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Montague Francis Ashley-Montagu (born Israel Ehrenberg; June 28, 1905 – November 26, 1999) was a British-American anthropologist who popularized the study of topics such as race and gender and their relation to politics and development. He was the rapporteur, in 1950, for the UNESCO "statement on race". As a young man he changed his name from Ehrenberg to "Montague Francis Ashley-Montagu". After relocating to the United States he used the name "Ashley Montagu". Montagu, who became a naturalized American citizen in 1940, taught and lectured at Harvard, Princeton, Rutgers, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and New York University. Forced out of his Rutgers position after the McCarthy hearings, he repositioned himself as a public intellectual in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing regularly on television shows and writing for magazines and newspapers. He authored over 60 books throughout this lifetime. In 1995, the American Humanist Association named him the Humanist of the Year. Early life and education Montagu was born Israel Ehrenberg on June 28, 1905, in London, England. He grew up in London's East End. He remembered often being subjected to antisemitic abuse when he ventured out of his own Jewish neighborhood. Montagu attended the Central Foundation Boys' School. He developed an interest in anatomy very early and as a boy was befriended by Scottish anatomist and anthropologist Arthur Keith under whom he studied informally. In 1922, at the age of 17, he entered University College London, where he received a diploma in psychology after studying with Karl Pearson and Charles Spearman and taking anthropology courses with Grafton Elliot Smith and Charles Gabriel Seligman. He also studied at the London School of Economics, where he became one of the first students of Bronisław Malinowski. In 1931, he emigrated to the United States. At this time, he wrote a letter introducing himself to Harvard anthropologist Earnest Hooton, claiming to have been "educated at Cambridge, Oxford, London, Florence, and Columbia" and to have earned M.A. and PhD degrees. In reality, Montagu had not graduated from Cambridge or Oxford and did not yet have a PhD. He taught anatomy to dental students in the United States, and received his doctorate in 1936, when he produced a dissertation at Columbia University, Coming into being among the Australian Aborigines: A study of the procreative beliefs of the native tribes of Australia which was supervised by cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict. He became a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University, working there from 1949 until 1955. Career During the 1940s and 1950s, Montagu published a series of works questioning the validity of race as a biological concept, including the UNESCO "Statement on Race", and his very well known Man's Most Dangerous Myth: the Fallacy of Race. He was particularly opposed to the work of Carleton S. Coon, and the term "race". In 1952, together with William Vogt, he gave the first Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture, inaugurating the series. Montagu wrote the Foreword and Bibliography of the 1955 edition of Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Petr Kropotkin, which was reprinted in 2005. Due to disputes concerning his involvement with the UNESCO "Statement on Race", Montagu became a target for anti-communists, and, lacking tenure, was dismissed from Rutgers University and "found all other academic avenues blocked." He retired from his academic career in 1955 and moved to Princeton, New Jersey to continue his popular writing and public appearances. He became a well-known guest of Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. He addressed his numerous published studies of the significant relationship of mother and infant to the general public. The humanizing effects of touch informed the studies of isolation-reared monkeys and adult pathological violence that is the subject of his Time-Life documentary Rock A Bye Baby (1970). Also in 1970, Montagu resided at the North Shore Inn, which was the last year of the inn's operation before it was razed that fall. The North Shore Inn was located on the grounds of the world-famous Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua County, NY. The institute is renowned as a gathering place for philosophy, anthropology, opera, and the arts. Thomas Edison had a summer home there as well. Later in life, Montagu actively opposed genital modification and mutilation of children. In 1994, James Prescott wrote the Ashley Montagu Resolution to End the Genital Mutilation of Children Worldwide: a Petition to the World Court, The Hague, named in honor of Montagu, who was one of its original signers. Montagu was a noted critic of creationism. He edited Science and Creationism, a volume of essays by several writers, including Isaac Asimov, which refuted creationist arguments. Dave Langford reviewed Science and Creationism for White Dwarf #75, and stated that it "reveals just how intellectually poverty-stricken the creationist movement is. Academic bloodshed on a vast scale: I loved it." A posthumous biography of Montagu, Love Forms the Bones, was written by anthropologist Susan Sperling and published in 2005. Work Statement on Race Montagu was one of the ten scientists invited to serve on a UNESCO committee addressing race, later known as the Committee of Experts on Race Problems.: 2  The main purpose of the organization was to contribute to world peace and security through science and culture.: 3  The group wrote a series of Statements on Race to spread awareness that humans are all one species and that "race" is not a valid biological concept. Montagu co-authored these Statements and later published a book, Statement on Race, presenting his own views on the theme in much more detail. The first UNESCO Statement says, "Scientists have reached general agreement in recognizing that mankind is one: that all men belong to the same species, Homo sapiens.": 14  The first statement was put in such a way that laymen would be able to understand a scientist's point of view. They worded it so that people who were not knowledgeable about the subject would understand. "Homo sapiens is made up of a number of populations, each one of which differs from the others." That states that even though there is variability in the individual's genetic heritage, all belong to a discrete species and should be treated equally.: 7  The second Statement says that since human history is widely diverse and complex, there are many human populations that cannot be easily classified "racially".: 142  However, some anthropologists believe that mankind is classified into at least three major human races.: 143  Even though it is believed that there are many human races, it gives no support that there is one race that is superior or inferior to any of the other races.: 143  The third Statement gives views on the biological aspect of the race question.: 149  It explains that different human groups diverged from a common stock and that is the reas.... Discover the Ashley Matson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ashley Matson books.