[In the following excerpt, Hyatt applauds Boas's efforts to effect social change.]

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the nation experienced a major transformation of values, aims and perceptions. After emerging from a bloody civil war, which altered America's agrarian face irrevocably, the country encountered traumatic dislocations. In what has been variously termed "a response to industrialism" or "a search for order," Americans grappled with the assorted dilemmas caused by frenzied industrialization, mass immigration from Europe and chaotic urbanization. In reacting to these new forces, the Progressive movement collectively hoped to bring order out of the chaos on all fronts by addressing the ramifications of such intense change.

Although Boas himself did not arrive in the United States until the late 1880s, he soon became enmeshed in many of the problems that faced the general society. His reaction to the vast transformation of the country's political, social and intellectual landscape had significant influence on that very metamorphosis. Addressing a variety of concerns during the course of his career, Boas attempted to help solve some of the weighty dilemmas facing the nation as it sought to adjust to the forces that had caused that fullscale deracination.

As an intellectual, Boas attacked the misusers of science who promulgated theories of racial inferiority based on alleged mental differences between ethnic groups. As a scientist, he directed the professionalization of the field of anthropology, overseeing its evolution from an amateur hobby to its maturity as a rigorous academic discipline. As a social activist, he strove to eradicate prejudice and bigotry from American society, in an effort to ensure that the promise of American democracy was articulated in reality and practice.

The motivation behind Boas's actions and ideology was not monocausal. Certainly his devotion to a liberal creed significantly influenced his weltanschauung. Raised in a progressive German household that supported the revolution of 1848, Boas adopted political views similar to those of his parents. His education reinforced those sentiments. Accordingly, this liberalism lay at the root of his activity.

Combined with this, and every bit as influential, was his commitment to scientific accuracy and purity. This persistent dedication figured importantly in Boas's research and publication, and also accounted for his desire to rid anthropology of amateur control. It was this attribute that led inevitably to the personal battles Boas frequently fought with other individuals who did not share his passion.

The third major factor that determined his course was more defensive and personal in nature. It placed Boas in the position of reacting to insult and forced him into frequent confrontation. From early on in his university days in Germany, and throughout his life, Boas experienced anti-Semitism firsthand. These incidents left a lasting impression and molded his behavior and consciousness. The way in which these feelings were intertwined with both his liberal bent and scientific orthodoxy is a revealing aspect of the story of his life, because it accounts for many of his actions and beliefs.

It is imperative to understand Boas's life experiences in order to analyze his intellectual contributions. He merged science with politics because his upbringing was consistent with such a path. Moreover, his early years were most relevant in forming his philosophy; they help explain both the direction in which he embarked and his orientation as a thinker.

Boas left an indelible mark on anthropology. His work was not confined to one branch of the discipline; his research, thought, and teaching penetrated all facets of the field, including linguistics, archaeology and physical and cultural anthropology. In each component he infused scientific rigor, intent on questioning existing hypotheses. Among his numerous major contributions were challenges to evolutionary theory and arguments about race, mental ability and hierarchical ranking; major linguistic studies concerning the nexus between race, language and culture; insight into mental-cognitive paradigms; and explication of the plasticity of the human form and the primacy of environment in shaping both physique and mental behavior.

In constructing this thought, Boas overturned many of the existing theories under which amateur anthropologists had labored. As a result, he successfully reoriented the field itself along more precise methodological lines. He was, perhaps, the last major figure who cast so large a shadow on the discipline as a whole. Boas's impact so enhanced and expanded the field that specialization became the norm rather than the exception. Following him, anthropologists, including many of his own students, found sufficient scope to work within the subdivisions of the discipline.

The symbolic quality of Boas's life is an equally important facet of his legacy. Beyond his personal response to America's industrialization, he met head-on the various dilemmas of twentieth-century United States history. His pacifist sentiments during World War I embroiled him in controversy. His experiences during the war years brought into sharp relief the issue of personal liberty versus patriotism and underscored the hysteria extant in America during those turbulent times.

In a marked transition, the second world war offered Boas the opportunity to show his allegiance to the United States. Although arguing for American neutrality once again, his forceful, outspoken condemnation of Hitler led inevitably to support for the Allied effort against the forces of Fascism. Boas had understood sooner and more precisely than most American intellectuals how World War II would illuminate the paradoxical aspects of American racial attitudes. Although the United States commenced its assault against Nazi race theory by late 1941, the contradictory condoning of racism at home continued to detract from America's professed democratic ideals. Squaring the nation's attack on racism abroad with its maintenance at home remained a task for postwar activists.

That Boas recognized this discrepancy so early points to another crucial aspect of his legacy. His role in forging a new consensus on race theory and his efforts to eradicate bigotry characterized his entire adult life. His thought in this area had substantial impact on the Afro-American civil rights movements, particularly during the depression decade, when a heightened concern for racial equality compelled various groups and individuals to challenge segregation and racism. The forceful restatement of his many pronouncements on the equipotential of the races and his condemnation of pseudoscientists who honed their craft in the service of continuing the myth of racial inferiority paved the way for change.

In combination with the interracialism espoused by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA), and organized labor, and with W. E. B. Du Bois's articulation of the need for black economic selfdetermination and his concern for the masses, Boas's argument helped bring a multidirectional civil rights movement to national attention. His forceful and repetitive attacks on racial injustice led inevitably to more research, and to the gradual invalidation over time of the racists' claim to scientific legitimacy. Once science had abandoned bigotry, the struggle for equality began to chip away at the legal and political hegemony of Jim Crow society. Boas's legacy in this regard was significant and enduring.

Racism, of course, outlived Boas. What he left to America were the intellectual weapons to combat it and recognition of the urgency of the task. What he left to anthropology was a cadre of well-trained scientists who collectively continued his approach. Not only did they argue against prejudice and any misuse of science as its justification, they also conducted individual research into various cultures, languages, customs and beliefs. Taken as a whole, their studies informed Americans about the way in which different societies contributed to civilization's advance, thus reinforcing Boas's belief in cultural relativism.

Certainly not all of Boas's students appreciated his domineering, professional style or his paternalistic concern for them. Many chafed under his tutelage, frustrated by his demands that they master all facets of their discipline. Nevertheless, out of Boas's classroom marched many of the new generation of professional American anthropologists. As they themselves rose to prominence in the academy, they carried forward Boas's desire to make anthropology useful in the service of society. Ruth Benedict, Ruth Bunzel, Melville Herskovits, Zora Neale Hurston, Alfred Kroeber, Robert Lowie, Margaret Mead, Edward Sapir, Leslie Spier and John Swanton were among those fortunate to work under Boas. Their combined efforts are yet another part of Boas's legacy.

Boas the scientist and Boas the social activist were dynamically intertwined. The story of his life explains why he fashioned his ideology, while conversely his thought and activity illustrate much about his own background.… An assessment of his thoughts, actions and their motivations; his scientific acumen and academic discipline; and his concern for human freedom, provides a microcosmic view of twentieth-century American society and its history through the medium of one intellectual's voice in that process.