Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is under fire for language used in comments he made about President Obama’s potential electability. Although described as “unfortunate” by Obama, Reid’s use of “Negro” and “light-skinned” offended many.

The Eugenics Archive includes several examples of how African Americans endured dehumanizing scrutiny, categorization, and labeling at the hands of eugenicists and other Americans. Eugenicists believed that race mixing (miscegenation) produced “mongrels” and would lead to the decline of the “higher” white race; some strived to identify and register the race of all individuals to prevent it. “The New Virginia Law to Preserve Racial Integrity” was enacted in More >