The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-04-01
What Are Race Differences!

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Tn e greatest adventure
story in the history Of the
world is the spread Of early
man to all corners Of the
globe. With crude tools, with
out agriculture, without domestic
animals except the dog, he pressed
on. from somewhere in Asia. to the
tip OF Africa. to the British Isles.
across Behring Strait into America
and down 10 Cape Horn. He occu-
pied the islands Of the Pacific and
The continent OF Australia. The
world had small population then.
and many OF these pioneers were
for centuries as separated from
other peoples as IL they lived on
another planet. Slowly they devel-
oped physical differences.
Those who settled nearer the
EQUATOR. whether in Europe. Asia,
or in the Americas, developed
darker skin than those who settled
TO the north Of them. Peoples hail
Is often the same over great areas
fHzzly hair, lank hair. wavy hair
Europeans remained quite hairy
but in some parts Of the world body
hair almost disappeared. Blue eye:
appeared in the north. In some
places in Asia a fold Of skin devel-
oped over the inner corner OF the
eve and produced what we called q
slant eve.
All these distinctive traits made
IL easy TO recognize people as be-
longing to different parts Of the
world. In each place the people got
used 70 looking al one another. They
said. "Our men are really men. Our
women are beautiful. This is the
way people shorld look" Some
times they liked the appearance OF
their close neighbors. Blu; strangers
seemed odd and queer. Strangers
wore funny clothes and their man.
ners were bad. Even more impor-
tant. strangers did not look the way
people should. Their noses were too
flat or too pointed. Their skin was
"a sickly white" OF dirty black
They were too fat or too short.
Everywhere in the world men and
women used the standard OF their
own people 10 judge others and
thought that people who differed
from this standard looked funny or
ugly.
All Peoples Much the Same
After the discovery OF America by
Columbus. Europeans began travel
Ing 20 every quarter Of the globe.
and all the new peoples they met
were complete strangers 10 them.
For one thing. the Europeans
couldn't understand their languages.
They looked and acted strange.
Europeans thought they were diff
ferent creatures and named a lot
Of different races" Gradually the
Europeans described each one as
having skin color. kind OF hair.
kind OF lips, height, and head shape
that was peculiar 10 that race.
Nowadays we know that this was
a false impression.
Height
Take height. for example. There
are tall and short people almost
everywhere in the world. Near the
sources OF the Nile. the Shilluk
Negroes are 6 feet 2 inches: their
neighbors. the brown pygmies. are
feet 8 inches. In Italy. a six
footer and a five-footer could both
be native Italians for generations
back. Among the Arizona Indians,
the Hopi Pueblos are S feet 4 inches;
their Mohave neighbors are nearly
feet.
A report Of the Selective Service
System Of November 10. 1871
showed that registrants examined
for the u. $. army varied In height
from 4 feet 8 inches 10 y feet I
inchesy This represents the extremes
Of height anywhere In the world
The army's limits for acceptance
from 5 feet TO 6 feet 6 inches, would
include most men the world over.
Shape Of Head
Take the shape OF the head a:
another example. In West Africa
there are more long heads; in tho
Congo. more round. Among tho
American Indians, as we'll as in tho
population OF Europe. both the long
est and the roundest heads are e
be found. and in Asia Minor loni
heads and round heads appeal
among very close relatives.
Or let us take the brain itself
Because the brain is the thinking
organ. some scientists have triet
TO find differences In the sire an,
structure Of the brain among dif
ferent groups OF people. In spit
Of these efforts. using the fines
microscopes, the best scientists can
not tell from examining a brain &