When Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was first published in On the Origin of Species in 1859, the book was conspicuously silent about how his theory applied to humans.
Darwin believed the subject of human evolution was so “surrounded with prejudices” he was determined to avoid it entirely.
It was only when he became frustrated by the way others conceived of human evolution that he took up the subject himself. His two-volume The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex was published on 24 February 1871.
Revisiting this work 150 years on, it is striking how some of Darwin’s most radical claims such as humanity’s ape-like ancestry are now taken for granted while some of his other views were clearly embedded in Victorian racial and gender stereotypes.