Eugenics

institution as CSHL, the website is taking the stance that eugenics never happened, and completely ignoring the movement and research done even though the ERO’s life spans almost the entire history of eugenics in the United States. The reason for doing so is understandable: the CSHL does not want to be connected to a negative part of its past and only highlight the positive aspects of its existence, but minimizing the history of the eugenics movement does not help anyone. It is important to…

on society. Strong ideals and goals were the weapons chosen by eugenicists to get involuntary sterilization legalized. For the purposes of this paper, this author will focus on the topic of forced sterilization in America. Background The topic of eugenics is broad in nature and can mean anything…

movement didn’t event begin in Germany. Moreover, the Nazi party didn’t form until 1920 and didn’t rise to power until 1933. Meanwhile, these ideologies began circulating in the English-speaking world during the mid-nineteenth century. In actuality, eugenics was a derivative of social Darwinism, which, in turn, was based on the teachings of ‘On the Origin of Species’ (1859) by Charles Darwin, an English naturalist. This piece of scientific literature contained principles that people interpreted…

especially those who were vulnerable and less able to defend themselves. The use of scientific racism was ultimately a way to somehow legitimize these skewed European ideals, even if this meant positing faulty science as legitimate science. The German eugenics movement and its ideals were ultimately inspired by what the Americans were doing to its people, as they shared the same goal to attain an Arian race. As also discussed in class, people took the ideas of Charles Darwin and problematically…

Emperor's New Clothes; Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium, by Joseph L. Graves Jr. discusses the concept of race throughout human history. He discusses how humans perceive race before Darwin’s discoveries, in colonial America, and looks at eugenics. He presents common theories and “truths” about race for the era in each time period. He starts the book by comparing the story the Emperor's New Clothes to how humans perceive race. He makes the connection through the mass majority going…

white if in a temperament climate. However others thought there would not be enough time to witness in their lifetime. Perhaps the more famous early study was the eugenics movement. Eugenics is the study of human biology in order to rank humans as superior or inferior through selective breeding or sterilization. Marks describe the eugenics movement as an outgrowth of Darwinism. Francis Galton was one of the frontrunner for the movement and stated that his goal was to improve human life and this…

In the summer of 1978, ten women of Mexican origin sued Doctor James Quilligan and the Los Angeles County Hospital for a violation of their civil and constitutional rights by forcible sterilization. These women claimed that they were either coerced into signing the sterilization consent forms, signed them under duress, could not read the English consent forms, or were not given any consent forms at all. Representatives Antonia Hernandez and Charles Nabarrete argued that the plaintiffs were…

The Eugenics movement was a program designed to encourage the procreation of a people of a superior stock. Certainly, blacks were never in the history of America considered superior and did not fit the criteria of positive eugenics. Blacks did however fit the criteria of negative eugenics which advocates reduced rates of sexual reproduction and sterilization. The IQ Test became the chief measurement…

The epigraph above opens the introduction to the 1926 study, Mongrel Virginians: The WIN Tribe. Sponsored by the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) and the Carnegie Foundation, Mongrel Virginians investigated the moral and social character of the Amherst County Indians. Arthur Estabrook, alongside co-author and sociologist Ivan McDougle, used family pedigrees and sociological investigation to determine the genetic and moral make-up of the group they called the “WIN” tribe, a pseudonym meant to signify…

the effects differed from the person’s view of the German race and what a part they played in the T-4 program ( A program created after the Law was passed). The Law for Prevention of Offspring became a law because of influence from the American Eugenics Movement and the desire to create a “pure race”. The type of people killed were…