Race: The Power of an Illusion
Encyclopedia
Race: The Power of an Illusion was a three part series that was produced by California Newsreel
and investigated race in society, science and history. The educational documentary originally screened on PBS and was primarily funded by CPD, the Ford Foundation
and PBS.
examines the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different groups according to their physical traits.
uncovers the roots of the race concept in North America, the 19th century science that legitimated it, and how it came to be held so fiercely in the western imagination. The episode is an eye-opening tale of how race served to rationalize, even justify, American social inequalities as "natural."
asks, If race is not biology, what is it? This episode uncovers how race resides not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It reveals how our social institutions "make" race by disproportionately channeling resources, power, status and wealth to white people.
and Frank Miele
disputed what was stated in this film.
California Newsreel
California Newsreel, founded in 1968, is an American non-profit, social justice film distribution and production company based in San Francisco, California. Their educational media resources include both documentary and feature films, with a focus on the advancement of racial justice and diversity...
and investigated race in society, science and history. The educational documentary originally screened on PBS and was primarily funded by CPD, the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
and PBS.
Series overview
The division of people into distinct categories—“white,” “black,” “yellow,” “red” peoples—has become so widely accepted and so deeply routed in our psyches, that most people would not think to question its veracity. This three hour documentary tackles the theory of race by subverting the idea of race as biology, tracing the idea back to its origin in the 19th century.Chapters
- Chapter One - The Difference Between Us
examines the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different groups according to their physical traits.
- Chapter Two - The Story We Tell
uncovers the roots of the race concept in North America, the 19th century science that legitimated it, and how it came to be held so fiercely in the western imagination. The episode is an eye-opening tale of how race served to rationalize, even justify, American social inequalities as "natural."
- Chapter Three - The House We Live In
asks, If race is not biology, what is it? This episode uncovers how race resides not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It reveals how our social institutions "make" race by disproportionately channeling resources, power, status and wealth to white people.
Controversy
The book Race: The Reality of Human Difference by Vincent SarichVincent Sarich
- Biography :Born in Chicago, he received a bachelor of science in chemistry from Illinois Institute of Technology and his masters and doctorate in anthropology from University of California, Berkeley...
and Frank Miele
Frank Miele
Frank Miele is an American journalist and senior editor at Skeptic. He is best known for his controversial advocacy of hereditarian hypotheses about race, especially race and intelligence....
disputed what was stated in this film.