A New Phase for the AAA Race Project

An AAA Press Release:

Grant to Fund Second Exhibit and Book

The American Anthropological Association’s (AAA) RACE Are We So Different? project received a big boost from the Ford Foundation last week. Building on the initial grant of one million dollars, the Ford Foundation has awarded an additional two-year grant of $450,000 to the RACE project to fund the development of a second RACE traveling exhibit and a companion book.

"We're proud to continue our partnership with the Ford Foundation and excited about this keen opportunity to expand the reach of the RACE project," said AAA Executive Director Bill Davis, announcing the new grant.

Two former AAA Presidents, Yolanda Moses and Alan Goodman, will co-chair a key advisory group that will develop the second exhibit, which will be smaller version of the original. Moses, a cultural anthropologist at University of California-Riverside, and Goodman, a biological anthropologist at Hampshire College, will serve as editors of the companion book.

"Racism has long been a deplorable element of our society. The RACE project helps visitors to better understand the scientific myths of race alongside the realities of racism. The project’s expansion allows us to bring these important conversations about race and racism to new audiences and venues," said Goodman.

"RACE Are We So Different?" is a public education project of the AAA that includes a 5,000 square-foot traveling museum exhibit, an interactive Web site, www.understandingRACE.org, and educational materials.

RACE explores the topic of race through the eyes of science, history and lived experience. It delivers three key messages: race is a recent human invention; race is about culture, not biology; race and racism are embedded in institutions and everyday life.

Since its launch in January 2007, over one million visitors have explored the RACE exhibit and Web site. The original traveling exhibit is on view at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ until April 27. The exhibit tour is booked until the end of 2011.

RACE is part of a larger public education program developed over more than five and a half years with over $4 million in funding from the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the AAA.

For more information about the RACE project, click here.