The Eugenics Movement

The eugenics movement was time period that was intended to improve the genetic structure of humans. Eugenicists encouraged the selective breeding of the most “fit” humans to reach a perfect human race. Francis Galton established the philosophy of the eugenics movement in the 1880’s. Eugenicists used “scientific research” to trick people into thinking that what they were saying was true, even though the research was fake. Many wealthy, white Americans and Europeans supported the movement because the discrimination and regulations were towards poor people and people of color. So the wealthy white people were keeping their bloodline going and passing down their :good” genes. The eugenics movement significantly affected immigrants. High officials made laws to limit only “desirable” immigrants to come to the U.S. Also many women were sterilized for being “feeble-minded,” even though they were …show more content…
He got a lot of people to believe his theory, and by using them as someone to blame for Germany’s problems, he started the holocaust. The eugenics movement started in America, and then moved later to Europe, so the ideas of the American movement influenced the Holocaust. It also pretty much started it. The most lasting effect of the eugenics movement was the holocaust. More than 11 million people died, and it affected the entire world. Another lasting effect of the movement was racism. Since the philosophy was that white people were “fit’ and people of color were “unfit,” those ideas have been carried on. It are still a prominent idea in our life today. It is important to know about the movement because we need to know about the origin of racism, and the holocaust in order to not have those ideas