The myth of race, debunked in 3 minutes
Transcript You may think you know exactly what race you are, but how would you prove it if somebody disagreed with you? The fact is, even though race drives a lot of social and political outcomes, race isn't real. One of the first people to attempt to categorize humans according to race was a German scientist in around 1776. He came up with 5 different groups according to physical appearance and geographic origin of their ancestors. Americans of European descent eagerly bought into this type of thinking around the same time. Some historians have said the idea that there are different races helped them resolve the contradiction between a natural right to freedom and the fact of slavery. If whites were their own distinct category, then they could feel a lot better about denying freedom to people who they labeled black and decided were fundamentally different. But as political priorities change, definitions of race in America adjust right along with them. For exampl...