![]() In particular, he claimed that superior races developed in environments that were suitable for agriculture but also had a non-productive winter season, which encouraged foresight and crop planning. He argued that peoples from northern and western Europe developed into a “superior” race due to geographic and climatic influences. Similar to Louis Agassiz, Shaler believed that humankind had a plural origin, and thus could be categorized into different species. Shaler sought to understand ethnic differences from the viewpoint of natural history and to develop theories on immigration and the role of African Americans in a post-Civil War society through combining his analyses with those from adjacent fields such as evolutionary biology, anthropology, and human geography (Livingstone, 1984). During his tenure as a professor at Harvard, he was known for being a dedicated teacher and an inspiring lecturer whose door was always open to his students (“Nathaniel Southgate Shaler 62’”). ![]() He grew up in Kentucky, completed his undergraduate education at Harvard under the tutelage of Louis Agassiz, and went on to serve as a soldier in the Union during the Civil War (Livingstone, 1984). ![]() ![]() Shaler (1841-1906) was a professor of paleontology and geology at Harvard University, a former Dean of Science, and strong proponent of scientific racism. ![]()
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