Sorting by Race

While doing research on race and its origins, I came across a website called "Race:  The Power of an Illusion." It has a great activity in which you sort pictures of people into the racial categories American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White. You can take the quiz through the link under the photo:

http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_00-home.htm

As you can probably imagine, it's extremely difficult to categorize the pictures into the groups provided. After taking the quiz, you can divide the photos into different color groups, light to dark, and, as expected, "light" and "dark" skin can be found in several racial categories. The text echos this point:  ". . . people who consider themselves 'white' may actually have darker skin and curlier hair than some people who consider themselves 'black'" (Newman 2010).

The activities on this website are, perhaps, geared toward a younger audience, but they are a good reminder that race is a social construct, and that how people are classified is completely arbitrary.

Newman, David. Sociology. Ed 8. 2010.