Book Suggestion: Who’s Black and Why?: A Hidden Chapter from the Eighteenth-Century Invention of Race In 1739 Bordeaux’s Royal Academy of Sciences announced a contest for the best essay on the sources of “blackness.” What is the physical cause of blackness and African hair, and what is the cause of Black degeneration, the contest announcement asked. Sixteen essays, written in French and Latin, were ultimately dispatched from all over Europe. The authors ranged from naturalists to physicians, theologians to amateur savants. Documented on each page are European ideas about who is Black and why.

Book Suggestion: Who’s Black and Why?: A Hidden Chapter from the Eighteenth-Century Invention of Race: In 1739 Bordeaux’s Royal Academy of Sciences announced a contest for the best essay on the sources of “blackness.” What is the physical… #MsRachel #BordeauxsRoyal #RoyalAcademy #Sciencesannounced