The Willie Lynch Letter and Other Controversial Texts and Ideas That Have Influenced Black Thought
The Bell Curve
In 1994, the best-selling book by the late Harvard psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and American Enterprise Institute political scientist Charles Murray, sparked controversy due to its claims about racial differences in intelligence. They implied that IQ differences were genetic and that “the debate about whether and how much genes and environment have to do with ethnic differences remains unresolved.” Although not out-rightly denouncing the intelligence of Blacks, the book did fuel the arguments of racists who use the “Bell Curve” to explain the underachievement of Black students.