Classical texts were the core of elite education in the United States from the founding of the country’s first university in the seventeenth century until the 1950s. They served as models for the crafting of the US constitution and proved foundational in the evolution of scientific thought on 'race' in America. Indeed, classical texts have been used time and again to justify enslavement, dehumanise Black and Indigenous people, craft segregation, and popularise white supremacist ideologies, all in the name of a white Euro-American or ‘Anglo-Saxon’ heritage. Why does ‘Classics’, as imagined by those who claim such heritage, continue to appear as part of far-right and conservative propaganda? And why are attempts to evolve the field to reflect the ancient world and its study more accurately met with fierce resistance? This week, Shivaike Shah speaks to Professor Rebecca Futo Kennedy from Denison University about these challenging questions. Only by understanding the ways ancient Greek and Roman ideas served as a foundation for modern scientific racism, Professor Kennedy argues, can we ever seek to dismantle or even combat white supremacism in the United States.

To find out more about this topic, check out the reading list on our website: https://www.khameleonproductions.org/khameleon-classics/classics-and-eugenics-in-the-usa