Gene Weltfish (born Regina Weltfish) (August 7, 1902 – August 2, 1980) was an American anthropologist and historian working at Columbia University from 1928 to 1953. She had studied with Franz Boas and was a specialist in the culture and history of the Pawnee people of the Midwest Plains. Her 1965 ethnography, The Lost Universe: Pawnee Life and Culture, is considered the authoritative work on Pawnee culture to this day.
She is also known for the 1943 pamphlet for the U.S. Army, called The Races of Mankind, which she co-wrote with Ruth Benedict. It was intended to educate military personnel about the cultural differences among the peoples of the world in preparation for their fighting with a variety of allies from other cultures. The authors stated that perceived differences between the races are cultural rather than biological. Among the data used in the text was an IQ study from World War I, which found higher scores among some northern Blacks in the United States forces than among some southern Whites. The pamphlet was not widely circulated within the Army, and by the early 1950s, it was banned as subversive.
Engaged in social activism during the 1940s, Weltflish attracted the attention of the FBI, which suspected her (and others on the Left) of being a communist. In 1952 and 1953 she was called to Congress for questioning by two of the Senate sub-committees dedicated to investigating "un-American activity" during the 1950s red scare. Two weeks before appearing at a 1953 hearing, in which she refused to answer questions from staffer attorney Roy Cohn and Senator Joseph McCarthy as to whether she was a communist, her 16-year appointment at Columbia was terminated. She was blacklisted and unable to find an academic position for nearly a decade. During her last decade in academia full-time, she taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She continued to teach part-time after retirement.
GeneWeltfish (born Regina Weltfish) (August 7, 1902 – August 2, 1980) was an American anthropologist and historian working at Columbia University from...
Edward Sapir Frank Speck Leslie Spier John R. Swanton Ruth Underhill GeneWeltfish In the mid 20th century, Boasian anthropology came under critique both...
based, was written by two eminent anthropologists, Ruth Benedict and GeneWeltfish and based on U.S. Army studies of recruits in WWI. It was nevertheless...
work during this period, "The Races of Mankind" by Ruth Benedict and GeneWeltfish, argued that though there were some extreme racial differences, they...
responsible for recreating Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, England. GeneWeltfish, anthropologist fired from Columbia University Gian Carlo Wick, physicist...
Ruth Bunzel (1929), Alexander Lesser (1929), Margaret Mead (1929), and GeneWeltfish (who defended her dissertation in 1929, although she did not officially...
her colleague at the Columbia University Department of Anthropology, GeneWeltfish. The pamphlet was intended for American troops and set forth in simple...
problematic. Anthropologists such as Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict, and GeneWeltfish did much to demonstrate that claims about racial hierarchies of intelligence...
executive director in 1946. Among its other members were anthropologist GeneWeltfish, aviator Jacqueline Cochran, social worker Mary van Kleeck, educator...
McManus, Paul Robeson, C. B. Baldwin, Albert E. Kahn, Johannes Steel, GeneWeltfish, Leon Strauss, Elizabeth Moos, Kyrle Elkin, Abbot Simon and Shirley...
275 words compiled by Sibley. Allan Taylor and Alexander Lesser and GeneWeltfish have speculated that Adai belonged to the Caddoan language family and...
Dantes, Philippine actor and film producer; in Quezon City Died: Regina "Gene" Weltfish, 77, American anthropologist and authority in the history of the Pawnee...
phonetic transcriptions and morpheme by morpheme translations from GeneWeltfish. Although Murie contributed to the field of anthropology through his...
in a South American tribe." Theory and Practice: Essays Presented to GeneWeltfish. S. Diamond, ed (1980): 179-194. Murphy, Robert F.; Scheer, Jessica;...
Native American blood. In 1943 when anthropologists Ruth Benedict and GeneWeltfish published their pamphlet "The Races of Mankind" in which they argued...
graduate studies in anthropology with Franz Boas. His first wife was GeneWeltfish, a fellow anthropologist and Caddoanist. He studied the culture and...
anthropologist GeneWeltfish, who was investigated during the McCarthy era. Amidst controversy, Green supported efforts to help Weltfish keep her position...
SPSSI issued a statement in support of the work of Ruth Benedict and GeneWeltfish, anthropologists at Columbia University, who wrote a booklet refuting...
Rubin American cultural anthropologist, activist, and feminist 1949 GeneWeltfish American anthropologist and historian 1902-08-07 1980-08-02 Genevieve...
a private home. Chapella was the subject of study by anthropologist GeneWeltfish and ethno-archeologist Michael Stanislawski. Her artwork is part of...
first woman to gain this achievement. In 2004, she had received the GeneWeltfish Award for her service and contributions to anthropology. She received...
Lespedeza capitata. Lespedeza capitata. University of Michigan Ethnobotany. Weltfish, Gene (1965). The lost universe: Pawnee life and culture. Lincoln: University...
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