Description: The Auburn Avenue Research Library in partnership with the Baton Foundation, Inc., will host a two-part film screening about the history and legacy of race. The first episode 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. 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. The second episode focuses not only on individual behaviors and attitudes, but also on how our institutions shape and create race, giving different groups vastly unequal life chances. Who is White? In the early 20th century, the answer was not always clear. Often, the courts had to decide, and they resorted to contradictory logic to maintain the color line.

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