US History

Science and Technology

The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

Social Movements

This collection uses primary sources to explore the eugenics movement and its impact in the United States.

An excerpt from a pamphlet supporting the sterilization of individuals in asylums, 1903.

Written by Robert Rentoul in 1903, *Proposed Sterilization of Certain Mental and Physical Degenerates: An Appeal to Asylum Managers and Others* presents several arguments supporting the practice of sterilizing individuals with physical or mental disabilities.


An excerpt from a journal article about the progress of eugenics in the United States, 1911.

This article, “The Progress of Eugenics” by James A. Field, was published in the *Quarterly Journal of Economics* in November 1911. In the selected excerpt, Field analyzes biological justifications for eugenics.

An excerpt from a pamphlet about eugenics and race, 1912.

Written by Dr. Prince A. Morrow in 1912, this pamphlet, entitled *Eugenics and Racial Poisons*, details the way in which scientists at the time conceived of eugenics. 


An excerpt from a book about methods of practical eugenics, 1917.

This book, *Eugenics, Marriage and Birth Control (Practical Eugenics)* by William J. Robinson was published in 1917. In this excerpt, the author provides many eugenics-based reasons for why couples should use birth control. Most eugenicists of the time did not favor birth control, but rather sterilization. As such, Mr. Robinson’s stance is not consistent with his eugenicist peers.


An excerpt from an article by Dr. Kelly Miller about eugenics and African Americans, 1917.

Dr. Kelly Miller, born in Winnsboro, South Carolina in 1863, was one of the preeminent black scholars and thinkers in the early twentieth century. A noted mathematician and sociologist, Miller was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University from 1907 to 1919. In this article, “Eugenics of the Negro Race,” Miller highlights class distinctions among African Americans and gives warnings about the negative effects of a low birth rate among upper-class African Americans.

A 1919 circular letter from Margaret Sanger to W. E. B. Du Bois asking for financial support for the Birth Control movement.

In this circular letter, Margaret Sanger asked advocates for birth control to financially support the Birth Control movement, especially in light of Supreme Court decisions about the issue. Given her ties to the eugenics movement, her leadership in the Birth Control movement could be interpreted as a veiled attempt to implement a eugenics agenda. Today, some critics of Sanger’s movement who oppose Planned Parenthood claim that Sanger was a racial eugenicist.

In a 1939 letter, Sanger wrote about her plans to use African American ministers as liaisons to the black community to help dispel any false information and suspicion about her family planning clinics. The awkwardly worded correspondence could be read as her support for “exterminating the Negro race.” However, many scholars now refute the idea that Sanger supported racial eugenics.

A poster for a “Better Baby Contest” in Indiana, 1930.

This poster announces the Better Baby Contest held at the 1930 Indiana State Fair, which took place from August 31 to September 7. Supporters of the eugenics movement started the contest in 1921 to encourage Indiana residents they viewed as “superior” to produce the healthiest, most “desirable” offspring.

An excerpt from a book about eugenics laws in the United States, 1930.

This book, *The Legal Status of Eugenical Sterilization*, was written in 1930 by Dr. Harry Laughlin. It describes the legal decision leading up to the Supreme Court decision in *Buck v. Bell* (1927). Ms. Carrie Buck, declared feeble-minded by the state of Virginia, was ordered sterilized in 1924, but refused and appealed to the court system. Once the case reached the Supreme Court, the Court upheld the Virginia sterilization statute. Ms. Buck was sterilized after the decision.  

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., writing for the majority in *Buck v. Bell* (1927) infamously stated that “three generations of imbeciles are enough.” In this specific case, “imbeciles” refers to Carrie Buck, a poor white woman who became pregnant as a result of being raped. At this time, the term “imbecile” also referred to a woman accused of promiscuity, a non-white poor person, a physically-disabled person, a mentally-disabled person, or a social “deviant.” The excerpt from the book discusses the state eugenical sterilization laws and why some were deemed unconstitutional. It also includes the legal rationale for why the Supreme Court upheld the Virginia eugenical sterilization law.


A letter from Margaret Sanger on behalf of the Birth Control Federation of America, 1941.

This letter from Margaret Sanger, the honorary chairman of the Birth Control Federation of America, was sent from the Division of Negro Service of the Birth Control Federation. The letter’s purpose is to invite the recipient (likely W. E. B. Du Bois) to participate in National Negro Service Committee, which would promote birth control in the African American community.

A 1945 informational pamphlet about sterilization in North Carolina.

North Carolina passed eugenic sterilization laws in 1919 and 1929 and the North Carolina Eugenics Board was established by the state government in 1933. The board was responsible for sterilizing over 7,600 people between 1933 and 1973. This pamphlet was published at a peak period for sterilizations in the state.

A 1947 pamphlet including information about sterilization laws and history in specific US states.

The pamphlet contains maps of the United States from 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 displaying the states that have sterilization laws. It also contains quotes from politicians advocating for eugenical sterilization programs. Additionally, there is a chart on page 4 of the pamphlet that shows the number of people sterilized in each state from the beginning of their sterilization programs up to January 1, 1945.

An audio recording of a 1971 eugenics speech interrupted by protestors at Sacramento State College.

In this recording, Dr. William Shockley gives a talk about eugenics but is interrupted by a student representing the Pan African Student Union and black students at Sacramento State College. Dr. William Shockley received the Nobel Prize in 1956 for his invention of the transistor. In his later years, Dr. Shockley became an ardent supporter of eugenics. Some of his conclusions were that African Americans were intellectually and socially inferior because of hereditary and racial genetic origins. He even proposed that individuals with IQs lower than 100 be paid to undergo voluntary sterilization.

An excerpt from the final report to the governor of North Carolina on compensating sterilization victims in 2012.

 Through *Executive Order 83*, North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue created the Governor’s Eugenics Compensation Task Force in March of 2011. This final report, submitted by the Task Force on January 27, 2012, outlines recommendations for financial compensation and mental health services to victims of eugenical sterilization in North Carolina and public education outreach for all citizens of North Carolina to prevent similar future actions by the state.


A 2014 poster for an event about the ethics of modern eugenics.

This poster announces a reading and panel discussion of “The Other Side of Reproductive Rights: The Untold Story and Ethics of Modern Eugenics” at the University of Utah College of Law on February 28, 2014. The poster and the talk are examples of contemporary manifestations of the eugenics debate. Eugenics is not just a nineteenth and twentieth-century phenomenon; there are still real consequences of the practice in the twenty-first century.

Questions

1. Which source in the set is most representative of positive eugenics? Explain your answer. Which source in the set is most representative of negative eugenics? Explain your answer.
2. After reading the [excerpt from a pamphlet about eugenics and race](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1622), what are some of the primary reasons that the author gives supporting the science of eugenics? Compare those justifications to the arguments that the author made in the [excerpt from *Eugenics, Marriage and Birth Control*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1623) supporting the use of birth control by couples. 
3. After reading the excerpt from “[The Progress of Eugenics](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1621)”, explain some of the reasons why the author believed that eugenics was less of a biological sciences question. Do you think eugenics is driven more by biology or by economic concerns? Why?
4. Which questions and answers in the [informational pamphlet about sterilization in North Carolina](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1629) are most alarming? Why do you think North Carolina was considered progressive on the issue of eugenics?
5. Considering the [letter to W. E. B. Du Bois](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1625) and the [letter on behalf of the Birth Control Federation of America](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1628), in what ways did Margaret Sanger support birth control in the African American community?
6. After viewing the charts in the [pamphlet including information about sterilization laws](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1630), what trends do you notice in the number of sterilizations and the states where they took place? Why were the numbers higher in some states than others?
7. What is Dr. Kelly Miller’s approach to eugenics in his article “[Eugenics of the Negro Race](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1624)”? Is it more closely associated with positive eugenics or negative eugenics? How might he respond to Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control movement?
8. Considering that in 2015 a [Nashville, Tennessee assistant district attorney was fired](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nashville-prosecutor-fired-amid-reports-of-sterilization-in-plea-deals/) for including sterilization requirements in plea deals, how would you interpret the [poster for an event about modern eugenics](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1633)? What are some other potential manifestations of eugenics in contemporary society?
9. Consider the [poster for a “Better Baby Contest”](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1626). How does it represent the eugenics movement? Is there another image that would better represent the movement? If so, describe it.
10. How do the author’s justifications for the sterilization of the mentally and physically-handicapped in the [pamphlet supporting the sterilization of individuals in asylums](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1620) compare to the author’s justifications for eugenics in the [pamphlet about eugenics and race](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1622)? What are the differences and similarities?
11. Considering the [recording of a 1971 eugenics speech](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1631), what arguments does the student participant/leader give against allowing the controversial speaker to speak at the college?  Should eugenics ideas and speech be protected speech in the twenty-first century?
12. According to the [excerpt from a book about eugenics laws in the United States](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1627), what was the legal rationale for eugenics laws?
13. After reading the [excerpt from the final report on compensating sterilization victims](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/eugenics-movement-in-the-united-states/sources/1632), do you believe the North Carolina government has done enough to compensate victims of forced sterilizations? Explain.

Activity

Eugenics versus Genetic Engineering: A Discussion

*Overarching Question:* What is the difference between eugenics and genetic engineering? Where should we draw the line between the two?

*Activity:* Ask the students to research CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and consider these questions: Can gene editing eventually lead to a cure for cancer? Is genetic engineering similar to humans “playing God”? Is eugenics similar to humans “playing God”? Then assign one half of the class to argue that genetic engineering and eugenics are the same and should all be prohibited. Assign the other half of the class to argue that genetic engineering is different from eugenics and should be used to cure human diseases. Assign both sides to write a 1-2 page paper supporting their assigned view. To share ideas, facilitate a thirty to forty-five-minute whole class debate about the topic.

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Eugenics Movement in the United States

Resources

1. [Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement](http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. 
2. [*Buck v. Bell* (1927)](https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Buck_v_Bell_1927), Encyclopedia Virginia. 
3. [Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization in 50 American States](http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/), University of Vermont.
4. [Human Testing, the Eugenics Movement, and IRBs](https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/human-testing-the-eugenics-movement-and-irbs-724), Nature Education. 
5. [Unwanted Sterilization and Eugenics Programs in the United States](http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/unwanted-sterilization-and-eugenics-programs-in-the-united-states/), PBS. 

Overview

In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, a nineteenth-century English social scientist, statistician, and psychologist, coined the term “eugenics” from the Greek word *eugenes*, meaning well-born. The practice of eugenics aims to improve the genetic quality of a human population through selective breeding—encouraging reproduction for the “strongest” humans while discouraging reproduction for the “weakest” humans. Cultural, social, and scientific ideas of the late nineteenth-century informed how eugenicists identified desirable and undesirable genetic traits. According to these eugenicists, the “strongest” humans were typically white (from northern and western Europe), healthy, and wealthy. The “weakest” humans were typically non-white (or white from southern and eastern Europe), poor, physically or mentally disabled, or considered criminally or sexually “deviant.”

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century United States, eugenics programs received widespread public support. They took two approaches: positive and negative eugenics. Positive eugenics encouraged healthy people perceived to have above-average intelligence to reproduce. Negative eugenics, the predominant form in the US, discouraged reproduction and advocated sterilization for those perceived to have undesirable traits. Sterilization is a permanent method of birth control that uses surgical procedures to eliminate an individual’s ability to reproduce. In negative eugenics programs, sterilization was often performed involuntarily on patients, sometimes without the patient’s knowledge of the consequences.

Eugenics programs were supported by legislation, court rulings, and powerful promoters. An early advocate of eugenics, Harry H. Laughlin, Director of the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, supported compulsory state sterilization laws and significantly shaped negative eugenics legislative policy in the United States. Margaret Sanger, a strong advocate for women’s reproductive rights, was also a supporter of the eugenics movement. Known as the founder of the Birth Control League that later became Planned Parenthood, Sanger specifically supported the sterilization of those considered mentally unfit. Eugenics programs in states like California and North Carolina sterilized thousands of people and provided models for Nazi Germany’s eugenics work.

This primary source set explores the eugenics movement to help readers analyze how racism, sexism, classism, and ableism (discrimination against people with disabilities) influenced eugenics laws and programs in the United States.

English

Eugenics Movement in the United States

eugenics-movement_07_98d5269ca48d28016373414a5c1b4882.jpg

Courtesy of Indiana State Library via Indiana Memory.

“Better baby contest: Indiana State Fair,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/98d5269ca48d28016373414a5c1b4882.


A poster for a “Better Baby Contest” in Indiana, 1930.

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Item 7 of 14 in the Primary Source Set Eugenics Movement in the United States