# What race was Moses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2002, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628 "2002-06-12T12:06:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/1 "2002-06-12T12:06:45Z")
In a comic strip today ([Boondocks](http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/viewbo.htm) ) one of the characters says “First of all, Moses wasn’t just a character in a movie, second, he wasn’t white, third…” So just what race was he? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/2 "2002-06-12T12:10:19Z")
Jewish, presumably. 'Course, that is ethnicity, but that is your real answer. The question is wrong. Feeling a bit sheepish? ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/3 "2002-06-12T12:36:52Z")
If you want a visual representation, he likely looked somwhat like todays middle-eastern population. Jman ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/4 "2002-06-12T12:47:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smiling bandit \* > \*\*Jewish, presumably. > 'Course, that is ethnicity, but that is your real answer. The question is wrong. > Feeling a bit sheepish? \*\* Nope. The comic strip (and the quote) says that he is not white. Telling me that he is jewish doesn’t preclude him from being white. (If it does, many of my jewish friends are going to be surprised.) The answer _may_ be that the comic strip was speaking about appearance and not race, but in this particular strip, “white” is usually used to mean Caucasian. I am curious and want to know which race Moses belonged to. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/5 "2002-06-12T13:12:25Z")
The strip (which is very Afrocentric) is saying that Moses was black, or at least Middle Eastern which is closer to black than white. Look for the discussions about Jesus not being white (see autobiography of malcolm X). Pretty much the same logic is being applied to Moses. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/6 "2002-06-12T13:16:23Z")
He was of the human race. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/7 "2002-06-12T13:17:45Z")
Well, as **Jman** suggests, he would likely have been (assuming he existed at all) whatever “race” modern Middle Easterners are classified as. The basic problem is that humans don’t really come in “races”. You start off with someone from Sweden, compare them to someone from Nigeria, and with someone from Japan, and it seems like you can fairly easily divide up the human species into three distinct sub-groups: “Caucasoid”, “Negroid”, and “Mongoloid”. But when you start looking at all the people from all the places in between Sweden and Nigeria and Japan, and all the other places humans live–the Mediterranean basin and North Africa and Asia Minor and the actual Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia and South Asia and the Malay Archipelago and Polynesia and Australia and the Americas–you start having to come up with all sorts of new “races”. If you haven’t given up on the whole notion of clearly defined races entirely, the evidence of DNA puts the last nails in the coffin–there’s more genetic variation between members of any particular “race” than there is between members of different “races”. The question is kind of like asking “What tallness was Moses? Was he one of the shorts or one of the talls?” People come in different heights; people from a particular area or tribe may even be noteworthy for being shorter or taller than average. But you can’t divide the human race up into the “tall race” and the “short race” (or the “skinny race” and the “chubby race”). People have different skin colors as well (and hair colors and eyelid shapes and blood types and so on). Moses’ sking was probaby not as pinkish-tan as [Charlton Heston](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Heston,+Charlton), nor I suppose was he likely as dark brown as [Samuel L. Jackson](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Jackson,+Samuel+L.). I suppose one semi-smartass answer to the original question would be “human”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/8 "2002-06-12T13:47:51Z")
As far as his ethnic genetic parentage, Moses might have been Egyptian rather than Hebrew. “Moses,” after all, is an Egyptian name. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/9 "2002-06-12T13:51:45Z")
400 meter hurdles. Undefeated in 122 races from '77 to '87. (That would be 1977 to 1987) ---
**Author:** ![High\_Deity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9a140/32.png) [@High\_Deity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Deity)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/10 "2002-06-12T14:09:49Z")
might i ask what the logic is in “closer to being black than being white”? or to make the question a bit more correct: “closer to being african than being anglo-saxton”. how can you be “closer” to a race you are not? ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/11 "2002-06-12T14:15:43Z")
Beats me. You’d have to talk to Aaron McGruder and/or those who belive Jesus was black essentially because he was of Middle Eastern descent. I’m passing on other folx viewpoints, not my own. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/12 "2002-06-12T14:30:27Z")
Of the three traditional and much-maligned racial categories, he would have been Caucasoid. There are dark Caucasoids, such as Indians (from India). More variation within races than among races is a red herring. The three traditional races are based on _selected_ characteristics, and are obviously rooted in geographical isolation. As MEBuckner pointed out, there is quite a bit of variation among humans that makes use of the three traditional races problematic and of limited use, but it’s not a totally arbitrary and groundless classification. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/13 "2002-06-12T14:34:11Z")
[Numbers chapter 12](http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=Numbers+12&KJV_version=yes&language=english&x=15&y=11) (once again) seems an appropriate cite. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses for taking an Ethiopian wife, and were punished by God for their wagging tongues. This passage suggests an answer to the OP, though not definitively. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/14 "2002-06-12T14:34:34Z")
However you slice it, I feel sure this line of thought answers the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/15 "2002-06-12T15:03:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by acsenray \* > \*\*As far as his ethnic genetic parentage, Moses might have been Egyptian rather than Hebrew. “Moses,” after all, is an Egyptian name. \*\* He had an Egyptian name because he was found and raised by Egyptians. But his parentage is understood to be Jewish (Levite?), hence his assumption of the role of leading the Jews out of Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/16 "2002-06-12T16:46:49Z")
> [@](#): > > He had an Egyptian name because he was found and raised by Egyptians. But his parentage is understood to be Jewish (Levite?), hence his assumption of the role of leading the Jews out of Egypt. I’ve read that there are scholars who believe that Moses most probably **was** Egyptian and the story about his being found was stuck in afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/17 "2002-06-12T17:03:59Z")
Let’s put this in perspective, especially for the author of the Afro-centric Boondocks comic strip. We have no evidence outside scripture that Moses existed. Much less do we have a DNA profile, ancestral table, or photographs. Given that we don’t know if he even existed, it is presumptive to talk about his race or appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/18 "2002-06-12T18:46:21Z")
mmmm. I _thought_ that this would be an easy answer. Now I’m beginning to wonder if I should have posted in the great debates thread… ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/19 "2002-06-12T18:59:56Z")
The problem is that “race” is not a biological concept, it is a socialogical one. As such, it probably doesn’t have a factual answer that will statisfy your question. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628/20 "2002-06-12T20:08:10Z")
**Collounsbury** will no doubt be along shortly with a very erudite explanation of what _race_ means and does not mean with regard to human beings. However, most people (incorrectly) tend to make five lumped-together classifications that were spelled out in anthropometric terms by the anthropologist Carleton Coon, who wrote extensively on race. (Kindly resist the temptation to make tacky jokes about his surname – anybody who’s read anything in the subject has heard them before.) Under this invalid-but-commonly-used classification there are: 1. Caucasoid (“white”), with a wide range of skin color but including most fair-skinned people, no epicanthic fold to eye, hair tending to waviness, body hair common, unerect penis flaccid. Includes Europeans, Middle Easterners, Berbers and other Hamites, natives of Indian subcontinent. 2. Congoid, tending to dark skin, no epicanthic fold, hair tending to curliness or kinkiness, body hair rare, unerect penis mildly tumescent. Includes most sub-Saharan African peoples. 3. Capoid. The Khoi-San peoples of southernmost Africa (“Bushmen” and “Hottentots”) with pale brown skin. Steatopygous. 4. Mongoloid. Peoples of east Asia, Eskimos, and indigenous Americans (“Indians”). Epicanthic fold. Pale to dark skin with a yellowish or reddish cast. 5. Australoid. Indigenous Australians and Melanesians, with very dark skin, wavy hair, body hair sparse to heavy. Ainu are classed either here or Caucasoid, depending on taste. By these standards, Moses and for that matter Haile Selassie are Caucasoid. However, it’s much more accurate to look at “local races” than to do these massive lump-racial classifications. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-race-was-moses/113628.md?page=2)