As an African American female who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama during the Civil Rights period, Janis Faye Hutchinson has always had a strong consciousness about race and racism. In this book, she examines becoming an anthropologist from the perspective of a black female who grew up in the South during the Civil Rights era. This book intertwines Hutchinson's childhood experiences and socialization in a segregated South, with her academic experiences and training in anthropology, to examine race and race relations in the United States. Hutchinson specifically examines the impact of the concept of race on her professional development and provides a modern outlook on diversity. Power, Race, and Culture: The Evolution of a Black Anthropologist encourages readers to think about their history, in terms of social development, and to make their own observations about race.

Race and racism are interconnected historically and in the modern world. This connection is related to changing social, political, and economic conditions that impact how we think of others and ourselves. Race and racism are also connected to biological discoveries that justify how we think of others and ourselves. The main focus of this book is the examination of these connections. It is argued that while both race and racism are social constructions, the justification for racism changed as the definition and attributes of races were modified to correspond with new developments in biology and genetics. Whereas biological discoveries are one side of this construction, changing social situations represent the other. That is, racism also responds to changing social, political, and economic conditions that alter its justification. In addition, scientific constructions of race are impacted by social factors that serve to direct the "scientific disclosures" on human diversity. These factors form the context for the intricate relationship between race and racism.