122
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Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
For once that was an ideal. And a goal. To be 'restored'. By racial breeding and struggle. And it was readily apparent to really everyone that not every German was blonde.
That said, Hitler himself ...
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76
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Was race really unimportant in the 1660's?
(Disclaimer: definition of race varies. Wikipedia offers this: "a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society" and that is ...
- 97.2k
67
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What do the numbers on this 1960s anti-integration sign mean?
Short and "to the point" answer: Those numbers are just identifiers for various school district organization plans. The digits refer to the number of years a student spends in each "...
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54
votes
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Are there precedents of 'I am not a racist' from US Presidents?
Yes, Ronald Reagan frequently denied being racist.
In 1983, Reagan wrote a letter to Benjamin Hooks, then head of the NAACP, stating (in response to accusations that he wanted to rollback civil ...
- 97.2k
39
votes
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Were Russians in the cold war era USA discriminated against for their ethnicity?
Because of emigration restrictions from the Soviet Union imposed from at least the 1920's on, there were very few ethnic Russians of recent arrival in the U.S., and the Western world in general, ...
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29
votes
Was race really unimportant in the 1660's?
IANAH(*), so I can't (and won't) answer about the rest of the world, but in the XVI-XVIII centuries, colonial Spaniards took race pretty seriously, dividing them in castes.
Here you see a contemporary ...
- 407
27
votes
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Origin of scientific racism?
There's no universally recognised "father of scientific racism", though a number of names could be suggested.
One example is the French noble Arthur de Gobineau, best remembered today for pioneering ...
- 97.2k
26
votes
Are there precedents of 'I am not a racist' from US Presidents?
Didn't search very far, but it looks like Bill Clinton did. He wasn't president anymore at the time though.
According to the ABC news article, Bill said:
There are things that I wished I urged her to ...
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26
votes
Was race really unimportant in the 1660's?
In the early middle ages or ancient times that might have been the case. But certainly not by the 19th or early 20th century - scientific/darwinist racism was in full swing by then.
17th century ...
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23
votes
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When did "whites only" signs (racial segregation) become illegal in the USA?
The thing is, it was never about the signs.
For example, a quick perusal of this Civil Rights Chronology will show you that after the US Supreme Court ruled segregated public schools illegal, it was ...
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22
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Was being in the KKK politically/socially acceptable in early 1900's American South?
At times, it was, but not in the period that movie is depicting.
One should note that there were three organizations under that name in different historical periods. While similar in their goals, they ...
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21
votes
Black & white marriage in the US in the past?
Because interracial marriage and intimate relationships were still illegal in several US states at the time, including the state of Virgina, where the movie is taking place, at the time it is taking ...
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18
votes
Did any black athletes other than Jesse Owens win any medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
Limiting ourselves to the USA team, there were 18 African-American Olympians on the 1936 USA Olympic Team. These athletes won a total of 13 medals. And in winning these 13 medals, the African-...
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16
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What, if anything, did Hitler think of the Canadian government's treatment of the Native Americans?
That source is pretty dubious, given that it's a wiki about TV tropes, and that the page no longer contains the content you quote, for starters. For finishers, Germans speak German, rather than [...
- 1,485
16
votes
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MLK used "negro" several times in his "I have a dream"-address. Could white "liberals" at the time also use "negro" as a neutral word for blacks?
There is a Wikipedia article for the word Negro, which may shed some light on the issue. Within that article is a section on the history of the use of the word in the US. It appears the usage by MLK ...
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15
votes
Context of sign telling Japanese people to "keep moving"
The context for this specific photo was that a number of Japanese-Americans had been looking for housing in Hollywood, where they worked in menial positions. In response, white residents formed ...
- 97.2k
15
votes
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Why would selling watermelons in bulk be mocking?
This is one of those stereotypes which, as this question demonstrates, is older then we realize. The entry in wikipedia touches on the assumed meaning:
that African Americans have an unusually ...
- 38.5k
15
votes
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Why did the Mongols outlaw intermarriage between the Mongols and the Chinese and forbid the Chinese from learning the Mongolian language?
Under the Yuan Dynasty, although the Mongols were the most privileged group politically, they were not the dominant group demographically. In fact, Mongols were an extremely tiny minority in Yuan ...
- 97.2k
15
votes
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Did Nazi party members request exemption for their pre-war Jewish acquaintances?
This is known to have happened sometimes.
From the Führer:
Hitler no longer appreciated the scale of these exceptional requests. As early as 14 January 1939 he criticised the numerous applications ...
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14
votes
Did any black athletes other than Jesse Owens win any medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
My uncle, "California" Jackie Wilson won the silver medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics at bantamweight.
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13
votes
Was race really unimportant in the 1660's?
Early Colonial America may not have been entirely race-blind, but it certainly wasn't the racially polarized place later America became. My own ancestor, Bazabeel Norman, was a free black soldier at ...
- 324
13
votes
Were Russians in the cold war era USA discriminated against for their ethnicity?
I heard from many sources that the fictional 1984 Robin Williams movie Moscow on the Hudson had it pretty well nailed*. Russians didn't really have it significantly worse than any other immigrant ...
- 117k
13
votes
Were these two racist quotes written by Marx?
Q: Were these two racist quotes written by Marx?
Short answer: no, neither is Marx the author, it was Engels writing from which some words were used for this, nor is that an authentic string of words ...
- 80.6k
10
votes
Why did the Australian IOC deny that Peter Norman was excluded from the 1972 Olympics for supporting racial equality?
As near as I can tell, the Australian IOC's position was that, since there was no official recorded blacklisting of Peter Norman, there's no proof it ever happened, and they shouldn't have to ...
- 117k
10
votes
In the early 1900s, how did US politicians treat black dignitaries from other countries?
In the years before the Kennedy administration, visiting African dignitaries, mostly from Liberia and Ethiopia, could hope for (but not expect) the red carpet to be rolled out / meet a senior ...
- 108k
10
votes
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What were the racial views of the Nazis towards the Greeks?
Hitler and the Nazis admired ancient Greeks, who they considered "Nordic" conquerors (thus justifying Nazi Germany co-opting classicism). Their modern descendants, however, not so much. Nazi ...
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9
votes
In the early 1900s, how did US politicians treat black dignitaries from other countries?
At least one Black head of state was received on an official visit prior to the Civil Rights era. This was Liberian President Edwin Barclay who followed FDR's 1942 visit to Liberia by making an ...
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9
votes
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Where can I find information regarding the orphanages for mixed children in Nazi Germany?
You are asking about "Ausländerkinder-Pflegestätte", though many other terms where used. Pflegestätten were established after a decree by Heinrich Himmler in 1943.
The children where separated, ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible