Race (sociology) facts for kids
The word race or racial group is used to describe how people sometimes divide the human species into different groups. Often, these groups are based on how people look. This includes things like skin color, facial features, or hair type.
However, modern biology teaches us that there is only one human race. All humans are part of the same species. But the idea of "race" also has a meaning in sociology. This means how people act and think about groups. For example, some people might react differently if they see a white person compared to a black person. This is why in countries like the United States, official forms sometimes ask people about their ethnic origin. This question is often a way of asking, "What racial group do you feel you belong to?"
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History of Race Ideas
In the 1800s and early 1900s, many scientists used to divide people into what they called "three races." White people were often called "Caucasoid race." Black people were called "Negroid race." And people from East Asia and Southeast Asia were called "Mongoloid race."
This way of thinking led to a lot of prejudice. Prejudice means having a negative opinion about someone just because of their group. Both Europeans and some Asians believed their own skin color or group was better than others.
What is Racism?
Racism is a harmful idea that says one race is better or worse than another. It claims there are deep, natural differences between human races. Racism also suggests that different races should live separately and not marry each other. Someone who supports these ideas is called a racist.
These racist ideas caused terrible things to happen throughout history. They supported the horrors of African slavery. They also led to Apartheid in South Africa, which was a system of strict separation. In the United States, there was Segregation and the Jim Crow laws. These laws kept Black and White people separate and unequal. Racism also fueled Nazism in Germany and Japanese imperialism.
Social Darwinism and Race
Social darwinism is a set of ideas that suggests there's a competition among all people, or even whole nations. It sees this competition as a way societies "evolve."
This idea takes the theory of natural selection from Charles Darwin and applies it to human society. Darwin's natural selection explains how animals compete for limited resources. The ones best suited to their environment survive and pass on their traits. This is often called "survival of the fittest." This phrase was first used by Herbert Spencer, not Darwin himself.
How Nazis Used Social Darwinism
Some groups, like the Nazis in Germany, used social Darwinism to support their racist beliefs. They believed the German nation was part of a special "Aryan race." The Nazis thought that races were in a competition. They tried to make the "Aryan race" stronger in Germany by harming or killing people they saw as "inferior." This included Jews, Slavs, Roma, homosexuals, and disabled people.
Related pages
Images for kids
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A racially segregated bus station in Durham, North Carolina, 1940. The Jim Crow Laws racially separated parts of America between Blacks and Whites.
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A billiard hall for only African Americans, in Memphis, Tennessee, 1939.
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The cafe has two entry doors for two rooms: one for "Whites" only and "Coloureds" only.
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An African-American youth at a drinking ‘coloured only’ water fountain in a courthouse lawn in Halifax, North Carolina, 1938.
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A group of white people who are demonstrating for white pride.
