Since enslaved people were first brought to the US, promoters of anti-Black racism and white supremacy co-opted the authority of science to justify racial inequality. A history of pseudoscientific methods “proving” white biological superiority and flawed social studies used to show “inherent” racial characteristics still influence society today.
This was not unique to the US, however. Examples of scientific racism can also be found in NAZI Germany prior to and during WWII, during which time German scientists produced literature ranking the various races of the world, with Arians at the top and Jews and Blacks at the bottom.
