How did Boas ideas on culture and race influence African American intellectuals at the time?
LEE D. BAKER: At this time, organizations like the NAACP involved Franz Boas in their publications [and] symposiums – as well as [in] their efforts to organize and lobby Congress [on] behalf of this idea of equality. [They wanted] to demonstrate that America needs to live up to its creed, this notion of equality for all Americans. The pillars of democracy should stand for all. That was their argument. But they didn’t have any scientific data to back that up. So they turned in many respect to Franz Boas. In 1905 Franz Boas wrote his first public piece on African American bodies, demonstrating that they’re not inferior than any other bodies, in a special issue of Charities in 1905. Two weeks later after this first public piece, W. E. B. DuBois writes Boas saying, “Hmmm, we can use this sort of research in my studies in Atlanta.” What happened after that was a long and fruitful relationship between Franz Boas, W. E. B. DuBois and many other scholars in the African community. Even though F
