Distillations | Science History Institute

Keepers of the Flame


Listen Later

In the 1970s Barry Mehler started tracking race scientists and he noticed something funny: they all had the same funding source. One wealthy man was using his incredible resources to prop up any scientist he could find who would validate his white supremacist ideology—and make it seem like it was backed by a legitimate scientific consensus.

About Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race

“Keepers of the Flame” is Episode 3 of Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Racea podcast and magazine project that explores the historical roots and persistent legacies of racism in American science and medicine. Published through Distillations, the Science History Institute’s highly acclaimed digital content platform, the project examines the scientific origins of support for racist theories, practices, and policies. Innate is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

Credits

Hosts: Alexis Pedrick and Elisabeth Berry Drago Senior Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Padmini Raghunath Audio Engineer: Jonathan Pfeffer

“Innate Theme” composed by Jonathan Pfeffer. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.  

Resource List

‘The American Breed’: Nazi eugenics and the origins of the Pioneer Fund, by Paul Lombardo 

The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund, by William Tucker

The New Eugenics: Academic Racism in the U.S. Today, by Barry Mehler 

The Phil Donahue Show 

Superior: The Return of Race Science, by Angela Saini

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Distillations | Science History InstituteBy Science History Institute

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

90 ratings


More shows like Distillations | Science History Institute

View all
Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science Friday

6,069 Listeners

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! by NPR

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

38,664 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

43,929 Listeners

This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,641 Listeners

99% Invisible by Roman Mars

99% Invisible

26,168 Listeners

Science Vs by Spotify Studios

Science Vs

11,988 Listeners

Revisionist History by Pushkin Industries

Revisionist History

59,379 Listeners

Pod Save America by Crooked Media

Pod Save America

86,172 Listeners

Ologies with Alie Ward by Alie Ward

Ologies with Alie Ward

23,631 Listeners

Gender Reveal by Tuck Woodstock

Gender Reveal

1,234 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

15,937 Listeners

Short Wave by NPR

Short Wave

6,245 Listeners

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean by Sam Kean, Bleav

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

1,308 Listeners

Unexplainable by Vox

Unexplainable

2,170 Listeners

The Atlas Obscura Podcast by SiriusXM and Atlas Obscura

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

1,639 Listeners