MADISON GRANT’S GREAT RACE: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC RACISM IN EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW YORK

Abstract

Madison Grant and his work "The Passing of the Great Race", reflects a greater trend of American anthropology and how it was shaped by American progressivism. Rather than just identifying it as a piece of outdated scientific racism, "The Passing of the Great Race" shows how the progressive movement shaped Grant’s ideologies. It also shows how intertwined scientific racism and the idea of a racial hierarchy was to the progressive era as environmentalism and eugenics was. This work seeks to capture the chronology of the legacy and influence of Madison Grant and identify reasons why "The Passing of the Great Race" was ultimately successful in its attempt to place a racial hierarchy in the minds of affluent and influential Americans during the progressive era.