Universal Races Congress

First Universal Races Congress

Universal Races Congress delegates, Imperial Institute, London, 1911
Date	26-29 July 1911
Duration	Four days
Venue	University of London
Location	UK
Theme	Anti-racism
Organised by	Gustav Spiller
Participants	2,100

The First Universal Races Congress met in 1911 for four days at the University of London as an early effort at anti-racism. Speakers from a number of countries discussed race relations and how to improve them. The congress, with 2,100 attendees, was conceived as a result of comments in 1906 by Felix Adler and primarily executed by Gustav Spiller. Philip Stanhope was president of the congress, and William Pember Reeves chaired its executive committee.

The call for the congress included these remarks:

To discuss, in the light of science and modern conscience, the general relations subsisting between the peoples of the West and those of the East, between the so-called "white" and the so-called "colored" peoples, with a view to encouraging between them a fuller understanding, the most friendly feelings, and the heartier co-operation.… The interchange of material and other wealth between the races of mankind has of late years assumed such dimensions that the old attitude of distrust and aloofness is giving way to a genuine desire for a closer acquaintanceship. Out of this interesting situation has sprang the idea of holding a Congress where the representatives of the different races might meet each other face to face, and might, in friendly rivalry, further the cause of mutual trust and respect between the Occident and Orient, between the so-called "white" peoples and the so-called "colored" peoples.

More than 50 countries and 20 governments sent representatives, resulting in 58 papers which were categorized into five groups:

Resolutions resulting from the congress were:

Felix Adler was the delegate from the United States National Bureau of Education, as it was then known. British anthropologist and ethnologist Alfred Cort Haddon wrote a paper for the journal Science about the congress. Bengali humanist philosopher Brajendra Nath Seal, a proponent of Brahmo Samaj who worked in comparative religion, delivered an address entitled "Race Origin" introducing the concept of group divergence as it relates to human evolutionary genetics and the effects of reproductive isolation. Writer, physician and reformer Charles Eastman, a Santee Sioux and Anglo-American who was active in politics and Native American rights, represented the American Indian at the congress.Sarah J. Garnet accompanied her sister Susan McKinney Steward, who delivered her paper ("Colored American Women") to the congress. The pioneering physician Frances Hoggan spoke.W. E. B. Du Bois observed that the congress could clarify the state of scientific knowledge about the meaning of "race" and presented his paper, "The Negro Race in the United States of America".Mary White Ovington, co-founder of the NAACP, was in attendance and Mojola Agbebi, an advocate of self-governance for African churches, delivered a paper. William Sanders Scarborough was the delegate from Wilberforce University, the first African-American-owned college in the United States. The head of the Bahá'í Faith, `Abdu'l-Bahá, was invited to speak; he sent representatives, a letter and presentations by a number of Bahá'ís. Other religious speakers included Thomas William Rhys Davids, Genchi Kato and Alfred Caldecott.