[dailyllama]

A test needn't be purposefully bigoted to be effectively bigoted.

If I were to sit down and try to create a test of intelligence right now, I'd almost certainly include dozens of biases based on my own abilities, perceptions and experiences. Many of these biases would translate into higher scores for people like me, and lower scores for those whose lives differed.

This would create a situation where, either by malice of negligence, the process would be bigoted.

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Sperazzo published a paper in 1959 documenting racial differences between Negros and Whites in these tests, and also noting as a previous given that "the performance test is sensitive to socioeconomic background".

As such, it seems like it was known, at the time, that it wasn't so much a test of intelligence but a test of race and socioeconomic status.