"Jefferson - Race

  Referring to the reading posted "Jefferson - Race" answer the following (In case you are wondering, it is the very same president - Jefferson- who wrote it): a. What reasons does Jefferson give for his suspicion that Africans were inferior to whites (In what ways Africans are inferior to whites)? b. What are the problems and weaknesses of his argument? Would you say he is confusing correlation with causality (In other words, are his observations and conclusions scientifically accurate? Examples: " They seem to require less sleep," "Their griefs are transient (temporary, short-lived)." What reasons, conditions surrounding Africans might be used to explain his "observations"? c. In today's world do people make similar "observations" and come to the same "conclusions" about minorities and immigrants? Give an example or two (Think about some of the stereotypes about the groups and offer an explanation). Example: When the Polish immigrants came to U.S. in large numbers between 1870 and 1914, Americans believed that they were mostly stupid. In reality, these immigrants were from rural-agricultural regions with little education, and cultural skills. They were doing manual labor, railroads, mines, etc.