Eugenicsan effort to breed better human beings – by encouraging the reproduction of

people with "good" genes and discouraging those with "bad" genes.

Eugenics• The unfiltered story of American eugenics

– primarily through materials from the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, which was the center of American eugenics research from 1910-1940

Eugenics• You may find some of the language and images

in this Archive offensive. Even supposedly "scientific" terms used by eugenicists were often pervaded with prejudice against racial, ethnic, and disabled groups.

• Some terms have no scientific meaning today. For example, "feeblemindedness" was used as a catch-all for a number of real and supposed mental disabilities, and was a common "diagnosis" used to make members of ethnic and racial minority groups appear inferior.

Eugenics• I have made no attempt to censor this

documentary record – to do so would distort the past and diminish the significance of the lessons to be learned from this material

Better Babies Contests

• At the beginning of the 20th century, citizens concerned about high infant mortality in the United States took up the call of "baby saving.“

• Better Babies Contests addressed this concern for child welfare and physical development, becoming the first eugenic competitions held at state fairs.

The first "Scientific Baby Contest" to combine these standards was initiated by Mary DeGarmo in 1908 at the Louisiana State Fair..

• With the assistance of Dr. Jacob Bodenheimer, measures of contestants' physical and intellectual development were carefully recorded. Winning contestants often appeared in graduation gowns and were presented with "loving cups" to mark their achievement

Fitter Family Contests

• At most contests, competitors submitted an "Abridged Record of Family Traits," and a team of medical doctors performed psychological and physical exams on family members. Each family member was given an overall letter grade of eugenic health, and the family with the highest grade average was awarded a silver trophy. Trophies were typically awarded in three family categories: small (1 child), medium (2-4 children), and large (5 or more children).

All contestants with a B+ or better received bronze medals bearing the inscription, "Yea, I have a goodly heritage

Fitter Family Contests Winners

Buck vs. Bell Trial

• In the Buck vs. Bell decision of May 2, 1927, the United States Supreme Court upheld a Virginia statute that provided for the eugenic sterilization for people considered genetically unfit. The Court's decision, delivered by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., included the infamous phrase "Three generations of imbeciles are enough." Upholding Virginia's sterilization statute provided the green light for similar laws in 30 states, under which an estimated 65,000 Americans were sterilized without their own consent or that of a family member.

Buck vs. Bell Trial

• The plaintiff of the case, Carrie Buck, and her mother Emma, had been committed to the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded in Lynchburg, Virginia. Carrie and Emma were both judged to be "feebleminded" and promiscuous, primarily because they had both had borne children out of wedlock. Carrie's child, Vivian, was judged to be "feebleminded" at seven months of age. Hence, three generations of "imbeciles" became the "perfect" family for Virginia officials to use as a test case in favor of the eugenic sterilization law enacted in 1924.

Buck vs. Bell Trial• Buck vs. Bell was flawed in many ways. "Feeblemindeness" is

no longer used in medical terminology; it was clearly a catch-all term that had virtually no clinical meaning. It is impossible to judge whether or not Carrie was "feebleminded" by the standards of her time, but she was not patently promiscuous.

• According to Carrie, Vivian's conception was the result of Carrie's rape by the nephew of her foster parents. She, probably like many unwed mothers of that time, was institutionalized to prevent further shame to the family. Just as clearly,

• Vivian was no imbecile. Vivian's first grade report card from the Venable School in Charlottesville showed that this daughter of a supposed social degenerate got straight "As" in deportment (conduct) and even made the honor role in April, 1931. She died a year later of complications following a bout of the measles

Circus Performers

• Eugenicists were interested in various human disabilities, which they thought would give evidence to support theories of inherited characteristics. Though the performers in circus "freak shows" were intended as "curiosities," eugenicists interpreted their disabilities as examples of degenerate heredity. They thought such people should be sterilized or prevented from marrying.

Race Mixing and Marriage Laws

• Laws against interracial marriage had existed in some states since colonial times, but the number increased after the Civil War. Charles Davenport's compilation of State Laws Limiting Marriage Selection, in 1913, showed that 29 states had laws forbidding mixed-race marriages. Twenty-two states had stiff penalties for miscegenation — fines of up to $2,000 and/or prison terms of up to 10 yea

German/Nazi Eugenics

• When Hitler came to power in 1933, he charged the medical profession with the task of implementing a national program in race hygiene.

• The first key element was the enactment, in 1934, of a law permitting involuntary sterilization of feebleminded, mentally ill, epileptics, and alcoholics.

• The "marriage laws" of 1935 prohibited unions between "Aryans" and Jews, as well the eugenically unfit.

German/Nazi Eugenics

• By the outbreak of WWII, in 1939, an estimated 400,000 people had been sterilized.

• However, in 1940 the need for hospital beds for wounded soldiers prompted a "final solution" for "lives not worth living.“

• Psychiatrists and medical doctors identified more than 70,000 mental patients who were poisoned with carbon monoxide in extermination centers at psychiatric hospitals.

German/Nazi Eugenics

• After gassing of mental patients ceased in 1941, medical and other personnel with euthanasia experience were reassigned to concentration camps in Poland, where hydrogen cyanide gas was used to kill Jews, gypsies, Slavs, and Social Democrats.