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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - II. Race - 6. Racial Characteristics - 2. Biological Susceptibility to Disease - 3. Psychic Traits
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144 An American Dilemma
the environmental factors to determine that the heredity of the Negro is
such as to make him more or less susceptible to certain diseases than the
white man. Even disease susceptibilities and immunities that are passed on
from parent to child may not be genetic, since infection may occur before
or after birth, and some environmental influences on the mother are visited
upon her unborn children.
That there may be hereditary differences in mental or physical diseases
we cannot deny.* But what we do know about the changes in the disease
rate and the differentials in incidence under different environmental condi-
tions leads us to the conclusion that any hereditary differentials in suscepti-
bility (which may ultimately be detected) are likely to be small in compari-
son to the changes which can be brought about by varying the mode of
living and the quality of medical care. Too, susceptibility does not mean
disease: for proper preventive efforts can reduce the ill-effects of any
degree of susceptibility. Our practical conclusion is, therefore, that there
is no reason for feeling complacent about the higher disease and death rates
of Negroes on the ground that they have a greater innate susceptibility.
3. Psychic Traits
Most of the physical differences between Negroes and whites may be
directly translated into terms of esthetic valuation, capacity for physical
labor, and bodily healthiness. Except in the first respect, which, of course,
is subjective, they do not, even if exaggerated, warrant any great depre-
ciation of the Negro as a fellow human being. The differences, assumed
or factual, as to size and structure of the brain have, in addition, been
utilized for supporting beliefs in innate characteristics which are vastly
more important—namely, the Negro’s mental abilities and general psychic
inclinations, and, consequently, his capacity for culture and morals. The
• The fact that the Negro is somewhat different physically from the white man makes
it likely that there are small racial differences in susceptibility. But nothing is definitely
known about this, and the physical differences may have a complicated effect, as the
following example will show. The black pigment in the Negro’s skin is a protection against
sunlight, and some investigators—but not all—think this involves a lessening of the amount
of ultra-violet light absorbed by Negroes. Since ultra-violet light is a preventive of rickets,
and since Negroes seem to have more* than their fair share of rickets, some have claimed
that the Negro’s black skin has given him a greater biological susceptibility to rickets. But
the skin of Negroes secretes more sebum, which makes ultra-violet light more potent. Too,
diet deficiencies are a demonstrated cause of rickets, and Southern Negroes have notorious
diet deficiencies. (See Julian Herman Lewis, The Biology of the Negro [194x3, pp. 94-96.)
Similarly, the Negro’s supposed emotional traits have been advanced to explain certain
of the diseases for which he has a high rate. For example, his excitability is supposed to
cause hypertension of the heart, but his lack of excitability has been advanced by some to
explain his high rate of angina pectoris—^another heart disease. Neither the emotional traits
nor their connection with the diseases in Negroes have been demonstrated. (Ibid., pp. 291-
*99-)
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