Back then, you would often see articles with phrases like "The Italians are a funny race," or "The British react with the stoicism of their race." No one thought twice about it. At some point, the word became more narrowly applied. Nowadays, whenever some discusses differences between the races, there's usually a chorus pointing out that we are all one race, race is a false distinction, we should say ethnic background or sub-culture. The meaning of words changes. '