In order to shed some light on the historical change of biodiversity concepts, this paper reviews the science and technology studies (STS) literature on the history of biological research on human genetic diversity. By doing that, I show how the notion of genetic diversity in the human population - from “race” to “population” to “biogeographical ancestry” - has changed with methodologies and techniques over the last hundred years. In the meantime, I point out contexts and situations, despite conceptual and methodological developments, that show that current human genetic diversity research is slipping into the past mistakes of scientific racism. This article offers biodiversity researchers an opportunity to consider their own scientific practices on classifying species more reflectively.