Abstract:

Franz Boas, who emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1888, became known as the “Father of American Anthropology” through his rigorous and intensive pursuit of excellence in a field which, before his time, was dominated by untrained amateurs. Perhaps best known for his work in attacking the racist assumptions which ran rampant in the late nineteenth century, he was also a renowned teacher and mentor; such well known anthropologists as Margaret Mead, Zora Neal Thurston, and Franklyn Williams were his students. He spent a good deal of time defending the free speech rights of those who were denied them as a result of their left wing views, founding the American Committee for the Defense of Academic Freedom. Many of his views on race were used in the landmark Supreme Court decision in 1954 that threw out the “separate but equal” doctrine in U. S. schools. The paper will explore the intellectual trajectory of this remarkable man and the impact he had on public life. Its use as a teaching tool in courses on race and ethnicity will be explored.

Keywords:

Race, ethnicity, intellectual freedom.