Talk:Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
From Academic Kids
this was in the original version:
Warning: This text has been taken from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. It needs to be expanded, clarified, and updated.
Several words and at least one sentence (the first one) are still the same, but IMHO it counts as an original work protectable under the GFDL. Anyway, anyone can make further changes... Boud 16:36, 23 Dec 2003 (UTC)
blumenbach and the black woman
Can whoever added this to the page help me find verification of it?
"Later in life Blumenbach encountered in Switzerland 'eine zum Verlieben
schönen Négresse' ('a negro woman beautiful enough to fall in love
with'). Further anatomical study led him to the conclusion that
'individual Africans differ as much, or even more, from other
individual Africans as Europeans differ from Europeans'. Furthermore he
concluded that Africans were not inferior to the rest of mankind
'concerning healthy faculties of understanding, excellent natural
talents and mental capacities'.
Unfortunately these later ideas were far less influential than his earlier assertions with regard to the perceived relative qualities of the different so-called races."
Where does this story come from? I'd like to cite a reputable source in a paper.
Harvey
