Race, women and health1890s1900s1910s1920s1950s1960s1970s2020sEvidence collection
The published record · evidence collection
Race
What Watch Tower publications said about race across seventy years, in date order, with the kind of document named beside every quotation. The organisation's present teaching opens and closes the page, because it is as much a part of the record as the rest.
Last reviewed 20 September 2026
How to read this page.The Golden Age and Zion’s Watch Tower were general-interest magazines. They carried unsigned editorial matter, signed articles by outside contributors, reprints from newspapers, readers’ letters and formal rulings, and those are not the same thing. The kind of document is named beside every quotation here, because on this subject it is half the truth. Some of what follows is the organisation speaking; some of it is a contributor it chose to print; and in at least one case it is a view the magazine was arguing against.
This page is not arranged as a prosecution and a defence. The harsher material and the better material come from the same organisation in the same decades, sometimes in the same article, and arranging them in opposing columns would misrepresent both.
What the organisation teaches now
The current position belongs at the top, not as a footnote at the bottom.
Organisation's explanation · 19 September 2026Verified
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The organisation teaches that racial equality will be achieved by God's Kingdom rather than by social or political reform, and that its members should meanwhile treat others "with respect and dignity".
April 2014 · pp.14-15 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Acts 10:34, 35 states: “God is not partial, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” For this reason, nobody can rightly consider one race to be superior to another. … Jesus set the standard for Christians when he said to his disciples: “All of you are brothers.” (Matthew 23:8) He prayed that his followers be united and be “perfected into one,” not divided or segregated.”
A two-page article answering three questions: the origin of the races, whether any race is superior, and whether racism will end. It cites the UNESCO Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice of 1978 and teaches that all humans descend from Adam and Eve and from Noah's sons.
Provenance and verification note for Awake!, The Bible's Viewpoint: Racism
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, read in full from the document’s own HTML and re-checked independently; the page markers read 14 and 15, the printed citation line reads “g 4/14 pp. 14-15” and the series label above the title reads “THE BIBLE’S VIEWPOINT”. The two sentences quoted stand in consecutive paragraphs.
19 September 2026 · pp.mrt article 71 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Bible reveals that all humans are related and that God accepts people of every race. … Equality will be realized by God's Kingdom, a heavenly government. That government will teach people how to treat others in the right way. People will learn how to overcome any feelings of racism they may have.”
A current article in the "More Topics" series on jw.org. It opens by quoting the UN Secretary-General on racism as a driver of persistent inequality, cites Acts 17:26 and Acts 10:34, 35, and presents God's Kingdom rather than social reform as the remedy.
Provenance and verification note for JW.org, Is Racial Equality Only a Dream?—What Does the Bible Say?
Confidence note. The page was fetched on 19 September 2026 and the body text read verbatim from the page's own HTML, not from a summary. The article carries the publication code "mrt article 71" and no printed date.
19 September 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“God approves of marriage between a man and a woman of different races because all races are equal in his sight. … While interracial marriage is perfectly acceptable to God, not all people share his view. If you are considering marrying someone of another race, you and your prospective mate should discuss the following: How will you deal with the pressures you might face from your community or family? How will you help your children to deal with prejudice?”
The current official answer on jw.org. The cautions about community pressure and about children facing prejudice are the same two practical points raised in 1960 and 1973, but the article no longer mentions the effect on the preaching work or any duty to obey laws forbidding such marriages.
Provenance and verification note for JW.org (Bible Questions Answered), What Does the Bible Say About Interracial Marriage?
Confidence note. The article was fetched on 19 September 2026 and the full text read; the page carries no printed date, so the access date is recorded in the date field.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-jw-interracial-marriage
19 September 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“241—Lands where Jehovah's Witnesses worship. 9,205,326—Jehovah's Witnesses. … 119,652—Congregations. … We live around the world and come from many ethnic and cultural backgrounds.”
The "Fast Facts—Worldwide" panel on the organisation's own website, drawn from the 2025 Service Year Report covering September 2024 to August 2025. The site's own language menu lists several hundred languages, including many African, Asian, Pacific and indigenous American languages and more than thirty sign languages.
Provenance and verification note for JW.org, Jehovah's Witnesses Around the World
Confidence note. The page was fetched on 19 September 2026 and the figures read verbatim from its own HTML. The language count was not stated numerically anywhere on the page, so no figure for languages is asserted here.
Notes. Recorded so that the present-day scale and spread of the membership can be stated from the organisation's own figures rather than estimated.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-jw-worldwide-stats
The Watchtower of 1 December 1973 stated that "superiority of race is nowhere taught or implied in the Bible" and left interracial marriage to each Christian's own decision, while still asking the member to weigh whether such a marriage "is likely to create a seriously adverse effect" on local attitudes to the preaching work, and repeating that any law forbidding such marriages must be obeyed. Source: The Watchtower, 1 December 1973Source: The Watchtower, 15 July 1960
1 December 1973 · pp.735-736 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Superiority of race is nowhere taught or implied in the Bible. … So, the Bible nowhere implies that racial differences in themselves have anything to do with the properness of marriage. … As a factor, then, he may consider whether or not interracial marriage is likely to create a seriously adverse effect on the attitude of the people in his community toward this Kingdom-announcement work. … However, after weighing all these factors thoughtfully, each Christian must make his own decision—in good conscience and motivated by love for God and for his neighbor.”
A question from France. The answer states that racial prejudice does not make interracial marriage wrong, notes that such marriages were becoming more common, repeats the counsel to obey any law forbidding them, raises the possible effect on the preaching work and on children, and leaves the decision to the individual.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read from the document’s own HTML, twice and independently; the page markers read 735 and 736 and the printed citation line reads "w73 12/1 pp. 735-736". An earlier version of this record ended the quotation at "each Christian must make his own decision." with a full stop; in the document that sentence runs on past a dash, and the rest of it is now quoted.
15 July 1960 · pp.447-448 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“God’s Word does not forbid marriage between the races. On the contrary, it shows that all races are related in that they all came from one man originally. … It is quite likely that those who marry across racial lines will have more of this tribulation than will others. … Then again, the law in certain lands and states forbids interracial marriage. Since Christians must recognize Caesar’s right to regulate marriage, Christians residing in such states or lands and contemplating interracial marriage would have to move to a land or state where such marriages are legal, and it would be inadvisable for them to return to their own land or state or to go to any others having such laws.”
The reader’s question is "Is it wrong for a white person and a colored one to marry if they truly love each other?" The answer says no, then lists practical cautions: added tribulation, restricted preaching opportunities, obstacles for any children, and "the law in certain lands and states" that then forbade such marriages. It closes: "If two persons of different races decide to take such a step, no one should criticize them."
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read from the document’s own HTML, twice and independently; the page markers read 447 and 448 and the printed citation line reads "w60 7/15 pp. 447-448". An earlier version of this record ended the quotation at "… where such marriages are legal." with a full stop; in the document that sentence runs on past a comma, and the rest of it is now quoted.
Notes. The extract that circulates on critical sites omits the opening sentence, “God’s Word does not forbid marriage between the races”, and the closing one, “If two persons of different races decide to take such a step, no one should criticize them.”
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-w-1960-0715-qfr-interracial
This material predates the organisation as Jehovah’s Witnesses know it — the name was adopted in 1931 — and it belongs to the Bible Student movement under Charles Taze Russell, whose own record is documented separately. It is a prologue rather than the main subject, and is labelled as such here.
The Society's tract The Bible versus the Evolution Theory taught that God "evidently has been, a respecter of races" and had "specially blessed and favored certain branches of the Aryan race in Europe and America", and that the elect church "will probably be composed chiefly of the highly favored white race", while insisting that members of other races who accepted the gospel were not rejected. Source: The Bible versus the Evolution Theory (Old Theology Tracts), 1898
1898 · pp.30-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“It is quite another thing that God may have been, nay, evidently has been, a respecter of races, and has specially blessed and favored certain branches of the Aryan race in Europe and America. But the fact, that the white race has been more abundantly blessed with the light of the Gospel than others, is not to be understood to signify that when members of other races heard and appreciated the Gospel, they were repulsed or rejected by the Lord. … the author of Millennial Dawn holds that, while the elect Church will probably be composed chiefly of the highly favored white race, nevertheless, it will probably have in it representatives out of "every kindred, people and tongue."”
The booklet is written as a conversation on a train between "A.", a Presbyterian minister who accepts evolution, and "B.", who presents the teaching of Russell's Millennial Dawn. The passage is spoken by "B." and is expressly attributed to "the author of Millennial Dawn". The surrounding argument is that God has elected nations and races for the hearing of the gospel, not that other races are rejected.
Provenance and verification note for The Bible versus the Evolution Theory (Old Theology Tracts), The Bible versus Evolution
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item's djvu.xml on 19 September 2026. The leaf carrying the passage has the running head "The Bible versus Evolution." without a printed number; two leaves later the head reads "32 The Bible versus Evolution.", which fixes the passage at pages 30-31 and confirms the page 30 usually cited. The Internet Archive catalogue dates the item 1898; the copy has no separate printed date on the pages imaged.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “The Bible Versus the Evolution Theory”, a Google-digitised copy of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's Old Theology Tracts booklet; the title-page block reads “OLD THEOLOGY TRACTS … WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOC'Y”.
Notes. This is the very tract the 1 March 1900 volunteer call was distributing to white Protestant churches.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-bve-1898-white-race-elect
1 March 1900 · pp.Reprints p. 2585 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Get your several squads together and let us have your orders stating (1) the number of white Protestant churches in the district; (2) the average attendance at service which the church members chiefly attend; (3) the number of Volunteers in your squad; (4) to what address would you prefer to have the ammunition sent.”
The notice organises the free distribution of the Society's tract The Bible versus Evolution and two forthcoming numbers of the journal. The distribution is directed at white Protestant congregations only; the reasons are given in the issue of 15 April 1900.
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, Re-Enlisted Volunteers! To Arms!
Confidence note. Read in the 1900 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive, leaf by leaf from the item’s own djvu.xml, and re-checked independently on 19 September 2026. The leaf carrying the notice opens with the issue masthead “Vol. XXI ALLEGHENY, PA., MARCH 1, 1900 No. 5” and closes with the Reprints marker [2585]; the preceding leaf carries the running head “(62-64)” and closes with [2584], and the following leaf carries “(68-69)” and closes with [2586]. The Reprints page is therefore 2585 and its own running head reads “(64-68)”, so the notice falls within magazine pages 64-68 of that issue; the individual magazine page is not separately printed on the notice and is not asserted here. The wording is taken from the item’s OCR with plain OCR artefacts (“uveiago”, “membci-”) corrected against the surrounding text; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1900”, which reproduces the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1900. Each page carries a continuous Reprints number in square brackets and, where the page is not a masthead page, a running head giving the original magazine pages in parentheses.
Notes. This is the call referred to, and explained, in the issue of 15 April 1900. An earlier reading of this record gave the Reprints page as 2584; the leaf-level reading above gives 2585.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1900-0301-volunteer-call
15 April 1900 · pp.121-122 (Reprints p. 2618) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“There are probably as many as a hundred colored brethren on the Watch Tower lists, some of them very clear in the truth, and very earnest in its service, financially and otherwise. We have received letters from several of these, who had intended engaging in the volunteer work, expressing surprise that in the call for volunteers in the March 1st issue we restricted the inquiry to white Protestant churches. They rightly realized that we have not the slightest of race prejudice … The reason is that so far as we are able to judge, colored people have less education than whites—many of them quite insufficient to permit them to profit by such reading as we have to give forth.”
The article answers black readers who had written to ask why the free-literature campaign was directed only at white Protestant congregations. It goes on to advise that Watch Tower literature be given to black readers "not by promiscuous circulation, but only to those who give evidence of some ear for the truth", and separately excludes Roman Catholic churches because "the vast majority of their attendants are either too ignorant or too bigoted to read and think for themselves". Two Reprints pages further on the same article states: "The volunteer service is open to all of the Lord’s dear people, brethren and sisters, white and colored." The restriction was therefore on the churches the literature was taken to, not on who could take it.
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The Volunteer Work
Confidence note. Read in the 1900 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and re-checked leaf by leaf from the item’s djvu.xml. The whole quoted passage stands on one Reprints page, the leaf whose own running head reads “(121-122) ZION’S WATCH TOWER Allegheny, Pa.” and which closes with the marker [ 2618 ]; the marker falls inside the passage in the OCR only because the page is set in two columns. The next leaf reads “April 15, 1900 ZION’S WATCH TOWER (122-123)” and carries the rest of the article, including the exclusion of Roman Catholic congregations. This confirms the commonly cited page 122. Obvious OCR errors (“li«ts”, “w’hite”) have been repaired against the surrounding text; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1900”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1900.
Notes. Widely quoted from the phrase "colored people have less education than whites" onward. The full passage also contains the magazine’s claim to have "not the slightest of race prejudice", which critics often omit and defenders often quote alone, and the article later states that the volunteer service itself was open to "brethren and sisters, white and colored".
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1900-0415-colored-brethren
Answering black readers who asked why they had been left out of that campaign, Zion’s Watch Tower of 15 April 1900 said the Society had “not the slightest of race prejudice” but that “colored people have less education than whites”, so that reading matter distributed to a black congregation would “more than half of it be utterly wasted”. Source: Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 April 1900
15 April 1900 · pp.121-122 (Reprints p. 2618) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“There are probably as many as a hundred colored brethren on the Watch Tower lists, some of them very clear in the truth, and very earnest in its service, financially and otherwise. We have received letters from several of these, who had intended engaging in the volunteer work, expressing surprise that in the call for volunteers in the March 1st issue we restricted the inquiry to white Protestant churches. They rightly realized that we have not the slightest of race prejudice … The reason is that so far as we are able to judge, colored people have less education than whites—many of them quite insufficient to permit them to profit by such reading as we have to give forth.”
The article answers black readers who had written to ask why the free-literature campaign was directed only at white Protestant congregations. It goes on to advise that Watch Tower literature be given to black readers "not by promiscuous circulation, but only to those who give evidence of some ear for the truth", and separately excludes Roman Catholic churches because "the vast majority of their attendants are either too ignorant or too bigoted to read and think for themselves". Two Reprints pages further on the same article states: "The volunteer service is open to all of the Lord’s dear people, brethren and sisters, white and colored." The restriction was therefore on the churches the literature was taken to, not on who could take it.
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The Volunteer Work
Confidence note. Read in the 1900 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and re-checked leaf by leaf from the item’s djvu.xml. The whole quoted passage stands on one Reprints page, the leaf whose own running head reads “(121-122) ZION’S WATCH TOWER Allegheny, Pa.” and which closes with the marker [ 2618 ]; the marker falls inside the passage in the OCR only because the page is set in two columns. The next leaf reads “April 15, 1900 ZION’S WATCH TOWER (122-123)” and carries the rest of the article, including the exclusion of Roman Catholic congregations. This confirms the commonly cited page 122. Obvious OCR errors (“li«ts”, “w’hite”) have been repaired against the surrounding text; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1900”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1900.
Notes. Widely quoted from the phrase "colored people have less education than whites" onward. The full passage also contains the magazine’s claim to have "not the slightest of race prejudice", which critics often omit and defenders often quote alone, and the article later states that the volunteer service itself was open to "brethren and sisters, white and colored".
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1900-0415-colored-brethren
The passage in which Africans are described as "gross, immoral and deceitful", widely cited as a Watch Tower statement of 1901, is a clipping the magazine reprinted from the Literary Digest, which was itself quoting a London newspaper quoting the British colonial official Sir Harry H. Johnston writing in 1887; the magazine's own contribution was to introduce the clippings as coming from "highly creditable sources". Source: Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 August 1901
15 August 1901 · pp.263-267 (Reprints pp. 2861-2863); the African passage on pp. 265-267 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“We herewith supply additional evidences on this subject from highly creditable sources … The following discouraging reports of missionary efforts we clip from the Literary Digest.”
The article argues that foreign missions cannot convert the world and that the hope of mankind lies in the coming Kingdom. To make the case it reprints several columns from the Literary Digest under the heading “A Sweeping Criticism of Foreign Missions”. The Digest is summarising an investigation by a special correspondent of Reynolds’ Newspaper (London), which in turn quotes “Sir H. H. Johnston, our present Special Commissioner for Uganda”, writing in The Nineteenth Century of November 1887: “It too often happens that, while the negro rapidly masters the rules and regulations of the Christian religion, he still continues to be gross, immoral and deceitful”, and “those native African pastors, teachers and catechists whom I have met have been all, more or less, bad men”. Those words are Johnston’s, reprinted at three removes; the magazine’s own contribution is the introduction, which describes the sources as “highly creditable”.
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The World's Hope Not in Missions, but in the Kingdom
Confidence note. Read in the 1901 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and re-checked leaf by leaf from the item’s djvu.xml. The article opens on the leaf whose running head reads “August 15, 1901 ZION’S WATCH TOWER (263-264)” and which closes with the marker [ 2861 ]. The Johnston passage begins on the next leaf, head “(265-266)”, marker [ 2862 ], and ends on the leaf headed “August 15, 1901 ZION’S WATCH TOWER (266-267)”, marker [ 2863 ], where the next article, “Jacob Becomes Abraham’s Heir”, begins. The article therefore runs from magazine page 263 to page 267 across Reprints pages 2861-2863. An earlier reading of this record gave the range as 263-269 and the Reprints pages as 2860-2863; the leaf-level reading above does not support that. The words quoted above are the magazine’s own; the racial language belongs to the reprinted material and is described in quoteContext rather than presented here as a Watch Tower statement. The text is taken from the item’s OCR with plain OCR artefacts corrected; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1901”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1901.
Notes. Critical sites reproduce the Johnston passage under the heading “Watchtower 1901” without saying that it is a clipping from the Literary Digest quoting a London newspaper quoting a British colonial official writing in 1887. The magazine did introduce the clippings as coming from “highly creditable sources”.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1901-0815-missions-clipping
The 1902 article is the most quoted item in this whole subject, and the most often quoted without its purpose. It was written to refute a book then selling in the United States which argued that black people were not human beings. The sentence about “qualities of superiority” appears inside that refutation.
15 July 1902 · pp.214-217 (Reprints pp. 3042-3044) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“if whites and negroes were of different species they could not, by commingling, produce offspring capable of propagation … Take, for instance, the fact that Moses married a negress, and had children by her … Hence the argument of those who claim that the negro is devoid of organizing intelligence or ability, except as he may have an admixture of white blood, is shown to be fallacious.”
The article is a point-by-point answer to a book then selling in the southern United States which argued that black people were not human but animals. Answering the first question the magazine quotes "God that made the world and all things therein, … hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth" with the citation "Acts 17:24-28". The sub-heading "Miscegenation Not Scripturally a Crime" opens the next answer, in which the magazine rejects the claim that Cain’s sin was marriage to a black woman and lists Moses’s wife Zipporah, Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian eunuch and the Queen of Sheba as evidence.
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The Negro Not a Beast
Confidence note. Read in the 1902 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and re-checked leaf by leaf from the item’s djvu.xml. The article opens on the leaf that closes with the marker [3042]; the following leaf’s running head reads “July 15, 1902 ZION’S WATCH TOWER (215-216)” and closes with [3043], and the leaf after that reads “(216-217) ZION’S WATCH TOWER Allegheny, Pa.”, which fixes the date and the magazine pages. Heavy OCR damage in this volume (French-locale substitutions such as “hâve” for “have” and “ail” for “all”) has been corrected against the surrounding text; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1902”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1902.
Notes. This part of the article is rarely quoted by critical sites; the article as a whole was written to refute the claim that black people are not human.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1902-0715-negro-not-beast-refutation
15 July 1902 · pp.215-216 (Reprints p. 3043) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“While it is true that the white race exhibits some qualities of superiority over any other, we are to remember that there are wide differences in the same Caucasian (Semitic and Aryan) family; and also we should remember that some of the qualities which have given this branch of the human family its preeminence in the world are not such as can be pointed to as in all respects admirable. … The secret of the greater intelligence and aptitude of the Caucasian undoubtedly in great measure is to be attributed to the commingling of blood amongst its various branches; and this was evidently forced in large measure by circumstances under divine control.”
The passage stands in a section headed "How Shall We Account for Racial Differences?" which explains skin colour by climate, soil and "the strong pre-natal influence of the mother’s mind". The sentence immediately before it says that "Africa is inhabited by various tribes or nations of negroes—some more and some less degraded than the average". The same paragraph says the qualities that gave Europeans their pre-eminence are not admirable, suggests the gospel might have found better soil in India, and describes the elect church as taken "from amongst the most quarrelsome, aggressive, selfish and dominating of humanity". The section closes: "It remains to be proven that the similar commingling of the various tribes of Chinese for several centuries would not equally brighten their intellects; and the same with the peoples of India and Africa."
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The Negro Not a Beast
Confidence note. Read in the 1902 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and read again, leaf by leaf from the item’s djvu.xml, on the same date. The running head on this Reprints page reads "July 15, 1902 ZION’S WATCH TOWER (215-216)" and the page closes with the marker [3043], which confirms the page range commonly cited for this passage. An earlier version of this record ended the quotation at "… amongst its various branches." with a full stop; in the scan that sentence runs on past a semicolon, and the rest of it is now quoted. OCR damage repaired against the surrounding text; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1902”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1902.
Notes. Critical sites usually quote this passage as far as "in all respects admirable". The qualifications that follow stand in the same paragraph of the scan.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1902-0715-white-race-superiority
Zion's Watch Tower of 15 July 1902 stated that "the white race exhibits some qualities of superiority over any other", while adding in the same sentence that the qualities responsible for European pre-eminence were "not such as can be pointed to as in all respects admirable" and attributing Caucasian intelligence to the mixing of populations rather than to inherent quality. Source: Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 July 1902
15 July 1902 · pp.215-216 (Reprints p. 3043) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“While it is true that the white race exhibits some qualities of superiority over any other, we are to remember that there are wide differences in the same Caucasian (Semitic and Aryan) family; and also we should remember that some of the qualities which have given this branch of the human family its preeminence in the world are not such as can be pointed to as in all respects admirable. … The secret of the greater intelligence and aptitude of the Caucasian undoubtedly in great measure is to be attributed to the commingling of blood amongst its various branches; and this was evidently forced in large measure by circumstances under divine control.”
The passage stands in a section headed "How Shall We Account for Racial Differences?" which explains skin colour by climate, soil and "the strong pre-natal influence of the mother’s mind". The sentence immediately before it says that "Africa is inhabited by various tribes or nations of negroes—some more and some less degraded than the average". The same paragraph says the qualities that gave Europeans their pre-eminence are not admirable, suggests the gospel might have found better soil in India, and describes the elect church as taken "from amongst the most quarrelsome, aggressive, selfish and dominating of humanity". The section closes: "It remains to be proven that the similar commingling of the various tribes of Chinese for several centuries would not equally brighten their intellects; and the same with the peoples of India and Africa."
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The Negro Not a Beast
Confidence note. Read in the 1902 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and read again, leaf by leaf from the item’s djvu.xml, on the same date. The running head on this Reprints page reads "July 15, 1902 ZION’S WATCH TOWER (215-216)" and the page closes with the marker [3043], which confirms the page range commonly cited for this passage. An earlier version of this record ended the quotation at "… amongst its various branches." with a full stop; in the scan that sentence runs on past a semicolon, and the rest of it is now quoted. OCR damage repaired against the surrounding text; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1902”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1902.
Notes. Critical sites usually quote this passage as far as "in all respects admirable". The qualifications that follow stand in the same paragraph of the scan.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1902-0715-white-race-superiority
In the same article the magazine said Noah had prophesied that the "degeneracy" of Ham would "mark the posterity of Canaan, degrading him, making him servile", and that although it could not be determined with certainty that the sons of Ham and Canaan were "the negroes", it considered "that general view as probable as any other". Source: Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 July 1902
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The Watchtower of 15 October 1956 rejected the argument that Noah’s curse explains the position of black people, saying "the facts show that the colored race sprang not from Ham’s son Canaan but from his son Cush" and that "far from teaching segregation, the Bible condemns it"; Awake! of 8 October 1977 returned to the point and said "blacks are not, and never were, cursed by God".
15 July 1902 · pp.216-217 (Reprints p. 3044) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Noah declared, prophetically, that Ham's characteristics which had led him to unseemly conduct disrespectful to his father, would be found cropping out later, inherited by his son,—and prophetically he foretold that this degeneracy would mark the posterity of Canaan, degrading him, making him servile. We are not able to determine to a certainty that the sons of Ham and Canaan are the negroes; but we consider that general view as probable as any other.”
The passage answers a reader's fourth question about Noah's curse. The magazine insists the word "curse" means penalty rather than imprecation, and defends Noah against the charge of drunkenness. It stops short of asserting that black people descend from Canaan, calling that view only "as probable as any other".
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The Negro Not a Beast — Noah's Character and His "Curse" Upon Ham
Confidence note. Read in the 1902 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026. The section heading falls at the foot of the Reprints page whose running head reads “(215-216)”; the answer itself stands on the next Reprints page, whose running head reads “(216-217) ZION’S WATCH TOWER Allegheny, Pa.” OCR damage repaired.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1902”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1902.
Notes. The 1902 formulation is hedged (“not able to determine to a certainty … as probable as any other”); the version printed in The Golden Age of 24 July 1929 is not.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1902-0715-ham-canaan
Zion's Watch Tower of 15 February 1904 reported a newspaper account of a black boy in Missouri said to be turning white, and drew from it the conclusion that "God can change the Ethiopian's skin in his own due time", offering this as an answer to the question of how all people could be restored to perfection. Source: Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 February 1904
15 February 1904 · pp.52-53 (Reprints p. 3320) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“We answer, No. But all will admit that what the Ethiopian cannot do for himself God could readily do for him. The difference between the races of men and the differences between their languages have long been arguments against the solidarity of the human family. The doctrine of restitution has also raised the question, How could all men be brought to perfection and which color of skin was the original? The answer is now provided. God can change the Ethiopian's skin in his own due time.”
The item appears in the magazine's unsigned news department "Views From the Watch Tower". It goes on to report a newspaper account by Prof. H. A. Edwards, superintendent of schools at Slater, Missouri, of a nine-year-old boy at New Frankfort, Missouri, said to have begun turning white in September 1901, together with a corroborating letter from a railway surgeon.
Provenance and verification note for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, Views From the Watch Tower — "Can the Ethiopian Change His Skin?"
Confidence note. Read in the 1904 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026. The Reprints page carrying the item has the running head “(52-53) ZION’S WATCH TOWER Allegheny, Pa.” and closes with the marker [3320]; the department opens on the page carrying the masthead “Vol. XXV ALLEGHENY, PA., FEBRUARY 15, 1904 No. 4 VIEWS FROM THE [WATCH TOWER]”. This confirms the commonly cited pages 52-53.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1904”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1904.
Notes. The magazine does not say that black skin is a defect to be cured in so many words; it treats the newspaper report as evidence that restitution to "the grand original standard" is physically possible. Critics' paraphrases sometimes drop the opening words "We answer, No".
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-zwt-1904-0215-ethiopian-skin
The Watch Tower of 1 April 1914, under the heading "The Color Line Found Necessary", reported that the Society had "been compelled to assign the colored friends to the gallery" at the Photo-Drama of Creation in New York because white attendance would otherwise fall, described letters of protest from black members, and told them that if "nature favors the colored brethren and sisters in the exercise of humility it is that much to their advantage". Source: The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 1 April 1914
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The same article closes by saying that those who keep their “Covenant of Sacrifice” “will be granted new bodies, spiritual, beyond the veil, where color and sex distinctions will be no more”, and that the Millennial kingdom will then bring restitution “to the perfection of mind and body, feature and color, to the grand original standard”.
1 April 1914 · pp.105-106 (Reprints p. 5434) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Recognizing that it meant either the success or the failure of the enterprise of the Drama as respects the whites, we have been compelled to assign the colored friends to the gallery, which, however, is just as good for seeing and hearing as any other part of The Temple. Some were offended at this arrangement. … If nature favors the colored brethren and sisters in the exercise of humility it is that much to their advantage, if they are rightly exercised by it.”
The report on the Photo-Drama of Creation carries the sub-heading "The Color Line Found Necessary". It states that black attendance in New York had reached about twenty-five per cent of the audience, that "a majority of whites prefer not to intermingle closely with other races", and that letters of protest had been received, "some claiming that it is not right to make a difference, others indignantly and bitterly denouncing us as enemies of the colored people". It records an offer: "if a suitable place could be found in which the Drama could be presented for the benefit of the colored people alone, we would be glad to make such arrangements". It answers objectors with the parable of the guest who takes the chief seat. It closes by saying that those who keep their "Covenant of Sacrifice" "will be granted new bodies, spiritual, beyond the veil, where color and sex distinctions will be no more", and that the Millennial kingdom will then bring restitution "to the perfection of mind and body, feature and color, to the grand original standard".
Provenance and verification note for The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The Photo-Drama of Creation — The Color Line Found Necessary
Confidence note. Read in the 1914 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026 and re-checked leaf by leaf from the item’s djvu.xml. The leaf carrying the passage has the running head “(105-106) THE WATCH TOWER Brooklyn, N. Y.” and closes with the marker [5434]. This confirms the page 105 usually cited and shows the passage runs on to page 106. The sub-heading “The Color Line Found Necessary” is present in the scan but is omitted from the version circulated on critical sites, which also substitutes “THE PHOTO-DRAMA OF CREATION” for the printed “this Drama” at the opening and drops the word “entirely” from “would entirely deprive us of giving the truth to others”. The text is taken from the item’s OCR with plain OCR artefacts corrected; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1914”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1914.
Notes. The article is unsigned and written in the editorial “we” of the Society; it refers to “the Editor” and to “Brother Russell” in the third person.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-wt-1914-0401-color-line
The Golden Age of 15 October 1919 listed among the arguments for national prohibition that "from a criminal viewpoint the desirability of sobering the southern negro speaks volumes for national prohibition". Source: The Golden Age, 15 October 1919
15 October 1919 · pp.44-45 · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“From a criminal viewpoint the desirability of sobering the southern negro speaks volumes for national prohibition.”
The sentence is one of four short arguments in favour of prohibition listed at the head of an unsigned article that then turns against prohibition, arguing that it was imposed on an unwilling population in wartime, that the wealthy had stocked their cellars, and that "there is no prohibition for the man who had a few hundreds or thousands of dollars to invest in liquid refreshments".
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Prohibition for the Poor
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item's djvu.xml on 19 September 2026. The leaf is numbered 44 in the item's page-number file and the following leaf's running head reads “The Golden Age for October 15, 1919”, confirming both the date and the page usually cited.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The golden age, premiers numéros d’octobre à décembre 1919”, a bound run of the first issues of the magazine. Printed page numbers taken from the item's page_numbers.json joined to the djvu.xml leaves and checked against the running head “The Golden Age for October 15, 1919”.
Notes. The Golden Age was launched on 1 October 1919; this is the second issue. The article carries no by-line and is written in the magazine’s own voice, not as a reprint or a reader’s letter.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1919-1015-prohibition-poor
The sentence "if the father and mother are of different races the children are sometimes unfit for brain work", circulated as a Golden Age teaching of 1920, is an aside by a named reader, Joseph P. Samek, in a signed contribution about crop rotation and hybrid potatoes in Czechoslovakia, printed in the magazine's agriculture department. Source: The Golden Age, 7 January 1920
7 January 1920 · p.241 · Joseph P. Samek · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“Even in the case of the human family, if the father and mother are of different races the children are sometimes unfit for brain work. Wonderful are the fixed laws of God.”
The two sentences close a paragraph about crossing potato varieties in a signed reader's contribution on farming in Czechoslovakia, printed in the magazine's "Agriculture and Husbandry" department. The writer describes hybrid potatoes that grew large but were hollow and unfit to eat, and draws the human comparison as an aside before returning to Czech farming methods, diet and longevity.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Czecho-Slovakian Farming
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item’s djvu.xml on 19 September 2026 and read again independently on the same date. The leaf carries the running head "The Golden Age for January 7, 1920", the departmental heading "AGRICULTURE AN[D HUSBANDRY]" and the by-line "Czecho-Slovakian Farming by Joseph P. Samek". The printed folio on this leaf is not legible in the scan, and neither are the folios on the two leaves either side of it; the nearest legible folios are 233, 234, 235 and 238, in an unbroken run on consecutive leaves, and the item’s page-number file gives 241 for this leaf, which is what that run requires. An earlier version of this record said the adjacent leaves carried legible folios in an unbroken run to 248; they do not. Nothing about the writer could be established from the magazine beyond his name and his statement that he left Czechoslovakia twenty years earlier.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The golden age, 1920”. Printed page numbers taken from the item's page_numbers.json joined to the djvu.xml leaves and checked against the running head “The Golden Age for January 7, 1920”.
Notes. Critical sites print these two sentences under the bare heading “Golden Age 1920 Jan 7 p.241”, without the by-line or the subject of the article. In the magazine they close a paragraph about hollow hybrid potatoes in a signed contribution on Czechoslovakian farming.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1920-0107-samek-brain-work
The Golden Age of 26 May 1920 gave its cover article to a six-page survey of black life in America which said white Americans had profited for two centuries from unpaid labour and then set the freed population "adrift, ragged, unguided and unlettered", counted 2,522 black victims among 3,224 people killed by lynch mobs between 1889 and 1918, reprinted a newspaper account of a lynching by torture, and reported the pass laws, wage levels and land restrictions said to apply to black people in Cape Colony, South Africa. Source: The Golden Age, 26 May 1920
26 May 1920 · pp.547-552 · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“For two centuries the American people as a whole profited by the unpaid labor of the Negro and then set him adrift, ragged, unguided and unlettered, to assume the burdens of citizenship and to be further exploited by politicians, to his real injury. … In the thirty years, 1889-1918, lynching mobs murdered 3,224 persons in the United States, of whom 2,522 were Negroes and 702 were white persons.”
The unsigned cover article of the issue runs to six pages. It traces the slave trade, notes that New England capital financed it, gives census and occupational statistics, describes black economic advance in the Mississippi delta, and reprints at length a Chattanooga Times account of a lynching by torture. It closes by saying the remedy for "the injustices the Negro has suffered, and still suffers" is the coming Kingdom.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Facts About the American Negro
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item’s djvu.xml on 19 September 2026 and re-checked independently. The article opens on the leaf mapped to printed page 547, which carries the masthead “New York, Wednesday, May 26, 1920 Number 18” with the title set around it as “FACTS ABOUT THE … AMERICAN NEGRO”, and runs to the leaf mapped to page 552; the next article, “An Alaskan Gold Tragedy”, begins on page 553. The issue’s own contents page lists the article and its sub-sections. The first sentence quoted stands on page 547 and the lynching figures on page 550. The article carries no by-line. OCR artefacts corrected against the surrounding text; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The golden age, 1920”; printed page numbers from the item's page_numbers.json checked against the running head “The Golden Age for May 26, 1920”.
Notes. The critical sites consulted for this topic do not cite this article. It is the longest treatment of race in the 1920 volume and takes the opposite side from the magazine’s harsher race material.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1920-0526-american-negro-lynching
The same article included a section headed "Negro Characteristics" which generalised about racial character in terms of praise, saying that black Americans were "peaceful and law-abiding" and that "as a race they are happy, gentle, affectionate and humorous". Source: The Golden Age, 26 May 1920Source: The Golden Age, 26 May 1920
26 May 1920 · pp.551-552 · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“the faithfulness of Negroes has endeared them to true Americans in all ages. … The Negroes are peaceful and law-abiding. They have never been accused of night-riding and lynching. They have shown that they can suffer without becoming embittered, and can forgive those who have done them wrong. As a race they are happy, gentle, affectionate and humorous; and most of them are honest and industrious.”
A sub-section of the same unsigned cover article. It is offered in the black population's defence, against the claim that black Americans were disorderly, and it is immediately followed by an anecdote about a former slave who returned each Christmas to his old master. The section "The Negro and The South" that follows says the best type of Southerner "tries to be just to the Negro and to avoid pampering him".
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Facts About the American Negro — Negro Characteristics
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item's djvu.xml on 19 September 2026; the passage straddles the leaves numbered 551 and 552 of the 26 May 1920 issue. Wording confirmed; OCR damage repaired.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The golden age, 1920”.
Notes. The section stands between the lynching figures and the account of a former slave who returned each Christmas to his old master, inside an article written against the treatment of black Americans.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1920-0526-negro-characteristics
26 May 1920 · pp.547-552 · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“For two centuries the American people as a whole profited by the unpaid labor of the Negro and then set him adrift, ragged, unguided and unlettered, to assume the burdens of citizenship and to be further exploited by politicians, to his real injury. … In the thirty years, 1889-1918, lynching mobs murdered 3,224 persons in the United States, of whom 2,522 were Negroes and 702 were white persons.”
The unsigned cover article of the issue runs to six pages. It traces the slave trade, notes that New England capital financed it, gives census and occupational statistics, describes black economic advance in the Mississippi delta, and reprints at length a Chattanooga Times account of a lynching by torture. It closes by saying the remedy for "the injustices the Negro has suffered, and still suffers" is the coming Kingdom.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Facts About the American Negro
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item’s djvu.xml on 19 September 2026 and re-checked independently. The article opens on the leaf mapped to printed page 547, which carries the masthead “New York, Wednesday, May 26, 1920 Number 18” with the title set around it as “FACTS ABOUT THE … AMERICAN NEGRO”, and runs to the leaf mapped to page 552; the next article, “An Alaskan Gold Tragedy”, begins on page 553. The issue’s own contents page lists the article and its sub-sections. The first sentence quoted stands on page 547 and the lynching figures on page 550. The article carries no by-line. OCR artefacts corrected against the surrounding text; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The golden age, 1920”; printed page numbers from the item's page_numbers.json checked against the running head “The Golden Age for May 26, 1920”.
Notes. The critical sites consulted for this topic do not cite this article. It is the longest treatment of race in the 1920 volume and takes the opposite side from the magazine’s harsher race material.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1920-0526-american-negro-lynching
The Golden Age of 8 November 1922 printed a signed article on child psychology which said that for people judged mentally deficient "more than one authority recommends asexualization" and that "from the eugenics standpoint this would be advisable", before adding that no such measure was of permanent value. Source: The Golden Age, 8 November 1922
8 November 1922 · pp.70-71 · Coffey (initials illegible in the scan) · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“For aments more than one authority recommends asexualization. From the eugenics standpoint this would be advisable; for such persons have less control of their instincts than normal people, are prolific, and almost sure to produce offspring with their own deficiency. However, none of these suggestions are of permanent value.”
A signed contributor's article on child psychology and teacher training. The paragraph deals with "subnormal children" and follows a suggestion that cretinism can be treated with thyroid extract. The writer immediately adds that none of these measures is of lasting value and turns to Christ as "the greatest psychologist of the Christian era".
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Pedagogical Psychology
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item’s djvu.xml on 19 September 2026 and re-checked independently. The passage stands on the leaf mapped to printed page 71, whose running head reads “November 8, 1922”; the article begins on the leaf mapped to page 70 under the heading and by-line, which the scan renders “Pedagogical Psychology [b]y EH. E. Cofey”. Only the surname can be read with confidence — the OCR is consistent with either “E. H. Coffey” or “H. E. Coffey” — so no initials are asserted.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The golden age, 1922”; printed page numbers from the item's page_numbers.json checked against the running head “November 8, 1922”.
Notes. The passage concerns people the article calls “aments” and “subnormal children”, not any racial group.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1922-1108-coffey-asexualization
The Golden Age of 31 January 1923 described the idea of an Aryan race as a “scholarly myth” that “has now generally been repudiated”, in a signed article by O. L. Rosenkrans, Jr. that catalogued European colonial violence in the Americas, Africa, India and the Pacific. Source: The Golden Age, 31 January 1923
31 January 1923 · pp.259-270 (the Aryan passage on p. 259; the "weeding out" passage on p. 264) · O. L. Rosenkrans, Jr. · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“We use the term Aryan with diffidence, since that scholarly myth has now generally been repudiated, the modern European being considered the descendant of indigenous ethnic stocks—Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean, which have been mingled in varying proportions to form the existing nations.”
A signed contributor’s article, and a sustained attack on European colonialism: it describes Spanish and British conduct in the Americas, Africa, India and the Pacific, calls the slave trade’s cargoes "wailing cargoes of ‘black ivory’", and says the prosperity of English-speaking colonists "was established at the expense of the slower, weaker races". The article’s much harsher-sounding line about John Bull having "benefited posterity by weeding out inferior races through the agency of fire-water and other domestic products" is the second of three items in a list of his "beneficent activities", introduced "In the first place … In the second place … In the third place": the first is that he "benefited himself by annexing large areas of the earth’s surface" whose settlers "crowded out the original owners", and the third that he "set an example of sound business principles to the world by encouraging missionary activities which softened the intractability of savage tribes, rendering them amenable to peaceful penetration by the trader, and the introduction of such civilizing agencies as rum, opium, syphilis, and tuberculosis". The article’s last sentences read: "Certainly the Sons of Japheth, by their quite unexampled career of rapacity, greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy, have incurred such a justly merited recompense. It would be poetic justice."
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Sons of Japheth
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item’s djvu.xml on 19 September 2026 and read again independently on the same date. The article opens on the leaf mapped to printed page 259 under the masthead "Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1923 Number 88" with the by-line "The Sons of Japheth By O. L. Rosenkrans, Jr."; the passage about "weeding out inferior races" stands on the leaf mapped to page 264. The article ends on the leaf mapped to page 270, where the next signed article, "The Standard of Value By T. D. Jones", begins on the same page; the range is therefore 259-270. Two earlier versions of this record gave the range as 259-264 and then as 259-269, the second asserting that the next signed article began on page 270 — it begins on page 270, but so does the end of this article. The surrounding pages were read in full; the three-part list quoted in quoteContext, and the closing sentences, are the evidence that the passage is ironic.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The golden age, 1923”; printed page numbers from the item's page_numbers.json checked against the masthead “Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1923 Number 88”.
Notes. The "weeding out inferior races" sentence would read, taken alone, as an endorsement of colonial extermination. The three-part list it belongs to, the article around it, and its closing sentences are an indictment of European colonialism by the same contributor.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1923-0131-sons-of-japheth
The Golden Age of 4 November 1925 printed a signed article, introduced by an editor's note calling it "an unanswerable demonstration" against evolutionists, which held that "the science of eugenics has confirmed" that leadership is "in large measure a matter of 'divine right'", that intellectual capacity is inherited, that "contemporary savages" are "retrogressive peoples whose natural leaders became bred-out", and that moral decline was partly due to "racial degeneration". Source: The Golden Age, 4 November 1925
4 November 1925 · pp.67-68, 84 · O. L. Rosenkrans, Jr. · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“for the science of eugenics has confirmed the instinctive recognition of mankind that leadership is truly in large measure a matter of “divine right”. … Eugenists have ascertained through exhaustive tests that intellectual capacity is inherited, that racial progress is dependent upon the perpetuation of specific individual types who furnish leadership to the masses …”
A signed contributor’s article occupying most of the issue, printed under an editor’s note reading “[An unanswerable demonstration of the hopelessness and impossibility of the dreams of evolutionists.—Ed.]”. Its section headings include “Multiplication of Morons”, “Masses Unfit for Self-Government” and “Moral Bankruptcy of White Humanity”. It states that “the rank and file of the population are themselves morons”, that “contemporary savages linger on in our age of progress as examples of retrogressive peoples whose natural leaders became bred-out”, and on page 84 that “the prevailing world-wide moral laxity may be attributed to two chief factors … the second is racial degeneration”, continuing “If we are to endorse the eugenist view that racial deterioration in human beings is analogous to the breeding [of] scrub cattle in a herd …”
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Survival of the Unfit
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item’s djvu.xml on 19 September 2026 and re-checked independently. The article opens on the leaf mapped to printed page 67 with the masthead “Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, November 4, 1925”, the by-line “The Survival of the Unfit By O. L. Rosenkrans, Jr.” and the editor’s note quoted above; the “racial degeneration” passage stands on the leaf mapped to page 84 and the article continues to about page 87. Wording confirmed against the item’s OCR with plain artefacts corrected; the page images were not separately inspected.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: The golden age, 1925”; printed page numbers from the item's page_numbers.json checked against the masthead “Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, November 4, 1925”.
Notes. The same contributor, O. L. Rosenkrans, Jr., had listed eugenics among “all the latter-days’ fallacies” in his article in the issue of 21 December 1921 (p. 170) and written in his article “The Goal of Evolution” in the issue of 10 May 1922 that “Eugenics would breed men like cattle, and thereby discourage genius” (p. 507). Both of those passages, and the 1923 article “The Sons of Japheth”, carry his by-line, as does this one. The 1925 article takes eugenic premises as established and carries an editor’s note endorsing it as a demonstration against evolutionists.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1925-1104-survival-unfit
The Golden Age of 24 July 1929 answered the question "Is there anything in the Bible that reveals the origin of the Negro?" by saying that Noah's curse on Canaan "pictured the future of the Colored race", that black people "have been and are a race of servants", and that "there is no servant in the world as good as a good Colored servant". Source: The Golden Age, 24 July 1929
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The Watchtower of 15 October 1956 rejected the curse-of-Canaan argument when a Baptist body used it, and Awake! of 8 October 1977 devoted an article to refuting it — "blacks are not, and never were, cursed by God" — attributing the teaching to "religious leaders", "church commentators" and "churchmen". Neither article mentions that the organisation’s own magazine had printed it in 1929.
24 July 1929 · p.702 · Woodworth, Knorr and Martin, 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, New York
“Question: Is there anything in the Bible that reveals the origin of the Negro? Answer: It is generally believed that the curse which Noah pronounced upon Canaan was the origin of the Black race. Certain it is that when Noah said, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren," he pictured the future of the Colored race. They have been and are a race of servants, but now in the dawn of the twentieth century, we are all coming to see this matter of service in its true light and to find that the only real joy in life is in serving others; not bossing them. There is no servant in the world as good as a good Colored servant, and the joy that he gets from rendering faithful service is one of the purest joys there is in the world.”
The item is the second of two answers in the magazine’s unsigned "Bible Questions and Answers" department, immediately below an answer about James 5:14 and immediately above the children’s serial, which begins on the next page. It carries no by-line and no qualification.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Bible Questions and Answers
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item’s djvu.xml on 19 September 2026 and re-checked independently. The passage stands on the leaf whose own printed folio reads “702”; the leaves mapped to pages 699 and 701 carry the running head “JULY 24, 1929”, and page 703 begins “The Children’s Own Radio Story”. Date, page and wording all confirmed against the scan’s text, and the commonly cited page 702 is correct. The issue’s masthead block reads “Published every other Wednesday at 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. … by WOODWORTH, KNORR & MARTIN”.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Golden Age 1929”, the bound volume for that year. Printed page numbers taken from the item's page_numbers.json joined to the djvu.xml leaves and checked against the running heads “JULY 24, 1929” on the adjacent pages.
Notes. The item carries no by-line and no qualification. It stands between an answer about James 5:14 and the children’s serial that begins on the next page.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1929-0724-origin-of-negro
This is the part of the record that concerns how the organisation ran its own affairs, rather than what its magazines printed about the world.
Organisation's explanation · 1 February 1952Verified
The organisation's own magazine states that in parts of the United States "white and black Jehovah's Witnesses had to have separate congregations, circuits, and districts", that in 1954 some members objected when no black speakers appeared on district assembly programmes, and that congregations "gradually began to integrate" as racial violence in the South diminished. Source: The Watchtower, 15 December 2011Source: The Watchtower, 1 February 1952
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The account is the organisation's own, published as a life story in The Watchtower of 15 December 2011; a photograph caption in the same article is dated "an integrated district convention, 1966".
15 December 2011 · pp.3-7 · James A. Thompson (life story, as told to the magazine) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“AT THAT time in parts of the United States, white and black Jehovah's Witnesses had to have separate congregations, circuits, and districts. … In 1954, some Witnesses took offense when no black speakers were on the program at a number of district assemblies. We encouraged our black brothers to be patient. The following summer, I was assigned as a speaker. Thereafter, more black brothers in the South were on the programs. … In time, racial violence in the South diminished, and congregations gradually began to integrate.”
A first-person life story of a black American Witness born in 1928, told to the magazine. He entered the 20th class of Gilead in September 1952, was assigned afterwards to circuit work visiting black congregations in Alabama, and in the summer of 1953 became a district overseer serving black circuits from Virginia to Florida. A photograph caption printed as “[Picture on page 6]” reads “Traveling overseers and their wives preparing for an integrated district convention, 1966”.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Making Adjustments Has Been Rewarding
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, read in full from the document’s own HTML and re-checked independently; the page markers read 3 to 7, the printed citation line reads “w11 12/15 pp. 3-7” and the by-line reads “As told by James A. Thompson”. The 1966 date comes from the picture caption, which the document prints after the last page marker and labels as standing on page 6.
Notes. The organisation’s own magazine states that its American congregations, circuits and districts were racially separate, that integration came gradually, and that “some, both blacks and whites, did not favor the new arrangement”.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-w-2011-1215-thompson
1 February 1952 · pp.94-95 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“[Reader’s question] If the Watchtower Society is free from racial prejudice, why does it tolerate segregation at its assemblies in certain sections of country? Is this not a course of compromise? [The magazine’s answer] … We never have separate meetings and baptisms when we can have them together. But when impossible, shall we have separate meetings and baptisms, or none at all? … To buck the segregation laws would bring on disruption of the witness work, halting of it, mob violence, and possible loss of life. Only laws prohibiting gospel-preaching will we buck at that price.”
The reply argues that segregation is "the outgrowth and hangover of slavery" and that since Paul did not campaign against slavery, Christians should not campaign against its "lingering trace". It advises those affected, in Paul's words, "Do not let it worry you". It adds: "Really, our colored brothers have great cause for rejoicing. Their race is meek and teachable, and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase."
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. The whole article was opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, read from the document’s own HTML and read again independently on the same date. The document carries page markers for 94, 95 and 96 and the printed citation line "w52 2/1 pp. 94-96"; the answer on segregation occupies pages 94-95, and a second, unrelated question in the same column — about a health folder — runs on to page 96. The question is signed in the magazine "—F. C., Wisconsin". The square brackets in the quotation are this ledger’s marks, showing where the reader’s question ends and the magazine’s answer begins; every word outside the brackets stands as printed. The answer does not open with the words quoted: it opens "Why do we tolerate the segregation laws and policies of certain governments and organizations of this world?" and four sentences follow before "We never have separate meetings". An earlier version of this record ran the bracketed label straight into that sentence with no ellipsis; the ellipsis is now there.
Asked in 1952 why the Society tolerated segregation at its assemblies, The Watchtower answered that separate meetings were better than none, that segregation was "the outgrowth and hangover of slavery" and that since the apostles had not campaigned against slavery Christians should not campaign against its "lingering trace", and told those affected, in Paul’s words, "Do not let it worry you". It added: "Really, our colored brothers have great cause for rejoicing. Their race is meek and teachable, and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase." Source: The Watchtower, 1 February 1952
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The article states that the Society never held separate meetings and baptisms "when we can have them together", and that breaking segregation law would have brought "mob violence, and possible loss of life".
1 February 1952 · pp.94-95 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“[Reader’s question] If the Watchtower Society is free from racial prejudice, why does it tolerate segregation at its assemblies in certain sections of country? Is this not a course of compromise? [The magazine’s answer] … We never have separate meetings and baptisms when we can have them together. But when impossible, shall we have separate meetings and baptisms, or none at all? … To buck the segregation laws would bring on disruption of the witness work, halting of it, mob violence, and possible loss of life. Only laws prohibiting gospel-preaching will we buck at that price.”
The reply argues that segregation is "the outgrowth and hangover of slavery" and that since Paul did not campaign against slavery, Christians should not campaign against its "lingering trace". It advises those affected, in Paul's words, "Do not let it worry you". It adds: "Really, our colored brothers have great cause for rejoicing. Their race is meek and teachable, and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase."
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. The whole article was opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, read from the document’s own HTML and read again independently on the same date. The document carries page markers for 94, 95 and 96 and the printed citation line "w52 2/1 pp. 94-96"; the answer on segregation occupies pages 94-95, and a second, unrelated question in the same column — about a health folder — runs on to page 96. The question is signed in the magazine "—F. C., Wisconsin". The square brackets in the quotation are this ledger’s marks, showing where the reader’s question ends and the magazine’s answer begins; every word outside the brackets stands as printed. The answer does not open with the words quoted: it opens "Why do we tolerate the segregation laws and policies of certain governments and organizations of this world?" and four sentences follow before "We never have separate meetings". An earlier version of this record ran the bracketed label straight into that sentence with no ellipsis; the ellipsis is now there.
The Watchtower of 15 September 1959 taught that there was "no justification for discriminating against brothers because of the color of their skin" inside the congregation, while stating in the same paragraph that "God's people have to recognize the law of the land when it requires separation with respect to race or color in some countries". Source: The Watchtower, 15 September 1959
15 September 1959 · p.556 · par. 9 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Men do make a difference, and God's people have to recognize the law of the land when it requires separation with respect to race or color in some countries. But inside the New World society there is no difference and there is no justification for discriminating against brothers because of the color of their skin.”
A study article on overcoming national, language and racial pride. Earlier paragraphs condemn the idea of a master race and cite the 1958 Divine Will assembly, at which "253,922 people of 123 nations lived together in Christian peace and unity". The sentence quoted sets the limit of that principle: obedience to segregation law where it exists.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Salvation by Overcoming Proud Tradition
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read from the document's own HTML. The quoted sentence stands in paragraph 9, after the page marker for page 556; the printed citation line reads "w59 9/15 pp. 554-560".
Organisation's explanation · 19 September 2026Verified
The organisation's own account of the apartheid years in South Africa records that congregation territories followed the racial residential map, that a white speaker barred from a black area addressed a circuit assembly from the other side of a farm fence, and that Witnesses "obeyed the law and did not get involved in protests or attempts to change the government". Source: From Our Archives (jw.org / Watchtower Online Library), 19 September 2026
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The same article presents this as a record of unity maintained under a divided system, and cites a 1993 multiracial convention and a rise from 4,831 publishers in 1948 to 58,729 in 1994.
19 September 2026 · pp.article 6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“On the other hand, Jehovah’s Witnesses obeyed the law and did not get involved in protests or attempts to change the government. … Under apartheid, racial groups were segregated into their respective residential areas. Therefore, congregation territories were usually composed of people of the same race.”
The article describes how Witnesses in South Africa worked within apartheid law: a white speaker barred from a black area addressed a circuit assembly from the far side of a farm fence; congregation territories followed the racial residential map; the organisation declined to take part in protest. It records a multiracial convention in 1993 and growth from 4,831 publishers in 1948 to 58,729 in 1994.
Provenance and verification note for From Our Archives (jw.org / Watchtower Online Library), United in a Divided Country
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, read in full from the document’s own HTML and re-checked independently. The first sentence quoted stands under the sub-heading “Dealing With Division-Fueled Dangers” and the second under “Witnessing in Segregated Territories”, in that order; an earlier version of this record gave them in the reverse order. The article is part of the undated “From Our Archives” series and carries the publication code “foa article 6”; it mentions a 2021 figure, so it was published no earlier than 2021. Following the ledger’s convention for undated official web pages, the access date is recorded in the date field. The 2007 Yearbook is cited by the article itself for further detail.
Notes. The organisation’s own account of how its congregations operated under a legally segregated system, published on its current website.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-foa-south-africa-apartheid
The Watchtower of 15 October 1956 answered an American Baptist Association resolution supporting segregation, held that "far from teaching segregation, the Bible condemns it", and rejected the curse of Canaan as an explanation of the position of black people, while still tracing black people to a named son of Ham, Cush. Source: The Watchtower, 15 October 1956
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The same article says the Christian "does not spend his time trying to solve all such social problems, because neither Jesus nor the apostles took such a course".
15 October 1956 · pp.611-613 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Some people argue that the colored race was sentenced to a secondary status by Noah after the flood, in that he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham. However, the facts show that the colored race sprang not from Ham's son Canaan but from his son Cush. Therefore not even Noah's curse as recorded at Genesis 9:26, 27 can be used to argue that God is responsible for segregation. … Far from teaching segregation, the Bible condemns it.”
The article answers a 1956 resolution of the American Baptist Association which had put God on the side of segregation. It rejects each of the resolution's four points and says all the variations in human skin colour were available in the genes of the first man and woman. It also says the Christian "does not spend his time trying to solve all such social problems, because neither Jesus nor the apostles took such a course".
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Is God a Segregationist?
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read from the document's own HTML; the page markers read 611, 612 and 613 and the printed citation line reads "w56 10/15 pp. 611-613".
Notes. The article answers a Baptist resolution. It does not mention that The Golden Age had printed the curse-of-Canaan explanation in 1929, and it keeps the descent of black people from a named son of Ham, moving it from Canaan to Cush.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-w-1956-1015-god-segregationist
The Watchtower of 15 July 1960 said God's Word does not forbid marriage between the races and that "no one should criticize" a couple who marry across racial lines, while advising that such couples would probably face more "tribulation", that their preaching opportunities might be restricted, and that where anti-miscegenation laws applied they "would have to move" to a jurisdiction where the marriage was legal. Source: The Watchtower, 15 July 1960
15 July 1960 · pp.447-448 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“God’s Word does not forbid marriage between the races. On the contrary, it shows that all races are related in that they all came from one man originally. … It is quite likely that those who marry across racial lines will have more of this tribulation than will others. … Then again, the law in certain lands and states forbids interracial marriage. Since Christians must recognize Caesar’s right to regulate marriage, Christians residing in such states or lands and contemplating interracial marriage would have to move to a land or state where such marriages are legal, and it would be inadvisable for them to return to their own land or state or to go to any others having such laws.”
The reader’s question is "Is it wrong for a white person and a colored one to marry if they truly love each other?" The answer says no, then lists practical cautions: added tribulation, restricted preaching opportunities, obstacles for any children, and "the law in certain lands and states" that then forbade such marriages. It closes: "If two persons of different races decide to take such a step, no one should criticize them."
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read from the document’s own HTML, twice and independently; the page markers read 447 and 448 and the printed citation line reads "w60 7/15 pp. 447-448". An earlier version of this record ended the quotation at "… where such marriages are legal." with a full stop; in the document that sentence runs on past a comma, and the rest of it is now quoted.
Notes. The extract that circulates on critical sites omits the opening sentence, “God’s Word does not forbid marriage between the races”, and the closing one, “If two persons of different races decide to take such a step, no one should criticize them.”
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-w-1960-0715-qfr-interracial
Awake! of 8 October 1977 gave a whole issue to race. Its article on intelligence reported that "the weight of scientific opinion … seems to be that the lower average IQ scores of blacks can be explained largely, if not entirely, by environmental factors", while saying that the question "cannot be positively determined" and that "there is no proof that whites either have, or have not, inherited more intelligence than blacks"; it concluded that "there is no sound basis for viewing people of another race as inferior". Source: Awake!, 8 October 1977Source: Awake!, 8 October 1977
8 October 1977 · pp.11-16 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“One thing is certain, however, and that is that there is no sound basis for viewing people of another race as inferior. Without making any distinctions as to race, the Bible wholesomely advises us to have "lowliness of mind considering that the others are superior to you."”
The closing argument of a six-page article in an issue of Awake! given over to race; one further sentence, introducing the next article, follows it. The article sets out the claims of William Shockley and Arthur Jensen, examines IQ testing, quotes Ashley Montagu, Thomas Pettigrew, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Frederick Osborn and the National Academy of Sciences, and says that "the weight of scientific opinion … seems to be that the lower average IQ scores of blacks can be explained largely, if not entirely, by environmental factors". It does not present the question as settled: it also says "There is no proof that whites either have, or have not, inherited more intelligence than blacks" and "the question of the relative intelligence of the races cannot be positively determined. The evidence is now inconclusive, open to various interpretations."
Provenance and verification note for Awake!, Are Whites More Intelligent than Blacks?
Confidence note. The whole article was opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, read from the document’s own HTML and re-checked independently; the quoted sentence follows the page marker for page 16 and the printed citation line reads “g77 10/8 pp. 11-16”.
Notes. The whole issue of 8 October 1977 is given over to race. The other articles, with the page ranges printed in the library’s own citation lines, are "Races Are Strikingly Different" (pp. 3-6), "What About Racial Superiority?" (pp. 6-10), "Body Odor and Race" (pp. 17-20), "One Human Race" (pp. 20-23), "They Found the Solution to the Problem of Race" (pp. 24-27) and "Are Blacks Cursed by God?" (pp. 28-29).
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-g-1977-1008-whites-blacks
8 October 1977 · pp.28-29 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“MANY religious leaders have answered “Yes.” … But, first of all, please note that nothing is said in this Bible account about anyone’s being cursed with blackness of skin. And note, too, that it is Canaan, not his father Ham, who was cursed. … What great harm has resulted from the misapplication by churchmen of this Biblical curse! The slavery of African blacks, and their mistreatment since the days of slavery, can in no way be justified by the Bible. The truth is, blacks are not, and never were, cursed by God!”
A two-page article in the same issue of Awake! that is given over to race. It quotes the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary applying the curse of Canaan to “the slavery of the Africans”, traces the misreading to the fourth-century writer Ambrosiaster, to a 1873 prayer indulgence of Pope Pius IX and to defenders of American slavery, prints a black reader’s account of trying to scrub the colour off her skin, and says the black race descends from Ham’s sons Cush and probably Put. It attributes the teaching throughout to “religious leaders”, “church commentators” and “churchmen”. It does not mention that The Golden Age of 24 July 1929 printed the same answer, or that Zion’s Watch Tower of 15 July 1902 had called that view “as probable as any other”.
Provenance and verification note for Awake!, What Is the Bible’s View? — Are Blacks Cursed by God?
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full from the document’s own HTML. The page markers read 28 and 29, the printed citation line reads “g77 10/8 pp. 28-29” and the series label above the title reads “What Is the Bible’s View?” The article carries no by-line. Its place in the issue was fixed from the citation lines of the neighbouring documents in the same issue.
Notes. The organisation’s own magazine devotes an article to refuting the teaching that black people are under Noah’s curse, and names churchmen and slaveholders as the source of it. The same teaching had appeared in its own Golden Age in 1929.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-g-1977-1008-blacks-cursed
Searches of the organisation’s own online library produced no article in which it withdraws, corrects or acknowledges the specific statements about race published in its literature before 1950. Its 1956 rebuttal of the curse-of-Canaan argument answers a Baptist resolution, and its 1977 article "Are Blacks Cursed by God?" attributes that teaching to "religious leaders", "church commentators" and "churchmen"; neither mentions that the same argument had appeared in The Golden Age in 1929. Source: The Watchtower, 15 October 1956Source: Awake!, 8 October 1977Source: The Golden Age, 24 July 1929Source: The Watchtower, 15 December 2011
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The organisation has published a first-person account acknowledging that its American congregations, circuits and districts were once racially separate, and a first-person account of its congregations operating under apartheid, but neither addresses what its magazines taught about race.
15 October 1956 · pp.611-613 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Some people argue that the colored race was sentenced to a secondary status by Noah after the flood, in that he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham. However, the facts show that the colored race sprang not from Ham's son Canaan but from his son Cush. Therefore not even Noah's curse as recorded at Genesis 9:26, 27 can be used to argue that God is responsible for segregation. … Far from teaching segregation, the Bible condemns it.”
The article answers a 1956 resolution of the American Baptist Association which had put God on the side of segregation. It rejects each of the resolution's four points and says all the variations in human skin colour were available in the genes of the first man and woman. It also says the Christian "does not spend his time trying to solve all such social problems, because neither Jesus nor the apostles took such a course".
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Is God a Segregationist?
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read from the document's own HTML; the page markers read 611, 612 and 613 and the printed citation line reads "w56 10/15 pp. 611-613".
Notes. The article answers a Baptist resolution. It does not mention that The Golden Age had printed the curse-of-Canaan explanation in 1929, and it keeps the descent of black people from a named son of Ham, moving it from Canaan to Cush.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-w-1956-1015-god-segregationist
8 October 1977 · pp.28-29 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“MANY religious leaders have answered “Yes.” … But, first of all, please note that nothing is said in this Bible account about anyone’s being cursed with blackness of skin. And note, too, that it is Canaan, not his father Ham, who was cursed. … What great harm has resulted from the misapplication by churchmen of this Biblical curse! The slavery of African blacks, and their mistreatment since the days of slavery, can in no way be justified by the Bible. The truth is, blacks are not, and never were, cursed by God!”
A two-page article in the same issue of Awake! that is given over to race. It quotes the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary applying the curse of Canaan to “the slavery of the Africans”, traces the misreading to the fourth-century writer Ambrosiaster, to a 1873 prayer indulgence of Pope Pius IX and to defenders of American slavery, prints a black reader’s account of trying to scrub the colour off her skin, and says the black race descends from Ham’s sons Cush and probably Put. It attributes the teaching throughout to “religious leaders”, “church commentators” and “churchmen”. It does not mention that The Golden Age of 24 July 1929 printed the same answer, or that Zion’s Watch Tower of 15 July 1902 had called that view “as probable as any other”.
Provenance and verification note for Awake!, What Is the Bible’s View? — Are Blacks Cursed by God?
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full from the document’s own HTML. The page markers read 28 and 29, the printed citation line reads “g77 10/8 pp. 28-29” and the series label above the title reads “What Is the Bible’s View?” The article carries no by-line. Its place in the issue was fixed from the citation lines of the neighbouring documents in the same issue.
Notes. The organisation’s own magazine devotes an article to refuting the teaching that black people are under Noah’s curse, and names churchmen and slaveholders as the source of it. The same teaching had appeared in its own Golden Age in 1929.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-g-1977-1008-blacks-cursed
24 July 1929 · p.702 · Woodworth, Knorr and Martin, 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, New York
“Question: Is there anything in the Bible that reveals the origin of the Negro? Answer: It is generally believed that the curse which Noah pronounced upon Canaan was the origin of the Black race. Certain it is that when Noah said, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren," he pictured the future of the Colored race. They have been and are a race of servants, but now in the dawn of the twentieth century, we are all coming to see this matter of service in its true light and to find that the only real joy in life is in serving others; not bossing them. There is no servant in the world as good as a good Colored servant, and the joy that he gets from rendering faithful service is one of the purest joys there is in the world.”
The item is the second of two answers in the magazine’s unsigned "Bible Questions and Answers" department, immediately below an answer about James 5:14 and immediately above the children’s serial, which begins on the next page. It carries no by-line and no qualification.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Bible Questions and Answers
Confidence note. Read page by page from the item’s djvu.xml on 19 September 2026 and re-checked independently. The passage stands on the leaf whose own printed folio reads “702”; the leaves mapped to pages 699 and 701 carry the running head “JULY 24, 1929”, and page 703 begins “The Children’s Own Radio Story”. Date, page and wording all confirmed against the scan’s text, and the commonly cited page 702 is correct. The issue’s masthead block reads “Published every other Wednesday at 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. … by WOODWORTH, KNORR & MARTIN”.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Golden Age 1929”, the bound volume for that year. Printed page numbers taken from the item's page_numbers.json joined to the djvu.xml leaves and checked against the running heads “JULY 24, 1929” on the adjacent pages.
Notes. The item carries no by-line and no qualification. It stands between an answer about James 5:14 and the children’s serial that begins on the next page.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-ga-1929-0724-origin-of-negro
15 December 2011 · pp.3-7 · James A. Thompson (life story, as told to the magazine) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“AT THAT time in parts of the United States, white and black Jehovah's Witnesses had to have separate congregations, circuits, and districts. … In 1954, some Witnesses took offense when no black speakers were on the program at a number of district assemblies. We encouraged our black brothers to be patient. The following summer, I was assigned as a speaker. Thereafter, more black brothers in the South were on the programs. … In time, racial violence in the South diminished, and congregations gradually began to integrate.”
A first-person life story of a black American Witness born in 1928, told to the magazine. He entered the 20th class of Gilead in September 1952, was assigned afterwards to circuit work visiting black congregations in Alabama, and in the summer of 1953 became a district overseer serving black circuits from Virginia to Florida. A photograph caption printed as “[Picture on page 6]” reads “Traveling overseers and their wives preparing for an integrated district convention, 1966”.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Making Adjustments Has Been Rewarding
Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, read in full from the document’s own HTML and re-checked independently; the page markers read 3 to 7, the printed citation line reads “w11 12/15 pp. 3-7” and the by-line reads “As told by James A. Thompson”. The 1966 date comes from the picture caption, which the document prints after the last page marker and labels as standing on page 6.
Notes. The organisation’s own magazine states that its American congregations, circuits and districts were racially separate, that integration came gradually, and that “some, both blacks and whites, did not favor the new arrangement”.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-w-2011-1215-thompson
The organisation’s literature is today produced in more than a thousand languages for a membership drawn from every part of the world, and its current teaching is quoted at the top of this page. Both things are true at once, and this page does not ask the reader to resolve them.
8 October 1953 · pp.6 (as cited by others) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Not quoted: the original could not be opened.”
A sentence about South African racial policy is attributed to this issue and page by critical sites. No copy of the issue could be opened, so the wording is not reproduced here and nothing about it is asserted.
No online copy located.
Provenance and verification note for Awake!, Not established
Confidence note. The Watchtower Online Library carries Awake! only from 1970 onward, the Internet Archive has no Awake! issues for 1953, and the official pub-media endpoint returns HTTP 404 for this issue. The wording, the page and even the existence of the article therefore remain unchecked. To confirm it, a physical or microfilm copy of the 8 October 1953 Awake! would be needed.
Notes. Recorded so that the gap in the record is visible and a later researcher knows what to look for. Nothing in this record is evidence of anything.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-g-1953-1008-south-africa
22 April 1953 · pp.11 (as cited by others) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Not quoted: the original could not be opened.”
Advice about choosing a marriage partner is attributed to this issue and page by critical sites. No copy of the issue could be opened, so the wording is not reproduced here and nothing about it is asserted.
No online copy located.
Provenance and verification note for Awake!, Not established
Confidence note. Same access problem as the October 1953 issue: Awake! before 1970 is not on the Watchtower Online Library, is not on the Internet Archive, and is not served by the official pub-media endpoint. A physical or microfilm copy would be needed.
Notes. Recorded so that the gap in the record is visible and a later researcher knows what to look for. Nothing in this record is evidence of anything.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-g-1953-0422-marry-own-race
Critical sites state that this Yearbook counted black members separately in a breakdown of attendance at the 1945 annual meeting. No copy could be opened, so nothing about it is asserted.
No online copy located.
Provenance and verification note for Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, Not established
Confidence note. The Watchtower Online Library's Yearbook holdings do not reach back to 1946, the Internet Archive has no copy, and the official pub-media endpoint rejects the request. A physical copy of the 1946 Yearbook would settle it in a single page.
Notes. Recorded so that the gap in the record is visible and a later researcher knows what to look for. Nothing in this record is evidence of anything.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-yb-1946-negro-members
“Viewing the quotes chronologically reveals that in more recent decades the Watchtower promotes racial equality.”
A chronological list of citations used here only to identify which issues and pages to open. Every publication it lists was then opened in the original scan or on the organisation's own library, and the citations checked against the page's own running head.
Provenance and verification note for JWfacts, Watchtower Quotes Regarding Black Skin
Confidence note. A discovery source. Used to locate publications; never cited as authority for any wording, date or page. Of the citations checked against the originals, the page numbers given for 1900 (15 April), 1904, 1914, 1919, 1920, 1929, 1960, 1973 and 1977 were all correct. For 1902 the site gives "pp. 215-216" for a single quotation that splices two separate answers: the first half stands on the Reprints page whose running head reads "(215-216)", but the second half, on Noah’s curse, stands on the next Reprints page, headed "(216-217)". For the 1901 article the range given, pp. 264-266, is a close but not exact description of the African passage, which stands on pages 265-267 of an article running from 263 to 267. The site’s 1920 "brain work" quotation is printed without the by-line or the subject of the article it comes from; its 1914 text drops the printed sub-heading and alters three phrases; and its 1904 text omits the opening words "We answer, No."
Notes. Listed for transparency about where the trail began. Not evidence for anything.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-race-jwfacts-black-skin
1898 · pp.30-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“It is quite another thing that God may have been, nay, evidently has been, a respecter of races, and has specially blessed and favored certain branches of the Aryan race in Europe and America. But the fact, that the white race has been more abundantly blessed with the light of the Gospel than others, is not to be understood to signify that when members of other races heard and appreciated the Gospel, they were repulsed or rejected by the Lord. … the author of Millennial Dawn holds that, while the elect Church will probably be composed chiefly of the highly favored white race, nevertheless, it will probably have in it representatives out of "every kindred, people and tongue."”
1 March 1900 · pp.Reprints p. 2585 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Get your several squads together and let us have your orders stating (1) the number of white Protestant churches in the district; (2) the average attendance at service which the church members chiefly attend; (3) the number of Volunteers in your squad; (4) to what address would you prefer to have the ammunition sent.”
15 April 1900 · pp.121-122 (Reprints p. 2618) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“There are probably as many as a hundred colored brethren on the Watch Tower lists, some of them very clear in the truth, and very earnest in its service, financially and otherwise. We have received letters from several of these, who had intended engaging in the volunteer work, expressing surprise that in the call for volunteers in the March 1st issue we restricted the inquiry to white Protestant churches. They rightly realized that we have not the slightest of race prejudice … The reason is that so far as we are able to judge, colored people have less education than whites—many of them quite insufficient to permit them to profit by such reading as we have to give forth.”
15 August 1901 · pp.263-267 (Reprints pp. 2861-2863); the African passage on pp. 265-267 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“We herewith supply additional evidences on this subject from highly creditable sources … The following discouraging reports of missionary efforts we clip from the Literary Digest.”
15 July 1902 · pp.214-217 (Reprints pp. 3042-3044) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“if whites and negroes were of different species they could not, by commingling, produce offspring capable of propagation … Take, for instance, the fact that Moses married a negress, and had children by her … Hence the argument of those who claim that the negro is devoid of organizing intelligence or ability, except as he may have an admixture of white blood, is shown to be fallacious.”
15 July 1902 · pp.215-216 (Reprints p. 3043) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“While it is true that the white race exhibits some qualities of superiority over any other, we are to remember that there are wide differences in the same Caucasian (Semitic and Aryan) family; and also we should remember that some of the qualities which have given this branch of the human family its preeminence in the world are not such as can be pointed to as in all respects admirable. … The secret of the greater intelligence and aptitude of the Caucasian undoubtedly in great measure is to be attributed to the commingling of blood amongst its various branches; and this was evidently forced in large measure by circumstances under divine control.”
15 July 1902 · pp.216-217 (Reprints p. 3044) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Noah declared, prophetically, that Ham's characteristics which had led him to unseemly conduct disrespectful to his father, would be found cropping out later, inherited by his son,—and prophetically he foretold that this degeneracy would mark the posterity of Canaan, degrading him, making him servile. We are not able to determine to a certainty that the sons of Ham and Canaan are the negroes; but we consider that general view as probable as any other.”
15 February 1904 · pp.52-53 (Reprints p. 3320) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“We answer, No. But all will admit that what the Ethiopian cannot do for himself God could readily do for him. The difference between the races of men and the differences between their languages have long been arguments against the solidarity of the human family. The doctrine of restitution has also raised the question, How could all men be brought to perfection and which color of skin was the original? The answer is now provided. God can change the Ethiopian's skin in his own due time.”
1 April 1914 · pp.105-106 (Reprints p. 5434) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Recognizing that it meant either the success or the failure of the enterprise of the Drama as respects the whites, we have been compelled to assign the colored friends to the gallery, which, however, is just as good for seeing and hearing as any other part of The Temple. Some were offended at this arrangement. … If nature favors the colored brethren and sisters in the exercise of humility it is that much to their advantage, if they are rightly exercised by it.”
7 January 1920 · p.241 · Joseph P. Samek · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“Even in the case of the human family, if the father and mother are of different races the children are sometimes unfit for brain work. Wonderful are the fixed laws of God.”
26 May 1920 · pp.547-552 · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“For two centuries the American people as a whole profited by the unpaid labor of the Negro and then set him adrift, ragged, unguided and unlettered, to assume the burdens of citizenship and to be further exploited by politicians, to his real injury. … In the thirty years, 1889-1918, lynching mobs murdered 3,224 persons in the United States, of whom 2,522 were Negroes and 702 were white persons.”
26 May 1920 · pp.551-552 · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“the faithfulness of Negroes has endeared them to true Americans in all ages. … The Negroes are peaceful and law-abiding. They have never been accused of night-riding and lynching. They have shown that they can suffer without becoming embittered, and can forgive those who have done them wrong. As a race they are happy, gentle, affectionate and humorous; and most of them are honest and industrious.”
8 November 1922 · pp.70-71 · Coffey (initials illegible in the scan) · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“For aments more than one authority recommends asexualization. From the eugenics standpoint this would be advisable; for such persons have less control of their instincts than normal people, are prolific, and almost sure to produce offspring with their own deficiency. However, none of these suggestions are of permanent value.”
31 January 1923 · pp.259-270 (the Aryan passage on p. 259; the "weeding out" passage on p. 264) · O. L. Rosenkrans, Jr. · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“We use the term Aryan with diffidence, since that scholarly myth has now generally been repudiated, the modern European being considered the descendant of indigenous ethnic stocks—Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean, which have been mingled in varying proportions to form the existing nations.”
4 November 1925 · pp.67-68, 84 · O. L. Rosenkrans, Jr. · Woodworth, Hudgings and Martin, Brooklyn, New York
“for the science of eugenics has confirmed the instinctive recognition of mankind that leadership is truly in large measure a matter of “divine right”. … Eugenists have ascertained through exhaustive tests that intellectual capacity is inherited, that racial progress is dependent upon the perpetuation of specific individual types who furnish leadership to the masses …”
24 July 1929 · p.702 · Woodworth, Knorr and Martin, 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, New York
“Question: Is there anything in the Bible that reveals the origin of the Negro? Answer: It is generally believed that the curse which Noah pronounced upon Canaan was the origin of the Black race. Certain it is that when Noah said, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren," he pictured the future of the Colored race. They have been and are a race of servants, but now in the dawn of the twentieth century, we are all coming to see this matter of service in its true light and to find that the only real joy in life is in serving others; not bossing them. There is no servant in the world as good as a good Colored servant, and the joy that he gets from rendering faithful service is one of the purest joys there is in the world.”
1 February 1952 · pp.94-95 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“[Reader’s question] If the Watchtower Society is free from racial prejudice, why does it tolerate segregation at its assemblies in certain sections of country? Is this not a course of compromise? [The magazine’s answer] … We never have separate meetings and baptisms when we can have them together. But when impossible, shall we have separate meetings and baptisms, or none at all? … To buck the segregation laws would bring on disruption of the witness work, halting of it, mob violence, and possible loss of life. Only laws prohibiting gospel-preaching will we buck at that price.”
15 October 1956 · pp.611-613 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Some people argue that the colored race was sentenced to a secondary status by Noah after the flood, in that he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham. However, the facts show that the colored race sprang not from Ham's son Canaan but from his son Cush. Therefore not even Noah's curse as recorded at Genesis 9:26, 27 can be used to argue that God is responsible for segregation. … Far from teaching segregation, the Bible condemns it.”
15 September 1959 · p.556 · par. 9 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Men do make a difference, and God's people have to recognize the law of the land when it requires separation with respect to race or color in some countries. But inside the New World society there is no difference and there is no justification for discriminating against brothers because of the color of their skin.”
15 July 1960 · pp.447-448 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“God’s Word does not forbid marriage between the races. On the contrary, it shows that all races are related in that they all came from one man originally. … It is quite likely that those who marry across racial lines will have more of this tribulation than will others. … Then again, the law in certain lands and states forbids interracial marriage. Since Christians must recognize Caesar’s right to regulate marriage, Christians residing in such states or lands and contemplating interracial marriage would have to move to a land or state where such marriages are legal, and it would be inadvisable for them to return to their own land or state or to go to any others having such laws.”
1 December 1973 · pp.735-736 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Superiority of race is nowhere taught or implied in the Bible. … So, the Bible nowhere implies that racial differences in themselves have anything to do with the properness of marriage. … As a factor, then, he may consider whether or not interracial marriage is likely to create a seriously adverse effect on the attitude of the people in his community toward this Kingdom-announcement work. … However, after weighing all these factors thoughtfully, each Christian must make his own decision—in good conscience and motivated by love for God and for his neighbor.”
8 October 1977 · pp.11-16 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“One thing is certain, however, and that is that there is no sound basis for viewing people of another race as inferior. Without making any distinctions as to race, the Bible wholesomely advises us to have "lowliness of mind considering that the others are superior to you."”
8 October 1977 · pp.28-29 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“MANY religious leaders have answered “Yes.” … But, first of all, please note that nothing is said in this Bible account about anyone’s being cursed with blackness of skin. And note, too, that it is Canaan, not his father Ham, who was cursed. … What great harm has resulted from the misapplication by churchmen of this Biblical curse! The slavery of African blacks, and their mistreatment since the days of slavery, can in no way be justified by the Bible. The truth is, blacks are not, and never were, cursed by God!”
15 December 2011 · pp.3-7 · James A. Thompson (life story, as told to the magazine) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“AT THAT time in parts of the United States, white and black Jehovah's Witnesses had to have separate congregations, circuits, and districts. … In 1954, some Witnesses took offense when no black speakers were on the program at a number of district assemblies. We encouraged our black brothers to be patient. The following summer, I was assigned as a speaker. Thereafter, more black brothers in the South were on the programs. … In time, racial violence in the South diminished, and congregations gradually began to integrate.”
April 2014 · pp.14-15 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Acts 10:34, 35 states: “God is not partial, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” For this reason, nobody can rightly consider one race to be superior to another. … Jesus set the standard for Christians when he said to his disciples: “All of you are brothers.” (Matthew 23:8) He prayed that his followers be united and be “perfected into one,” not divided or segregated.”
19 September 2026 · pp.article 6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“On the other hand, Jehovah’s Witnesses obeyed the law and did not get involved in protests or attempts to change the government. … Under apartheid, racial groups were segregated into their respective residential areas. Therefore, congregation territories were usually composed of people of the same race.”
19 September 2026 · pp.mrt article 71 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Bible reveals that all humans are related and that God accepts people of every race. … Equality will be realized by God's Kingdom, a heavenly government. That government will teach people how to treat others in the right way. People will learn how to overcome any feelings of racism they may have.”
19 September 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“God approves of marriage between a man and a woman of different races because all races are equal in his sight. … While interracial marriage is perfectly acceptable to God, not all people share his view. If you are considering marrying someone of another race, you and your prospective mate should discuss the following: How will you deal with the pressures you might face from your community or family? How will you help your children to deal with prejudice?”
19 September 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“241—Lands where Jehovah's Witnesses worship. 9,205,326—Jehovah's Witnesses. … 119,652—Congregations. … We live around the world and come from many ethnic and cultural backgrounds.”