Austin Frisby

Dr. Bailie

2089 Intermediate Comp.

7/16/19

Between the Text

            America is a country that has accomplished truly good things and is praised by its citizens and the world. People tend to often neglect the dark periods in American history like during times of slavery or racial discrimination. For example, people praise the achievements of scientists during these time periods but don’t often think about their views or the type of person they are. One person during this time was Frederick Hoffman, who was apart of the science community, used statistics and scientific data to support his discriminatory views on interracial marriage.

Frederick Hoffman was a statistician for a large insurance company and had access to the leading science at that time. He published many books the fit the racial discrimination belief using his knowledge in statistics and became part of the scientific community. In one of these books he wrote a statistical analysis on “Race Amalgamation” where he examines if interracial marriage is becoming more popular/going to be a problem. Hoffman is writing this for the scientific community because he is trying to get his beliefs to become a common fact that everyday people have to accept. For the scientific community to listen to Hoffman he needed to appear credible. In this analysis Hoffman uses logos to appeal to this community because it interpreting objective data is the only thing this community will consider if they are to be persuaded. Hoffman used data provided from this community to strengthen his argument. When Hoffman was talking about the difference between whites, blacks, and mixed people he used data gather by a Dr. Hunt who would have been part of the science community and his work to be seen as objective and reliable. Hoffman knew that and so he was able to take acceptable data from this community and draw, at the time, a reasonable conclusion based on the data. When Hoffman is trying to analyze his main issue of interracial marriages, he supplies the reader with marital statistics that they might not be familiar with and be from a credible source being the government.

At the beginning of his analysis, Hoffman claims that interracial marriage will not be a problem, by it not existing, as time progresses. To support this Hoffman uses “objective” science that claims that black Americans are lesser than white Americans based on an average of physical measurements of the skull and lungs. The physical measurements used were of the lungs gathered by Dr. Gould. From Gould’s data he found that blacks had the highest vital capacity, followed by whites then people of mixed race. Also looking at the respiration rate, how fast they were breathing, he found that whites need to take few breaths, then blacks followed by people of mixed race. Hoffman was able to take this data, that was objective, and was able to draw a conclusion that breeding between the two races causes their children to be seen as the most inferior race group in terms of physical traits and just slightly higher in intelligence than blacks. Hoffman also uses marital data of Northern states and data from other countries to support this idea that people will want to marry someone the looks like them. In Hoffman’s case this means people will naturally want to marry someone of the same race. The data Hoffman provides is interracial marriages in Michigan, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Boston, and Bermuda. These were records gathered by the state, city, or country and would be considered reliable. Hoffman compares the number of interracial marriages to the total number in that area and then he looks at the data in recent years to conclude that interracial marriages are on the decline. Hoffman neglected to add marital data provided by the South and only looked at Northern states, since it was more acceptable there, to project what might happen in the South. The types of data he has presented would be acceptable to the science community, since it was data collected by them and in turn they would listen to his claim and conclusions and any of the anecdotal evidence he provides.

From this analysis of Hoffman’s essay shows how he was able to frame his views in a way to fit the scientific community and be accepted as fact or a reasonable conclusion. Hoffman had published books and worked as a statistician but analyzing raw objective data collected by the scientific community, he was able to make himself apart of this group. The science community shares their information in books and journal articles using clear and concise logic and objective data which is what Hoffman did in this analysis. The goal of Hoffman and many scientists at this time wanted to find a way to objectively classify people of different races. Hoffman used the same lexis that would be used by the science community like raw data and conclusion on that data. Since Hoffman was able to do all of these things, he was able to force himself into the community and use its platform to spread his opinions that he backed up with objective data that was gathered by the same community he took advantage of.

Austin Frisby

Dr. Bailie

2089 Intermediate Comp.

7/16/19

Between the Text

            America is a country that has accomplished truly good things and is praised by its citizens and the world. People tend to often neglect the dark periods in American history like during times of slavery or racial discrimination. For example, people praise the achievements of scientists during these time periods but don’t often think about their views or the type of person they are. One person during this time was Frederick Hoffman, who was apart of the science community, used statistics and scientific data to support his discriminatory views on interracial marriage.

Frederick Hoffman was a statistician for a large insurance company and had access to the leading science at that time. He published many books the fit the racial discrimination belief using his knowledge in statistics and became part of the scientific community. In one of these books he wrote a statistical analysis on “Race Amalgamation” where he examines if interracial marriage is becoming more popular/going to be a problem. Hoffman is writing this for the scientific community because he is trying to get his beliefs to become a common fact that everyday people have to accept. The thing that ties the readers to the issue is the marital statistics taken from different places.

At the beginning of his analysis, Hoffman claims that interracial marriage will not be a problem, by it not existing, as time progresses. To support this Hoffman uses “objective” science that claims that black Americans are lesser than white Americans based on an average of physical measurements of the skull and lungs. Hoffman also uses marital data of Northern states and data from other countries to support this idea that people will want to marry someone the looks like them. In Hoffman’s case this means people will naturally want to marry someone of the same race. The type of data he has presented would be acceptable to the science community to listen to his claim and conclusions and any of the anecdotal evidence he provides.

From this analysis of Hoffman’s essay shows how he was able to frame his views in a way to fit the scientific community and be accepted as fact or a reasonable conclusion. It also shows how the science community allowed for bad science and misleading statistics to influence them and be accepted because it fit their preconceived notions. It unfortunate that the science community wanted data to fit what they already knew instead of looking at data with an open minded and this allowed the people in this community to be okay with widespread discrimination against black Americans.

Using texts not widely read in DuBois writing gives him an advantage over the readers. That could be to slightly mislead the readers into thinking that these stories actually happen to him making him be seen as a human and what is going on is wrong. (adds to his credibility, show hes better educated than readers) His style was meant for a more educated audience. He references esoteric texts to show he is more knowledgeable. The texts that are referenced are to provide some emotional response by the reader. Reason/logic is not really used.

Writer: W. E. B. DuBois

Issue: Inequality

Reader: Academics

Gap: Explaining what it means to be black in daily life

Claim: The ignorance of white people not knowing how their actions effect black americans.

Reason: Personal experience

Evidence: Historical evidence (something similar has happened multiple times in the past). Textual evidence

Warrant: White people believe that they are intellectually superior

Counterargument: That white people are just better and science and people in power reinforce this idea.

Rebuttal: That black americans shouldn’t be able to compete in society right away (starting at a disadvantage) but it will take some time and be patient.

The rhetorical appeals seen in DuBois work would be ethos and pathos. Science and law are skewed against blacks so it would not work well for his argument. In Hoffmans essay he uses logic (data and measurements) to persuade/reinforce his ideas.

2. The science and law communities made it to where DuBois couldn’t use reason/logic to support his argument so instead he had to appeal to emotions and establish his credibility

140-149

• Du Bois explains the double consciousness of black americans at because they were labeled in a way to feel insecure about their true identity and they are constantly looking at the world through the eyes of white americans instead of themselves
• A question he got asked a lot was “How does it feel to be a problem” and this essay is a response to that
• Say that he wishes he can be both black and American without being discriminated against
• Throughout American history blacks have be continuously disappointed with the promise of being free but white americans don’t follow through
• The ending is that segregation should end because the two races will complement each other and be able to improve both sides weaknesses/flaws

76-101

• It wasn’t until 1911 until someone challenged scientific racism (Franz Boas was this guy)
• The main question by Hoffman is that interracial mixing is having a negative effect on the population
• References the “law of similarity” a lot meaning people naturally want to be with people similar/looks like them
• He states that children of mixed parents are morally and physically inferior
• He uses data on vital capacity of white, pure blacks, and mixed to come to this conclusion
• He uses skull measurements of whites, pure blacks, and mixed to come to the conclusion that mixed people are more intelligent than pure blacks
• Says that this cross breading leads to an increased mortality rate and increase of deadly diseases in the mixed population
• Blames unintelligent white men for the increase rate in prostitution of mixed women
• Uses birth rates between Christians and Jews to say that the breading of people of different religions don’t work/less fertile than pure breading. Draws parallels of people of different races
• Some people had an opinion that interracial intercourse has decreased post war than during slavery
• Uses marriage rates of mixed couples and comparing them to all marriages to conclude that mixed marriages are on the decline. Both races in favor of separation
• Hoffman believes that “unlawful intercourse” between mixed races is at an all time high especially in the city
• Concludes through personal experience that people who get into interracial marriages that both people are not good people (in most cases)

TMM

• Morton claimed that he could 100% classify the skulls that were uncovered in Egypt and he unintentionally places skulls that appeared to have a large brain in the Caucasian group and flatter skulls in other groups
• Morton did not account for sex/body size difference that would lead to bigger skulls so the data is skewed to favor his prejudice
• His prejudice is more prevalent when comparing the seed measurement to lead shot measurements in that black skulls by far had a larger discrepancy to fit is preconceived ideas
• If all of mortons data is corrected then it shows that there is not a significant difference in skull sized between different race groups
• The south appreciated mortons work but did not openly except it because it conflicts with the bible
• Polygeny was not needed to support the uses of slavery in the south, there were in some cases doctors that made up diseases to explain slaves behavior/physical problems

TMM

Gould believes that mortons work was not a case of conscious fraud because if he intentionally lied in his work the science community would have kicked him out and never listen to him again. It favors that the error in mortons work was unconscious fraud because it fit his prejudice and the prejudice/social understanding of other scientist at that time

PvF

1. John Tyler Morgan
2. Race conflict in the US
3. Where african americans fit in society/ranked
4. Government officials/people of power

claim- That congress/ amendments passed actually work against african americans rather than helping them (created race conflict)

Reasons- The white race is superior

Evidence- slave laws

Warrent- The white race is superior

Counterargument- African americans are capable of reaching equal status as whites in society

Rebuttal- The government may see african americans as equal but it can’t force citizens to change the way they think

• John Tyler Morgan wrote an article called “the race question in the US”
• Morgan was responsible for defeating important reconstruction bills being The Blair Bill and the Force Bill
• Morgan said that because the US government passed the 13^th and 14^th and many more bills trying to protect African American rights that they imply their inferiority
• Morgan also argues that there would still be a “race question” if these African Americans were not previously enslaved/came from a history of slavery (ie if they were to immigrate to the US)
• Also says that no race can co-exist with the white race
• He argues that african Americans haven’t earned their freedom/rights because they never fought back to gain it. Points to Africa and how white Europeans ended slavery there and that white americans gave blacks their freedom
• Believes that the white race is so clearly superior that its natural
• Blames the race conflict on the US government (say there was no problem until the government got involved)
• Argues that slave laws were a good thing for everyone in the south including blacks.
• Says that the pride of men will be more resistant to any movement, social or political, that drastically affects their lives
• The answer to the race question is for the full separation of the races under different governments

TMM

• Samuel George Morton collected a lot of skull over 1000 and 600 of which were native americans
• Morton was very popular but had a hypothesis that races could be ranked based on objective physical appearances
• Morton used BBs to fill the cranial cavity of skulls to determine brain size for different races
• It was found that Morton fudged the numbers to fit prior convictions but not on purpose
• In his works Morton stated his own prejudice on the matter
• Morton used bad statistics to find that a difference in skull size to be 5 cubic inches in native americans and Caucasians
• With corrective statistics there ended up not being a significant difference between the two groups

1. In PvF the supreme court is a discourse community. They have they own genre in the forms of opinion essays for the majority and the dissent. They have a very high standard of entry with law degrees and time served as judges in higher courts. During this time their goal focused on public health and enforcing the letter of the law. They have a way to communicate and share information with others. The justices of the supreme court have their own lexis that in their documents are hard to understand by someone not in the law profession.

Taking a look at Tourgee he could also be part of a discourse community. The goal would be to protect and improve the rights of african american citizens. They could communicate through briefs, letters, articles in the newspaper/magazine and share information on the progress they have made or lack there of.

2. Just looking at the supreme court they spread their knowledge in the form of written opinionated essay’s by the majority and the dissent. The majority opinion would set precedent on how that law should be interpreted and the dissent would give their opinions on the danger or why the majority might be mislead. Since the supreme court is the law of the land the majority opinion would be made public in newspapers/magazines.

3. The supreme court set the foundation for future american jim crow laws by upholding the decision in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case to declare that separate but equal was constitutional. Before that they kept ruling on cases involving the 14th amendment and the civil rights acts and basically narrowed that it only applies to the states not the individual.

• By 1911 the supreme court heard 607 cases involving the 14th but only 32 involved african american rights
• The court set precedent that the language in the 14th only applies to the states not individual people
• Justice Harlan (who was a southerner) was in dissent with a lot of cases decided by the court and want an expansive view of the 13th
• Grady wrote a response that became popular at the time advocating for separate but equal (echoing Jim Crow laws that passed in Georgia)
• Tourgee tried everything possible to give his side the best possible chance of succeeding. This includes waiting for 4 years in hopes some justices change and continuous journal articles advocating for his side to sway public opinion
• The majority decision references the slaughter house cases to draw a distinction between social and political rights
• The majority decision also left the definition of colored up to the states
• In Harlan dissent he thought that these laws were clearly unconstitutional and misleading
• Harlan also feared that this separation would “arouse race hate” and “Perpetuate a feeling of distrust”

• At that time the culture had already ranked races and had misleading visuals to suggest that african american might be lower on the ranking than apes
• The people during this time that are seen as heros like Lincoln and Franklin had determinest views
• Many of the popular scientist during this time also had their own views supporting or redefining racial ranking
• A common view during this time was that all races were seen as different species of humans
• The theory of polygeny came from America and was the first american theory that won the respect of european scientists
• Agassiz thought of his work was free from bias

TMM

1. Gould defines biological determinism as groups in different social or economic status in an accurate reflection of biology. (that groups race, sex, classification)
2. The two major sources of data used as support is craniometry and certain styles of psychological testing.
3. They invoke that science is purely objective and is seen as harsh truth when it comes to the different races.
4. According to Gould biological determinism is useful for groups in power.
5. According to Gould the adherents of biological determination changes to the system are both an enormous cost for individuals psychologically and an enormous cost for society economically.
6. Gould’s arguments against BD begins by attacking the fallacy of reification and ranking.
7. Gould is writing about the fallacies of quantifying intelligence with a single number for each person and the use of that number to rank groups of people and oppressing the lower groups
8. “influential and that scientists believed that they were pursuing unsullied truth”
9. Gould means that it looks at a groups status and determines where they should and must be in order to be seen as equals.

PvF

1. The problems with some of these laws were that they were made to keep races separate but there were already people of mixed race.
2. Tourgee wanted the supreme court to rule that segregation laws were unconstitutional
3. Because he was mixed and Tourgee wanted to challenge the classification of colored.
4. John Ferguson ruled in favor of Desdunes because he was on an interstate train and that the state couldn’t for its law on what is a federal law. He rule against Plessy because he was on an intrastate train and could therefore enforce the law.
5. A political right is a right provided to the citizens by the government. A social right is a right that people have to whom they want to associate or appear soically/publically. A civil right is a grey area where the government decides that a social right is important enough to be applied to everyone.
6. Congress passes a civil rights act because of “black codes” that were made because the 13th was too vague and congress wanted to make sure that african americans had these rights like everyone else.
7. It shifted the final appeal from the states to the federal government (i.e. States power was weakened)
8. It was white butchers from Louisiana that first brought up the 13th and 14th amendments to the supreme court.

PvF

• Government officials a part of the widespread system of repression
• Albion Tourgee was the lawyer for Homer Plessy and was an advocate for equality for African Americans
• The act that Plessy was arrested for was planned/staged so it could be challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court in hopes of eliminating separate but equal laws
• Reconstruction after the civil war had two goals to rebuild physical structures that were destroyed during the war and to reform southern society
• President Johnson was from the south and vetoed every bill congress passed to give African Americans more freedoms and thus congress went around him
• Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14^th amendment were very controversial because it was seen as the federal government taking power away from the states
• The election of 1868 and the years after reminds me of what is going on in today’s political/social environment
• The radical reconstruction by congress was a failure in every way possible
• The slaughter-house cases were ruled on by the supreme court and end up restricting the scope of the civil rights act of 1866 and the 14^th amendment

TMM

• Old myth principle that an individual’s worth can be assigned by their intelligence
• Testing may be measuring the size of their head or psychological testing
• In the 1920s some dude proposed that individuals can be classified based on IQ scores and back up this reasoning with bad/non-existing data
• The main argument is that science is not pure fact but is influenced and has been influenced by the culture throughout history
• Craniometry (the measure of intelligence based on skull size) was big in the 19^th century and intelligence testing (IQ) was big in the 20^th century (both were/are based on faulty science)