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How did Charles White use body measurements in early scientific racism?

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Overhead view of a diverse group of people standing in a circle, holding each other's hands in a gesture of unity and teamwork. — Race Skin color is one of the variables that has been used to classify people into different racial categories.

In 1799, Charles White, a physician from Manchester, published what is considered the earliest formal study of scientific racism. To provide a veneer of empirical legitimacy to his theories, White physically measured the body parts of groups of Black and white individuals, including their heads, feet, arms, and skin texture.1

By quantifying these physical characteristics, White sought to categorize human groups into a hierarchy of distinct species. He used these measurements to argue that Black people, American Indians, and certain Asiatic tribes were biologically inferior to Europeans. This practice of using body measurements to justify racial inequality was ethically bankrupt and fundamentally flawed, as it relied on biased interpretations of physical data to promote the false notion that human populations represent separate, unequal species. White’s work helped establish a tradition of using anthropometry to reinforce discriminatory ideologies, a practice that persisted in various forms well into the 20th century.1