Frances Luella Welsing (née Cress; March 18, 1935 – January 2, 2016) was an American psychiatrist and well-known proponent of the

Black supremacist Black supremacy or black supremacism is a racial supremacist belief which maintains that black people are superior to people of other races. In the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. said that a doctrine of black supremacy was as dangerous as whit ...

melanin theory Melanin theory is a set of pseudoscientific claims made by some proponents of Afrocentrism, which holds that black people, including ancient Egyptians, have superior mental, physical, and paranormal powers because they have higher levels of melan ...

. Her 1970 essay, ''The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism (White Supremacy)'', offered her interpretation of what she described as the origins of

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

culture. She was the author of ''The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors'' (1991).

Early life

Welsing was born Frances Luella Cress in Chicago on March 18, 1935. Her father, Henry N. Cress, was a physician, and her mother, Ida Mae Griffen, was a teacher. In 1957, she earned a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree at

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its f ...

and in 1962 received an

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

. In the 1960s, Welsing moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

and worked at many hospitals, especially children's hospitals. While Welsing was an assistant professor at Howard University she formulated her first body of work in 1969, ''The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation'' and self-published it in 1970. The paper subsequently appeared in the May 1974 edition of

The Black Scholar ''The Black Scholar'' (''TBS''), the third-oldest journal of Black culture and political thought in the United States, was founded in 1969 near San Francisco, California, by Robert Chrisman, Nathan Hare, and Allan Ross. It is arguably the most i ...

. This was an introduction to her thoughts that would be developed in ''The Isis Papers''. Twenty-two years later she released ''The Isis Papers'', a compilation of essays she had written about global and local race relations.

Career

In 1992, Welsing published ''The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors''. The book is a compilation of essays that she had written over 18 years. The name "The Isis Papers" was inspired by an ancient Egyptian goddess.

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

was the sister/wife of the most significant god

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

. According to Welsing, all the names of the gods were significant; however, also according to Welsing, Osiris means "lord of the perfect Black,” although there is no etymological validity to this assertion. Welsing specifically chose the name Isis for her admiration of "truth and justice" that allowed for justice to be stronger than gold and silver. In this book she talks about the

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

people of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

globally, along with issues black people in the United States face. According to Welsing, the genocide of people of color is caused by white people's inability to produce melanin. The minority status of whites has caused what she calls a preoccupation with white genetic survival. She believed that injustice caused by

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race over another. It may also mean prejudice, d ...

will end when "non-white people worldwide recognize, analyze, understand and discuss openly the genocidal dynamic." She also tackled issues such as drug use, murder, teen pregnancy, infant mortality, incarceration, and unemployment, in the black community. According to Welsing, the cause of these issues is white supremacy (the white man's race to the top). Black men are at the center of Welsing's discussion because, according to her, they "have the greatest potential to cause white genetic annihilation."

Views

In ''The Isis Papers'', she described

white people White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as " ...

as the genetically defective descendants of

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

mutants In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...

. She wrote that due to this "defective" mutation, they may have been forcibly expelled from Africa, among other possibilities. Racism, in the views of Welsing, is a conspiracy "to ensure white genetic survival". She attributed

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

and

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...

and other substances to " chemical and

biological warfare Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. B ...

" by white people. Welsing created a definition of racism, which is her theory of non-white genocide globally. She referred to racism and white supremacy synonymously. Her definition was "Racism (white supremacy) is the local and global power system dynamic, structured and maintained by those who classify themselves as white; whether consciously or subconsciously determined; this system consists of patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thought, speech, action and emotional response, as conducted simultaneously in all areas of people activity: economics, education, entertainment, labor, law, politics, religion, sex, and war. The ultimate purpose of the system is to ensure white genetic survival and to prevent white genetic annihilation on Earth --- a planet in which the overwhelming majority of people are classified as non-white (black, brown, red, and yellow) by white skinned people. All of the non-white people are genetically dominant (in terms of skin coloration) compared to the genetic recessive white skinned people". Welsing was against white supremacy and what she saw as the

emasculation Emasculation is the removal of both the penis and the testicles, the external male sex organs. It differs from castration, which is the removal of the testicles only, although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The potential medical ...

of black men.

Criticisms

Welsing caused controversy after she said that

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

among African-Americans was a ploy by white males to decrease the black population, arguing that the emasculation of the black man was a means to prevent the procreation of black people. She also believed that white homosexuality was effeminate and an attempt by weak men at gaining more masculinity. Welsing believed that homosexuality is one of the products of the white peoples' race toward supremacy (using their own weaknesses as a weapon). She theorized that white people were the first people with Albinism who were driven from Africa by the black natives.

Death

By December 30, 2015, Welsing had suffered two

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop funct ...

s and was placed in critical care at a

-area hospital. She died on January 2, 2016, at the age of 80.

Film appearances

* Welsing appeared in the documentary ''

500 Years Later ''500 Years Later'' ( ') is a 2005 independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah and written by M. K. Asante, Jr. It has won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary, including the UNESCO "Brea ...

'' (2005), directed by Owen Alik Shahadah, and written by M. K. Asante. * Welsing also appeared in ''

Hidden Colors ''Hidden Colors'' is a series of documentary films directed by Tariq Nasheed and produced by King Flex Entertainment, to explain what Nasheed claims is the marginalizing of people of African descent in America and across the world. Series Th ...

: The Untold History of People of Aboriginal, Moor, and African Descent'', a 2011 documentary film by Tariq Nasheed.

Works

*''The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors'', Chicago: Third World Press, c 1992 (3rd printing); , .

References

External links

* Ortiz de Montellano, B. (2001
''Magic Melanin: Spreading Scientific Illiteracy to Minorities''
csicop.org; accessed June 29, 2017.
Frances Cress Welsing profile
findagrave.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Welsing, Frances Cress 1935 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers African-American women writers Afrocentrists Antioch College alumni Howard University alumni People involved in scientific misconduct incidents Pseudoscience Writers from Chicago Proponents of melanin theory 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women 21st-century American women