The United States’ Omitted Past: The Era of Eugenics

By Jesenia Parthasarathy

*Content Warning: mentions of genocide, holocaust, forced sterilization, and racist/sexist ideology*

Eugenics is defined as the study of trying to increase the frequency of “desirable” traits by rearranging reproduction within a human population. To expand on this, it’s when a controlling authority decides what constitutes as a “desirable” trait, and attempts to manipulate a population through means of selectivity to attain high levels of that one trait, In 1883, Charles Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton became the man who coined this word, advocating that the government should provide monetary incentives for the “fittest” of individuals to get married to each other and have children, therefore reinforcing these fit traits to be passed down. However, he wasn’t the only one who felt this way, in fact, many intellectuals and leaders reciprocated his idea, including Winston Churchill, Woodrow Wilson, and Alexander Graham Bell¹. Initially, many branded eugenics as “just selective breeding,” but over time, it became considered an example of federally sponsored discrimination, genocide, and forced sterilization. In this piece, we will examine the history of eugenics, what made it an option for the enhancement of society, the possibility of modern eugenics, and why it’s so important for us to remember these stains of our past.

“The improvement of the British breed is my aim in life,” 

- Winston Churchill

Francis Galton originally hoped to better his home country of England through eugenics, aiming to completely reconstruct the social norms of fitness and diversity². Although Galton failed to realize his dreams in the UK, they came to fruition within another country in the late 19th century. This was none other than the United States. Certain U.S leaders, private citizens, and corporations began funding eugenic studies, however, these studies were to be carried out in a more sinister manner than Galton preached, which instead focused on efforts to stop the transmission of “undesirable” traits from generation to generation. This would be the sprout of using eugenics to justify genocide and coerced sterilization. In 1911, at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, the United States allowed the establishment of The Eugenics Records Office (ERO), an organization that allotted its time to tracking and collecting data on family histories and recording when people were deemed “unfit” for reproduction. Contrary to what’s expected of these times, the ERO mostly employed female field workers, since eugenics was one of the few career options for a woman graduating from a women's higher education institution at the time³. They gathered data on an individual’s physical, mental, moral, and behavioral traits - all of which were believed to be biologically heritable. The ERO decided that people were more likely to be “unfit” if they were (or came from families that were) poor, low in social standing, immigrant, and/or a minority.

With these observations came stricter immigration rules, and most drastically: sterilization of those considered unfit to prevent them from passing their “negative” traits to the next generation. It’s important to note that during the 20th century, 33 states had sterilization programs in place. While many falsely believe that these programs took place under wraps to avoid backlash from the public, reality shows that eugenics programs were actually not hidden from the public. Eugenics was regarded as a logical sector of science. At first, it was solely targeted at mentally ill citizens, however, the traits included in the umbrella of “unfit” began to exponentially increase, adding alcoholism, criminality, chronic poverty, blindness, deafness, feeble-mindedness, and promiscuity. This is when we saw a government abuse its powers. Many of the people who were coerced into these sterilizations had no other choice as the program was run by the government, an overarching body of authority which allowed little chance of escaping its orders. There were policies and eugenic sterilization laws passed like the statue that created the Oregon Board of Eugenics in 1917, and the Virginia Sterilization Law of 1924. It was also not an uncommon scene for African American women to be sterilized during other (possibly unrelated) medical procedures without consent of government order. During this time period (the late 19th century to the early 20th century), it is estimated that around 65,000 Americans were sterilized for these purposes. 

However, the eugenics movement didn’t last very long in the United States, as it soon became apparent that people of all different backgrounds were needed to fight in World War II. As the movement lost favor, the Carnegie Institution closed the ERO in 1939. In fact, it took until Hitler’s use of eugenic principles to justify the atrocities of his conducted Holocaust and Nazi endeavors, for eugenics to completely lose all credibility as an ideal that should be pursued or a viable field of study.

Adolf Hitler was so inspired by the United States’ eugenics movement that he wrote a letter of adoration to a wealthy American lawyer named Madison Grant, one of the largest supporters of eugenics in the United States, writing the book "The Passing of a Great Race." Hitler told Grant, “Your book was my bible.”⁴

Those who generally pursue the path of eugenics barely ever state that their intentions are to discriminate, oppress, or dictate, instead stating that their life goal is the enhancement of the human race. However, this brings the question: What traits cause enhancement? What color of hair would make me more intelligent and what skin color would make me prone to success? The Nazis in Germany argued that it was blonde hair, blue eyes, and voidness of Jewish ancestry that did the trick, whereas The United States’ organizations decided it was white skin and wealthiness, both of which were considered direct factors of intelligence. In simple terms, the perfection of a human race is subjective. It depends on the people setting the rules. In the end, their goal was to mold people to the definition of eugenics: “well-born,” whatever that might look like.

Harry H. Laughlin, The Second International Exhibition of Eugenics held September 22 to October 22, 1921, in connection with the Second International Congress of Eugenics in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (Baltimore: William & Wilkins Co., 1923).

Although eugenics as a movement lost its steam-power, coerced sterilizations would continue to prevail in The United States. Recently,  statistics found that the state of California authorized the sterilization of around 150 female inmates between the years of 2006 and 2010, and revealed that California paid doctors $147,460 to perform tubal ligations that former inmates said were performed under coercion. Many accuse this ideology as eugenics: that a person convicted of a crime or holding the trait of “criminality” should not be allowed to reproduce. California is not the only state guilty of such coerced sterilizations, as we see it’s still an apparent occurrence across the country, even if it’s only on small scales. Currently, at the Mexico-U.S border, accusations of ICE’s possible sterilization of immigrant women in detention run rampant. These allegations have yet to be proven true but for a country that condemns the ongoing Chinese treatment of Uyghur Muslims, it would prove to be quite hypocritical⁵. Along with this is the fear of possibilities in the present, are fears of possibilities of the future: the looming possibility of a revived eugenics-like movement in the United States through the efforts of modern-day disease eradication. 

This fear receives support from situations like that of Tay-Sachs, a genetic disease that causes deterioration of mental and physical abilities, often resulting in death before the age of four⁶. In order to even attempt eradicating this disease, we would need to screen all individuals in an affected population, however, the problem lies with the fact that Tay-Sachs disease is significantly more prominent and common in certain Jewish communities. In the situation where screening is necessary, a public campaign that calls for the testing of all individuals of Jewish descent for Tay-Sachs carrier status could end up reciprocating the racist motives of eugenicists in the early 20th century, specifically those from Nazi Germany. This could also cause racial stereotypes to be reinforced if an ethnic group shows a predisposition to a particular - possibly dangerous - disease. However, many also argue that the resurgence of eugenics is not a possibility because a major difference between modern-day society and that of the 20th century, is the idea of consent holding more power. While coercion is definitely a possibility, forcibly attempting to change the genetic makeup of generations henceforth would not receive the same support it did back in the 20th century. As a result, today, many people have different opinions on whether or not genetic testing could lead to a possible eugenic movement. 

“...hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.” - Charles Darwin

While Germany has taken the steps to acknowledge the cruelty of their past and prevent the possibility of another, similar 20th century horror occurring, the United States has failed to acknowledge it the same way⁷. Eugenics did not just take place in Germany and The United States. It flooded the world, and continues to do so despite the UN considering forced sterilization a form of genocide. Yet, it’s not common knowledge, even among many educated people, that our government allowed the nation-wide selective breeding of people and that it was once a major part of our country’s policy. It’s important not to allow such stains on our history slip from our minds.

The policy of the future is influenced by the policy of the present and the past, so I urge you all to continue working for a better future with more humane options in enhancing society. To create a better future, we must make the right decisions in the present, and to do that, never forget the injustices and stains of the past.

*Definitions:

• Genocide: the mass, intentional killing of a specific group of people, often due to identification as belonging to a particular ethnic group or nation. 

• Coerced: persuade an originally unwilling person to do an action, generally using force, incentive, or threats

• Forced: with no exceptions, make one do an action against their will

• Sterilization: a medical procedure done to remove a person or animal’s ability to reproduce offspring

• Heritable: when a characteristic is transmissible from a parent to their offspring

• Feeble-mindedness: a person having less than average human intelligence

• Promiscuity (Promiscuous): characterization of having participated in many sexual relationships

• Tubal Ligations: female sterilization in the form of surgery involving severing and tying the fallopian tubes

• Predisposition: due to pre-identified factors, a higher likelihood of suffering from a particular condition, holding a certain attitude, or acting in a certain way

1. Farber, S. (2008, December). U.S. scientists' role in the eugenics movement (1907-1939): A contemporary biologist's perspective. Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2757926/

2. Introduction to Eugenics. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://knowgenetics.org/history-of-eugenics/

3. The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/eugenics-record-office-cold-spring-harbor-laboratory-1910-1939

4. Madison Grant publishes The Passing of the Great Race. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/tree/53eea903803401daea000001

5. Moore, S. (2020, September 29). Analysis | ICE is accused of sterilizing detainees. That echoes the U.S.'s long history of forced sterilization. Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/25/ice-is-accused-sterilizing-detainees-that-echoes-uss-long-history-forced-sterilization/

6. Is Eugenics Happening Today? (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://knowgenetics.org/is-eugenics-happening-today/

7. Kaelber, L. (n.d.). Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization in 50 American States. Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/ Lutz Kaelber, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Vermont