Race Differences.” U.S. News andWorld Report 41: 92–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMillen, N.R. 1994. The Citizen's Council: Organized Resistence to the Second Reconstruction, 1954–1964. Second ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead, M. 1963. “Clocking the Timetable of Man.” Saturday Review 46:41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montagu, A. 1956. “Negro Educational Capacity – A Scientist's View.” Harvard Law School Record, pp. 3–4, 6.

  • ——1963. “What is Remarkable About Varieties of Man is Likeness, not Differences.” Current Anthropology 4: 361–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newby, I.A. 1967. Challenge to the Court: Social Scientists and the Defense of Segregation, 1954–1966. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Opler, M.E. 9 December 1962. “Did the Races Come from Different Ancestors?” New York Herald Tribune, p. 22.

  • Paul, D.B. 1994. “Dobzhansky in the Nature Nurture Debate.” In: The Evolutions of Theodosius Dobzhansky, ed. Mark B. Adams. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, R. 1991. Race, Intelligence and Bias in Academe. Washington DC: Scott-Townsend.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, B.J. and Sanders, Edith R. 30 October 1962. “Letter to the Editor.” New York Times, p. 34.

  • Putnam, C. 1962. “Evolution and Race: New Evidence.” The Citizen 6: 7–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1945.High Journey: A Decade in the Pilgrimage of an Air Line Pioneer. New York: Scribners.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——5 January 1958. “My Dear Mr. President.” New York Times, p. 19.

  • ——1967. Race and Reality. Washington DC: Public Affairs Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1961. Race and Reason: A Yankee View. Washington DC: Public Affairs Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1962. The Road to Reversal. Washington DC: National Putnam Letters Committee.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1958. Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886. New York: Scribners.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1961. “This is the Problem.” The Citizen 6: 12–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J.P. 1994. “The Equalitarian Dogma Revisited.” Intelligence 19: 263–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ——1996. “Political Correctness and the Study of Racial Differences.” Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness 5: 213–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, N.J. 1985. “Carleton Coon: A Pioneer in Anthropological Literary Genres.” Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly 10: 40–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, L. 1962. “Race, Reason, and Rubbish Again.” Phylon 23: 149–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shipman, P. 1994. The Evolution of Racism. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverman, R. 2000. “The Blood Group ‘Fad’ in Post-War Racial Anthropology.” Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers 84: 11–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, G.G. 1963. “The Origin of Races.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 6: 268–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smedley, A. 1999. Race in North America. Second ed. Boulder CO: Westview.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stocking, G.W. 1968. Race, Culture and Evolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuckert, R.P. and Rinder, I.D. 1962. “The Negro in the Social Science Literature.” Phylon 23: 111–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, W.H. 1994. The Science and Politics of Racial Research. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tumin, Melvin, (ed.). 1963. Race and Intelligence: An Evaluation.New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.

    Google Scholar 

  • Washburn, S. 1963. “The Study of Race.” American Anthropologist 65: 521–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitney, G. 1998. “Introduction.” In: My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding, ed. David Duke. Covington LA: Free Speech Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——1997. “Raymond B. Cattell and the Fourth Inquisition.” Mankind Quarterly 38: 99–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Vernon J. 1996. Rethinking Race. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winston, A.S. 1996. “Context of Correctness: A Comment on Rushton.” Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless 5: 231–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —— “Saving Civilization: Herbert Sanborn, the‘ International Jewish Conspiracy’ and the Psychology of Race.” In: Cheiron: Proceedings of the Thirty-first Annual Meeting June 10–13, 1999.

  • ——1998. “Science in the Service of the Far Right: Henry E. Garrett, the IAAEE and the Liberty Lobby.” Journal of Social Issues 54: 179–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolpoff, M. and Caspari, R. 1997. Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction. NewYork: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication, University of Colorado, Campus Box 270, Boulder, CO, 80309-0270, USA

    John P. Jackson Jr.

Authors
  1. John P. Jackson Jr.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jackson, J.P. “In Ways Unacademical”: The Reception of Carleton S. Coon's The Origin of Races. Journal of the History of Biology 34, 247–285 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010366015968

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010366015968

Search

Navigation