From the beginning, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution contained the seeds of bigotry. His famous work Origin of Species was published in 1859. What is less well-known is its original and shocking sub-title: The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. The naturalist followed up his culture-shifting work with The Descent of Man in 1871. Here, he extrapolated upon man’s relationship with apes by moving from mere physical attributes to psychological and moral traits. Additionally, he peppered his new work with suggestions on how to continue man’s evolution. His followers, often called social Darwinists, took him literally. […]