Eugenics in America

                During the “Progressive Era” of American history, many institutions saw a great deal of change. The way that people thought about topics such as education, health care, and civil rights began to see change. One idea that I feel was particularly strange and wrong that came about during this time was Eugenics.

Americans supporting Eugenics

                Eugenics is the science of altering the reproductive processes of plants or animals to produce new hybrids or breeds. In context to this time period of American history, Eugenics was a way to create a “better” race. The concept became popular after the civil war, supposedly because of all the social issues of the time period. Society used genetics to explain these underlying problems and also as a means for wealthy people to blame the world’s problems on genetics rather than the structure of society.

                The history of Eugenics can be traced back to Sir Francis Galton, whom was a distant relative of Charles Darwin. His book, The Right to Be Well Born, contained a lot of the ideas that American Eugenics was based upon. In 1903, the American Breeder’s Association was founded and began researching issues that would have interested Sir Francis Galton himself. The ABA was the first scientific organization in the United States to see the importance of Mendel’s Laws and also the first organization to support Eugenic research. Shortly after the ABA was founded, the American Eugenic Society was created. The AES was one of the biggest supporters of the Eugenics movement, the organization had committees for cooperation with clergymen, religious sermons, contests, crime prevention, formal education and selective immigration.

American Eugenic poster

                Essentially, the goal of Eugenicists and supporters of eugenics was to create a better America through genetics. Scientists in favor of eugenics argued that society suffered from the birth of “defective individuals.” Seeing how America is a free country, it seems as if it would be hard to force eugenics into society, but it wasn’t. At first, holocaust-like methods were suggested to rid society of less desirable traits, but these plans never came to fruition. Eventually, the idea of compulsory sterilization was introduced. Compulsory sterilization meant that states could sterilize people that they did not want reproducing. Supporters believed that the sterilization of one defective adult could save future generations thousands of dollars. In return, 30 states adopted compulsory sterilization laws which lead the sterilization of 60,000 U.S. citizens whom were perceived as “disabled” by their state. From 1915-1935, 224 people were sterilized in Alabama due to mental deficiencies. The state with the most sterilizations, California, witnessed the sterilization of 20,108 citizens of whom sixty percent were considered mentally ill and thirty five percent mentally deficient.

                The craziest thing to me about Eugenics was the way it was popularized in America, especially in the world of education. After 1914, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and Brown all offered courses on Eugenics. Even stranger, a content analysis of high school textbooks from 1914 to 1948 showed that a majority of the textbooks taught eugenics as if it were legitimate science. One particular high school biology book had sections on Eugenics that recommended the policies of immigration restriction, sterilization and race segregation. A Popular Science article of the time period, written by a Syracuse professor, described the way that many people felt that eugenics should actually be applied in college classrooms. The professor claims that “The growth of the Eugenics movement, both in Europe and America, within the recent decade is one of the most hopeful signs of the day…” He then goes onto explain that the supporters of Eugenics were actually angry with the fact that college had become more accessible for people and that classes were leveled down by the less intelligent students. Also, he states that nothing is more vital to a student’s success than his or her heredity.

A map showing the legal status of Compulsory Sterilization in the U.S.

Movie Poster for the Black Stork,A Eugenic Propaganda film

                In the social and business world, people were also rushing to show their support for the movement. Kellogg’s Cereal funded the eugenics movement by creating the Race Betterment Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation funded an effort to turn eugenics into a method of altering human reproduction. Other books were written as well such as The Passing of the Great Race, written by Madison Grant, which warned of the dangers of racial “mongrelization” and protecting the purity of the Anglo-Saxon race. Movies, such as “The Black Stork” were now in theaters around the country supporting sterilization. Sermons in church were now subject to awards from the American Eugenic Society. Oddly enough, the American Eugenic Society also held “Fitter Families” contests in which families and individuals were scored and judged, then the best individuals and family were given trophies. One such contest was held in Kansas, a progressive state set out to breed better families, at the State Fair. The slogan for this particular contest was “Fitter Families for Future Firesides” and its goal was to get people to view Eugenics as a way of viewing your stock for future parenthood.

                The idea of Eugenics is completely absurd to me because we in America viewed it has a The Day Book, a Chicago Newspaper of the time, stated that eugenics was a “very small title in the science of criminology.” Which makes me feel a little bit better about the past and the way we treated people, in the sense that at least someone realized what we were doing to our own people was wrong.

Sir Francis Galton

progressive thing, yet 10 years later when the Germans were doing it, it was horrific. An author who wrote in

University of Missouri Library – American Breeder’s Association background information

Creighton.edu – History of Eugenics, how people of the time period viewed Eugenics and how the different social classes had different viewpoints.

Google Books – Popular Science Eugenics, viewpoint of a professor from the time period

Online News Paper Archive LOC – The Day Book (magazine in Chicago) on Eugenics, a viewpoint of an author who is against Eugenics

Online News Paper Archive LOC – Dearborn Independent on Eugenics, information about the Kansas State fair and fitter families competitions

Eugenics Archive – Popularization of Eugenics, information on Eugenic propaganda and a brief history of the origin

University of Vermont – Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization, Statistics by state

Textbook -- Brief Background of Eugenics