The United States may be one of the oldest democratic and developed country, but it has a devastatingly rough history that has carried its impact to the present. Many of the philosophies and ways of life that Americans first adopted were from Europe, this included acts such as slavery and eugenics. A common ground amongst these is that their end goal is to diminish a group of people based on their mental and physical capabilities – Black Americans for slavery and anyone with below “average” traits for eugenicism. The adoption of eugenics by the United States left pernicious and permanent effects on the following generations on communities targeted.
Birth of Eugenics
In the mid-1800s, Charles Darwin published his theory and findings into On the Origin of Species; he discusses natural selection and selective breeding. As beneficial and remarkable this discovery was for the scientific community, some found a way to use this knowledge to negatively impact society – specifically, Sir Francis Galton. Galton, who was Darwin’s half – cousin, used research done by Gregor Mendel and Darwin on selective breeding and natural selection to coin the term eugenics. Eugenics comes from the Greek roots for “good” and “origin,” meaning “good birth”; it involves applying principles of genetics and heredity for the purpose of improving the human race.
Galton proposed a system of arranged marriages between men and women who had the “superior” mental and physical traits, thus eliminating the chances of offspring with “insufficient” genetics. Galton received support from Darwin through his scientific evidence that showed the steps on how to improve the human race.
Soon biologists and social scientists started seriously studying eugenics to see what specific traits of social importance were inherited. However, eugenics was not confined to the laboratories and institutions, it soon became prevalent amongst cultures throughout the world.
Eugenics in USA
The eugenics movement emerged into the United States with the strong support and liking by many politicians such as President Theodore Roosevelt. Some eugenicists supported practices such as euthanasia or even genocide. Terminology such as “fit” and “unfit” to distinguish groups of people took over high school textbooks. Movies such as The Black Stork and Are You Fit to Marry became popular viewpoints as they showed what a “better baby” and a “fitter family” is. This form of widespread entertainment gained a significant amount of support by white middle/upper class Americans. The fear of the white race diminishing encouraged the act of segregation and immigration restriction laws. The most radical policy initiated and supported by eugenicists during this movement was legally-mandated sterilization. Meaning doctors and physicians could legally remove reproductive organs of those deemed unfit by the court.
In 1914, Harry Laughlin, an American educator and eugenicist, published a Model Eugenical Sterilization Law proposing to authorize mandated sterilization of the “socially inadequate”. The law encompassed the “feebleminded, insane, criminalistic, epileptic, inebriate, diseased, blind, deaf; deformed; and dependent” – including “orphans, ne’er-do-wells, tramps, the homeless and paupers.” By the 1920s, thirty-three states had enacted the sterilization laws and the involuntary sterilization of over 60,000 Americans occurred! Virginia’s first sterilization case was of Carrie Buck in 1927. Carrie was 17 years old, unmarried, had a child and her mother was in an asylum. Virginia deemed her as “feeblemindedness” and a sexual promiscuity, neither of which have a genetic component. Not only was Carrie Buck selected for sterilization out of fear that she might pass on traits that had no genetic component, she, her mother, and daughter were targeted for qualities they did not possess.
The legality of the case was later taken to the Circuit Court of Amherst County, the Virginia Supreme Court and the Supreme Court. In Buck v. Bell, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ruled, “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,” he ruled, “is enough.” She was then legally sterilized on October 19, 1927. To this day, Buck v Bell has not been overturned. More recently, as reported in the Washington Post, over 150 female inmates in California prisons were involuntarily sterilized between 2006 and 2010; these inhumane acts feed on eugenicists worldwide.
Morally and ethically the act of using technology to do selective breeding on humans is morally questionable. For decades technology has evolved into an unimaginable power that we as humans cannot control. Many religions perceive God as the creator of all lives and that God dictates how we must live. By forcefully removing the opportunity for women to bear children, humans are “playing God” – a commonly debated issue amongst bioethicists. In terms of science, natural selection is not animals or humans selecting what mental and physical attributes are most “fitting”, it’s the changing environment, and this is shown in Darwin’s study on the Galapagos finches. This exaggerated take on natural selection and selective breeding has cost millions of lives.
American’s science greatly influenced Germany’s ideologies. Eugenicists at the Carnegie Institute in the 1920’s formed professional relationships with Germany’s leading scientists. This influence was widely prominent in Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which draws heavily on the American eugenic thought. The extreme measures to which Germany took their eugenics program causes the American eugenics movement to be frequently overlooked, but the repercussions should not be underestimated. In the name of science, over 60,000 citizens were unjustly sterilized, countless others institutionalized and denied civil rights, and a small number killed on the grounds of race, ethnicity, and traits believed to be heritable.
With eugenics’ vast impact and effect one can say it is indirectly the cause of Black Lives Matter. Along with various race based urban, planning, housing and infrastructure policies that limited colored people, specifically African Americans from purchasing land in the developed cities, leaving only the cities outskirts available. These were all initiated with an end goal of ensuring superiority amongst the middle/high class White race; an impact that can be seen extensively in today’s USA.
References:
Agyeman, J., & Agyeman, J. (2020, July 31). How urban planning keeps cities segregated-and maintains white supremacy. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2020/07/31/urban-planning-segregation-white-supremacy/%C2%A0
DenHoed, A., Lepore, J., Press, E., & Mahajan, K. (n.d.). The forgotten lessons of the American eugenics movement. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-forgotten-lessons-of-the-american-eugenics-movement
Eugenics. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/science/eugenics-genetics#ref259727
MacLean, E. (2015, April 11). A darker side of american history. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://ushistoryscene.com/article/eugenics/
Nature news. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/genetics-generation/america-s-hidden-history-the-eugenics-movement-123919444/
Schwarz, H. (2019, April 23). Following reports of forced sterilization of female prison inmates, California passes ban. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/09/26/following-reports-of-forced-sterilization-of-female-prison-inmates-california-passes-ban/
Social origins of eugenics. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2021, from http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay8text.html
