The Secret Narrative: Lost History

For this assignment, I've chosen to work with historical figure Charles Davenport. In part due to his absence in school history lessons and also the direct impact he has had on historical events everyone has studied and has substantial knowledge about. In researching Davenport, I came across a term that seems straightforward, but one that I had never heard before; "scientific racism". The term was extremely appealing, as I had never come across it before in research or discussion. What does it mean?  These are two very common words that we use endlessly with much thought; science and race. But what happens when you put them together? Does it answer or lead us to answers about the disparities and disconnects that we see in historical events or movements? I feel it may put some sense to historical accounts we know little about, whether it be good or bad. This is a good candidate for re-evaluation because we are still diving into the topic of racism, but a foreign aspect to all of us. Charles Davenport and the Eugenics movement are new pieces of history to us and in a sense this re-evaluation is also an introduction. That mere fact is frightening, once we understand the role Davenport and Eugenics played in a mass genocide we thought we knew so much about. Furthermore, the phenomenon of racism also comes up again, in a new light, and that in itself is in intriguing. It's upsetting that such a powerful movement and figure failed to reach to the textbooks, and ultimately the mind of young intellectuals.