Falmouth Street Could Lose Racist Scientist's Name

FALMOUTH, MA — Residents have started a petition to change the name of a Woods Hole road after discovering the racist past of the influential scientist after whom it is named.

Agassiz Road in Falmouth was named after Louis Agassiz, a 19th century geologist and biologist who taught at Harvard University. Agassiz founded the Anderson School for Natural History at Penikese Island, and his research inspired students at the school to establish the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole in 1888.

But Agassiz was also a polygenist, which means he argued that all human races are of different ancestors and do not share a common ancestor. New light on his polygenism has prompted more than 600 petitioners to call for changing the street's name.

"How shall we eradicate the stigma of a lower race when its blood has once been allowed to flow freely into that of our children?" Agassiz wrote in an 1863 letter.

Polygenists, including Agassiz, collected data about human population traits and tried to find the "consequences of racial mixing," according to a 2013 scholarly article by Terence Keel from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Agassiz also ranked races from "most to least superior"; he ranked white people first and Black and Native American races at the bottom.

Paula Pace and Ruth Gainer, both of Woods Hole, created the petition after more than a year of discussions with other residents.

"While Agassiz made significant contributions in geology and other areas of science, he was a polygenist," Pace wrote in the petition to the Falmouth Select Board. "He professed beliefs that humans had different origins, and that white people were superior physically, intellectually, and morally to black people, indigenous people and people of color. Agassiz used his science in support of white supremacy. Such racist science became an important justification for slavery."

Pace and Gainer wrote they want to see Agassiz Road's name be changed to Jewel Cobb Road, named after Jewel Cobb, a cell biologist who was name an independent investigator at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Falmouth in 1949 and is known for studying skin cancer.

"We wish to live in a community that welcomes all people, regardless of skin color, ethnicity, religion or culture," Pace said. "To venerate a scientific racist has given the wrong message for too many years. We have an opportunity now to change a road name and honor a scientist whose life and work reflect the true values of our community."

The select board is expected to schedule a public hearing regarding the petition at a later date.