eugenics [(yooh- jen -iks)]
The idea that one can improve the human race by careful selection of those who mate and produce offspring.
Or literally "well born"
- Frances Galton: founder of eugenics; coined the term eugenics in 1883. He is the cousin of Charles Darwin who wrote the famous book "The Origin of Species", to which the original title was "The Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". Galton's belief that it was possible to produce a "highly gifted race of men" through selective breeding.
- Dr. Charles Davenport: founded the Eugenics Record Office which advocated laws that led to the forced sterilization of many Americans it categorized as 'socially inadequate'.
- Harry Laughlin: Director of the Eugenics Record Office; on the Committee on Sterilization and the Committee on the Heredity of the Feebleminded (YES...it's true!) Laughlin himself eventually discovered that he suffered from epilepsy which was one of the subjects of study at the ERO and one of the criteria for compulsory sterilization under his own law.
- The Eugenics Record Office was funded by the Rockefellers and the Carnegies (YES...THE Rockefellers and THE Carnegies as in Carnegie Hall and Rockefeller Center)
- Madison Grant: A eugenist, wrote "Passing of the Great Race" which was lauded by Adolf Hitler, so much so that he wrote a fan letter to Grant in which he called the book "his bible".
- T. Lothrop Stoddard: Stoddard was appointed to the Board of Directors of the American Birth Control League, which later became Planned Parenthood, by Margaret Sanger.
- Margaret Sanger: founder of the American Birth Control League, which later became Planned Parenthood. Publisher of "The Birth Control Review", a known eugenist.
- Eugen Fischer: Known eugenist; conducted the "Bastard Studies" which was a study of Germans fathers and African women in Rehoboth, which is present day Namibia. Led to prohibition of mixed race marriage in Germany.
Let's look at the story of Elaine Riddick, who at the age of 13, was sterilized in North Carolina so that she could not "breed" any more "feebleminded" individuals.
It is estimated that over 200,000 women were sterilized before this practice was abolished in 1981. A disproportionate number of these women were black.
"It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind…Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
— Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in Buck v. Bell, 1927
Three
Generations of Imbeciles
In
1924, a teenager in Charlottesville, Virginia, Carrie Buck, was
chosen as the first person to be sterilized under the state’s
newly adopted eugenics law. Ms. Buck, whose mother resided in an
asylum for the epileptic and feebleminded, was accused of having
a child out of wedlock. She was diagnosed as promiscuous and the
probable parent of "socially inadequate offspring."
A
lawsuit challenging the sterilization was filed on Ms. Buck’s
behalf. Harry Laughlin, having never met Ms. Buck, wrote a deposition
condemning her and her 7-month old child, Vivian. Scientists from
the ERO attended the trial to testify to Vivian’s "backwardness."
In the end, the judge ruled in the state’s favor.
On
appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case Buck v. Bell (1927), ruled 8-1 to uphold the sterilization of Ms. Buck on the
grounds she was a "deficient" mother. Chief Justice Oliver
Wendell Holmes Jr., an adherent of eugenics, declared "Three
generations of imbeciles are enough."
According
to University of Virginia historian Paul Lombardo, evidence was
later revealed that supports the claim that Carrie Buck’s child
was not the result of promiscuity; Ms. Buck had been raped by the
nephew of her foster parents. School records also indicate her daughter
Vivian was a solid student and had made the honor roll at age 7.
A year later, Vivian died of an intestinal illness.
Have you heard enough? One more thing...
Planned Parenthood was a referral for the Eugenics Board for Sterilization.
[Why is it that this reminds me of a theology that has so many confused as well???]
[Why is it that this reminds me of a theology that has so many confused as well???]
DUDE! That's alot.to absorb.... Well said
ReplyDeleteThere's so much more.
ReplyDelete