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The American Philosophical Society



Who The American Philosophical Society


What: An academic society founded by Benjamin Franklin that played a significant role in the development of American science.


When: 1743


Details: The American Philosophical Society promoted scientific research and

intellectual exchange in the American colonies. However, it also supported and published studies that reinforced racial hierarchies. Members, including Thomas Jefferson, used the Society to disseminate their beliefs in the racial inferiority of Black people and justify their subjugation.


Why and How It Was Racist: The Society's promotion of pseudoscientific theories about race provided a platform for the justification of slavery and racial discrimination, shaping American scientific and social thought.


Sources: https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/aps-and- inequality#:~:text=Indeed%2C%20throughout%20the%20early%2019th,scientif ically%20established%20differences%20between%20races.

Mills, C. (2012). Philosophy raced, philosophy erased. Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge, 45.

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