[Examining Skulls]

To determine the race and ethnicity of Train Man a comparison of known skulls is used. A few of the collection's skulls feature additional information such as one with a sabre wound, one with a bullet hole, and one from a South American culture whose head was distorted in life to emphasize the shape of the forehead

This photo is from the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History Research Training Program Events Photo Gallery. The skulls in this photo were used to try to determine people’s race and ethnicity. I chose this photo for my media item because it relates to the movie, “Race: The Power of An Illusion Part II.”

In the movie, “Race: The Power of An Illusion Part II,” it talks about how scientist use to measure the size of skulls to show that whites were superior to any other race. They would say that the white people’s skulls were larger because their brains were larger, which made them smarter and superior. This was a common technique used to scientifically support how the whites treated the blacks. Many of the scientists would not report their real results if they did not support their beliefs and biases.

I think that these experiments should not have been performed. The scientists did not even report the real results half the time because they most likely had the opposite results that they wanted. This just proves how simple minded and selfish the white people were. They would do anything to prove that they are superior to the blacks. Looking at these skulls should have been used to get an understanding of the differences between different races, not to discriminate against them.