Exploding the Myth of Scientific Support for the Theory of Black Intellectual Inferiority

Abstract

This article is a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on the question of genetic differences in intelligence between races. The belief that Blacks are genetically less intelligent than Whites is surprisingly widespread among academics in relevant specialties. But this articlefinds that there is no valid evidence to support that belief. The evidence that has been amassed to justify the claim of Black intellectual inferiority is fundamentally flawed both theoretically and methodologically. Moreover, there is a substantial body of evidence, from numerous different sources using a variety of methods, that supports an environmental explanation of the race gap in cognitive test scores.