Melanin theory

Melanin theory is a racist, pseudoscientific claim in Afrocentrism that a higher level of melanin, the primary determinant of skin color in humans, is the cause of an intellectual and physical superiority of dark skinned people and provides them with supernatural powers.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Claims

According to Bernard Ortiz De Montellano of Wayne State University, "The alleged properties of melanin, mostly unsupported, irrelevant, or distortions of the scientific literature, are (...) used to justify Afrocentric assertions. One of the most common is that humans evolved as blacks in Africa, and that whites are mutants (albinos, or melanin recessives)".^[6][7] The melanin hypothesis was supported by Leonard Jeffries, who according to Time magazine, believes that "melanin, the dark skin pigment, gives blacks intellectual and physical superiority over whites".^[8]

Notable proponents^[1][9]

• Frances Cress Welsing
• Leonard Jeffries
• Naim Akbar

In popular culture

In 2006, the views of adherents and critics of melanin theory were dramatized in Cassandra Medley's play, Relativity.^[10]

See also

• Afrocentrism

References