An important contribution to contemporary scholarship in anthropology, pan-African studies, and colonial and postcolonial studies

"Although a reclamation of Antenor Firmin's erudite scholarship is long overdue, this translation of his late nineteenth-century book could not have been made available at a more opportune time-at the start of a new millennium when the problem of racism persists worldwide in both old and new guises. This foundational text in critical anthropology points to the importance of expanding the scope of the discipline's history to engage neglected works that activist, anti-racist, and racially-subordinated intellectuals contributed."--Faye V. Harrison, professor of anthropology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Antenor Firmin (1850-1911) was born and educated in Haiti. He studied law and held several political offices before being posted as a diplomat to Paris, where he was admitted to the Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris and wrote De L'Egalite des Races Humaines. He later returned to Haiti and served as minister of finance, commerce, and foreign relations. Asselin Charles teaches literature and journalism at Wenzao College of Languages in Taiwan. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban is a professor of anthropology and the director of general education at Rhode Island College.