The World of Wellesley in partnership with the Wellesley Free Library will present a community viewing of the 3-part PBS documentary Race: The Power of an Illusion. Everyone is invited to view and discuss the series that investigates race in society, science, and history.
What is this thing we call race? Where did the idea come from? Race: The Power of an Illusion compels viewers to examine some of their most fundamental beliefs about concepts of race. Check out the preview or read more about the series below. Attend one, two or all three parts: February 27, March 6, March 13.
Part 1, The Difference Between Us, February 27, 7pm
Episode one in this three-part series follows a dozen students, including African American athletes and Asian American string players, who sequence and compare their own DNA. The results surprise them—and us—when they discover their closest genetic matches are as likely to be with people from other “races” as their own. Much of this episode is devoted to understanding why. Looking at skin color differences, disease, human evolution, even genetic traits, we learn there’s not one characteristic, one trait, or even a single gene that distinguishes all members of one “race” from another. One by one, our myths about race—including “natural” superiority and inferiority—are taken apart.
2. The Story We Tell, March 6, 7pm
The second episode in this series questions the belief that race has always been with us. Ancient peoples stigmatized “others” based on language, customs, and especially religion, but they did not sort people into “races.” This episode traces the race concept to the European conquest of the Americas, including the development of the first slave system, where all slaves shared a physical trait: dark skin. Ironically, it was not until slavery was challenged on moral grounds that early prejudices—emboldened by the need to defend slavery in a nation that professed a deep belief in freedom—crystallized into a full-blown ideology of white supremacy. By the mid-19th century, race had become the “common sense” wisdom of white America, explaining everything from individual behavior to the fate of whole societies.
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