

Engaging with history requires more than reading other scholars' works and retelling their research; it demands you go into the archives, hypothesize, theorize, and connect the past with the present and future.
-- Dr. Shantella Sherman, Winner of the 2022 ASALH Freedom Scholar Award


Eugenics. A tiny little word with an amazingly complex meaning, eugenics was once held as the science of "better breeding," and the mechanism for birthing a better, more fit society. Utilizing theories of evolution, polygenesis, phrenology, and genetic inheritance, eugenic beliefs filtered into every aspect of Western culture. Today, remnants of eugenics inform that dictate policies in education, housing, health, punishment, finance, amusements, immigration, and race. The Acumen Group deconstructs these theories to raise awareness of eugenics -- past and present, and help others address both personal and institutional bias based on eugenic ideologies.
A Look Back, with Gratitude 2022 -
A Celebration of New Endeavors 2023
Acumen Editors, Christie Paschakis & Lindiwe Vilakazi
In Search of Purity:
Popular Eugenics & Racial Uplift Among New Negroes 1915-1935
Winner of the 2019-2020 Best Academic History Book Award from the International Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society
Available for purchase in our online bookstore or at book retailers worldwide

"If you do not understand eugenics in the framing of race policies, what you believe you know of racism, Otherness, and national character, will only confuse you."
-- Dr. Shantella Sherman
Winner of 2019-2020 Best Academic Book - International Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society