Wellesley viewing of PBS documentary Race: The Power of an Illusion

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.

3. The House We Live In, March 13, 7pm