Ashley Montagu

Ashley Montagu (born June 28, 1905, London, Eng.—died Nov. 26, 1999, Princeton, N.J.) was a British American anthropologist noted for his works popularizing anthropology and science.

Montagu studied at the University of London and the University of Florence and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York City, in 1937. He lectured and taught at a number of schools, including Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he chaired the department of anthropology from 1949 to 1955. He first attracted public attention as the author of UNESCO’s “Statement on Race” (1950), in which he called for ethnic equality, arguing that race is a social invention with no biological basis. He published this and subsequent versions as Statement on Race (1951; rev. ed., 1972). Montagu also wrote on such varied topics as human evolution, culture, and child care, and possibly his most influential work is The Natural Superiority of Women (1953). In 1999 a heavily revised edition of the book was published. His other works include Man’s Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race (1942; 5th rev. ed., 1974), Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin (1971; 3rd ed., 1986), The Nature of Human Aggression (1976), and Growing Young (1981; 2nd ed., 1989).