Cover for TUCKER: The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund. Click for larger image

The Funding of Scientific Racism

Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund
Awards and Recognition:

Honorable Mention in the PSP Awards for Excellence in Professional/Scholarly Publishing, 2002.

New evidence about the use and abuse of science in support of bigotry

Established in 1937 by wealthy businessman Wickliffe Draper, the nonprofit Pioneer Fund has long been accused of misusing social science to fuel the politics of oppression by supporting research that seeks to establish the genetic and intellectual inferiority of blacks.

Although the Pioneer Fund denies its ties to any political agenda, this powerful and provocative volume reveals the truth behind their long history of clandestine activities. The Funding of Scientific Racism examines for the first time archival correspondence that incriminates the fund’s major players, revealing links to a Klansman’s crusade to repatriate blacks, as well as efforts to reverse the Brown decision, prevent passage of the Civil Rights Act, and implement a system of racially segregated private schools.

"An antidote to that much-publicized book, The Bell Curve. . . . Take a couple chapters and call Jesse Helms in the morning."--National Catholic Reporter

"Tucker's well-researched discussions show the intensity of the ideological struggles to prove racial differences in ability and IQ, and they contextualize recent books, such as Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's The Bell Curve, that continue this scientific racism."--J. R. Feagin, Choice

"The Funding of Scientific Racism is compelling and readable. Tucker demolishes the threadbare defenses the Pioneer Fund and its supporters have concocted over the last two decades."--Barry Mehler, founder and executive director of the Institute for the Study of Academic Racism

"William Tucker's timely book refutes the argument."--Maya Angelou

"A splendid book, indeed, the best of many admirable books. . . . Will do a great deal of good in the world."--Ashley Montagu

"A marvelous book!"--Carl T. Rowan

"Anybody reading The Bell Curve should read The Science and Politics of Racial Research."--George Armelagos, Emory University

"Even scholars well-versed in the study of race will be shocked at Tucker's disclosure of the extent to which research on race and psychology has been motivated by political considerations in the U.S. and Europe."--Lewis H. Killian, author of Black and White: Reflections of a White Southern Sociologist

William H. Tucker is a professor of psychology at Rutgers University and the author of the award-winning The Science and Politics of Racial Research.

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