University of Nevada, Reno Spring 2023
The following controversial theory was introduced by Franz Boas in early 1910, printed as a statement in the San Francisco Examiner (09 January 1910, page 8-9):
The Secret of America's Progress
Prof. Boas and the Far-Reaching Consequences of His Discoveries
Statement by Prof. Franz Boas, Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University
It is not surprising that my report to the National Immigration Commission has excited widespread interest.
The result of the investigations of immigrants conducted by me, the overwhelming evidence obtained, the quite unexpected discovery that there are distinct "American types," and, what is more important, the discovery that some hitherto unsuspected power of environment immediately puts its mark upon the child of the newly arrived immigrant—all this was quite as surprising to me as it has proved to be to other anthropologists and students of economic and social problems.
If there is something "about the very air of America that makes Americans," as one writer has commented, an entirely new light is turned upon our past history, and we are able to read our future with scientific accuracy. We know, I for instance, that the uncomplaining endurance of hardships so well exemplified in the North American Indian, the extraordinary amalgamation of all the varied foreign elements into I one homogeneous national body and our broad American national spirit all rest upon some scientific principle which may be safely counted I upon to continue to operate in centuries to come as it has in centuries past.
The deductions which I have made from the study of the American immigrant forms the first definite information that the face and form of the children born to immigrants differ from those of their parents, that this change is due solely to environment, that the change continues with the generations, and that definite racial types of immigrants change utterly and completely in the course of time.
Immediate and Fundamental Changes.
All this leads inevitably to the conclusion that the children of the immigrant, regardless of the country from which be sprang, will within two or three generations completely lose their distinct racial characteristics and all converge toward an average type which will in time be known as a distinctive American type. It has generally been conceded, though with no proof to support it, that the children of immigrants become "Americanized," that they "change in their looks," but it has never been dreamed that the changes were so fundamental, so radical, so far-reaching. It has never been even suspected that the change was so fundamental as to alter the very form of the skull or the shape of the face, color of the hair and the stature.
I am not surprised that scientists are astonished at the result of my investigations. When I came to examine the result of them I, myself, thought there must be some mistake, and I made every effort to see that no other elements, such as illegitimacy of birth, had entered into the computations.
The results I found to be absolutely correct, and I consider them of extreme importance. So far the investigations have included only the Hebrew and the Sicilian immigrants, but the results are of such importance that they are to be continued immediately. The Scotch, Hungarians and Bohemians are to be examined next.
The most surprising feature of the difference found between the children of immigrants and their parents is the suddenness with which this change is effected. The immigrants need not be here five or ten years, or until they become acclimated, so to speak. If an immigrant mother and father are here a year, or even less than that, their child bears the marks of the change.
Suppose a Sicilian family come to America, and immediately after taking up a home here they have more children. The American born children trill have a different shaped head and face from their brothers and sisters born in the old country.
Even as soon as that will the child of foreign blood begin to approach in form and general type that type which is to be known as American.
It is, I confess, a rather startling statement, but one proved by facts gained in the examination of thousands of heads of children and their parents.
The Effect of Environment.
You ask me to tell the reason for this wonderful change, but I cannot. I can only say that it is the result of environment. It can be from no other cause, inasmuch as it is so sudden and so inevitable. Manner of living can have no bearing upon this change; it simply is environment, and it is because we can attribute the changes to this one cause that we seem justified in believing that every race in the world will be, in time, amalgamated into one general type under the American sun.
And perhaps the chief ground for looking forward to such a situation is shown by the fact that the heads of the Sicilians and of the Hebrews, one long and the other short, approach a common ground as they undergo the changes I speak of. For instance, the long head of the Sicilian becomes shorter and wider, while the
heterogeneity decreases here, and types become more uniform.
At present we cannot speak of the "American type," but should more correctly speak of "American types." The Kentucky type, for instance, is different from the New England type, but the investigations conducted by me in the last year show conclusively a tendency toward uniformity and the ultimate advent of an "American type."
My investigations have caused me to change my opinion entirely as to the extent and as to the cause of the changes which are noted here in the children of the immigrants. A few years ago a scientist for whom I have great respect said:
"The shape of the head depends only on race and heredity, while climatic and sociological conditions have no effect on the head whatever."
Note: The rest of the article in the Examiner was cut off due to an error in scanning.
James L'Angelle UNR, English Undergraduate Dept.
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