In the age of COVID-19, politicians and public health officials have repeated one refrain: trust the science. But as marginalized Americans know well, they can’t always trust the science—at least not without questioning the gendered, racialized, and ableist assumptions that undergird it. For centuries, white male thinkers have marshaled the alleged objectivity of science to rationalize hierarchy. Eighteenth-century naturalists analyzed skeletons, while nineteenth-century thinkers prodded people’s craniums and debated blood quantums. Twentieth-century progressives embraced eugenics, and modern Americans still obsess over IQ scores (despite countless studies showing their racial bias). Taken together, these facts raise a few questions: Why have Americans been so eager to empirically measure human worth? And why have they historically trusted in science to accomplish this goal? Moreover, how have women and men of color tried to combat racist—or sexist—forms of science? And how successful have they been?

We are proposing a panel to address these questions. Specifically, we are envisioning a “state of the field” roundtable on the historiography of race, gender, and science in US History. Since at least the 1980s, scholars have shown how science can be a tool for buttressing existing inequities. More recently, historians have highlighted the stories of marginalized people who fought back—using science in subversive ways for their own political ends.

Some thorny historical questions nonetheless remain unresolved: Can science ever be a reliable arbiter of human worth? Is it possible to develop an anti-racist, inclusive, and radically feminist scientific praxis? If so, what would that look like? If not, how should we make sense of social justice advocates who embrace science in their fight for racial and gender equity? In this roundtable, we’ll discuss how historians have tackled these questions over the past 30-40 years. The goal is to have a frank discussion about where the field is going, where it has been, and how it might be re-envisioned.

The panel includes senior scholars who have produced pathbreaking work on race, gender, and the body, as well two early-career scholars. Both Kathleen Brown and Rachel Walker will focus on the nineteenth century, showing how abolitionists and women’s rights activists used science to argue for equality—even as enslavers, ethnologists, and medical professionals interpreted human bodies in ways that rationalized existing power relations. Evelynn Hammonds will discuss the twentieth century, showing how even the most effective public health measures can adversely affect vulnerable populations. Johanna Schoen will then bring the panel into the modern era, demonstrating how racial and ethnic hierarchies continue to shape doctors’ treatment of infants in intensive-care units. As Chair/Commentator, Jaipreet Virdi will bring her knowledge of disability studies to the conversation. Together, all panelists will address two questions: What do we gain when we rely on science to study human difference and social hierarchy? And what do we lose? Since these are big quandaries that have implications for modern society and politics, we’re envisioning a vibrant back-and-forth between the audience and the panelists, with plenty of room for discussion and debate.