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

How do you analyze a political cartoon?

Can't take the cartoon too seriously. You have to be able to understand the symbolism that is used within the cartoon and you need to understand  what is going on in politics to understand what it's trying to say.

How to Analyze a Political Cartoon:
After looking at this guide I will now look for the exaggeration of characters within political cartoons. I will also look at the labeling of items within the cartoon. Also I will look for analogies and irony within the cartoon.

Philippine War Political Cartoon

This cartoon shows Uncle Sam allowing what looks like wealthy Americans to come into the Philippines. I believe this may be a reference to what the U.S. had done in other territories by coming over and taking over the economy and even the country. Also, the open gate alludes to the open gate policies and that the Philippines is the way to an open door policy.

Maine Political Cartoon
This alludes to the Spanish bombing the Maine, which was near Cuba. The pictures shows us bombing a spaniard back to spain

Philippine War Political Cartoon
This cartoon shows a possible filipino man who is blocking the U.S, from getting the true history of the Philippine War.

First Semester Summary Activity

            On the first day of History class, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I can truly say that I have learned a lot about the history of the United States in this first semester.

            One thing I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the history of the United States was the way that the economy was perfectly set up in the late 19^th century to allow some people to become very wealthy. During this time, 6 of the top 10 wealthiest people of all time were alive and living in the United States, most of which were industrialists.

            I was unpleasantly surprised to learn the way that some people in history have made it seem as if they are genuinely good people, when that could not be further from the truth. One such person is James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia. Oglethorpe wanted to ban slavery because, as he said, “If we allow slaves, we act against the very principles by which we associated together, which was to relieve the distressed.” However, the real reason he wanted to ban slavery was that he was actually so racist that he didn’t even want to be around African Americans. Another example is Andrew Carnegie, whose name can now be seen all around the country on libraries. He also had the perfect “self-made” image that made him seem as if he was just an immigrant who worked his way up in the world. In reality, he was just like any other business tycoon, ruthless, greedy, and selfish.

            I will likely be able to remember and discuss some of the things I learned about in my research on the West in 10 years. I researched the religious freedom of Native Americans and found that they had been wronged by the U.S. government. Essentially, the government had infringed on their rights and made it illegal for them to practice some of their age old traditions, such as using peyote during religious ceremonies. I will be able to remember this because this is something that still happens today. Most recently, people believed that the government was plotting to take away U.S. citizen’s weapons, and this frightened people, but also made them angry because it was infringing on their rights.

            One thing Americans of the past struggled with and that we continue to struggle with today is racism. Since America was founded, racism has always been a problem. This is a country built upon slavery, so it can only be expected that racism will cause a problem. Then there is the removal of Indians from their home land into reservations simply because they are Indian. Now, with the Ferguson riot and the Trayvon Martin case racism is once again a topic of conversation in American society.

            If I had to name the late 19^th century in America I would probable name it the “Rebirth.” We were a country just coming off of a devastating Civil War and we desperately needed to get back on track. Then, the birth of the city came and with that came factories, more jobs, more diversity, and more money in the U.S.

Thinking About Success

1. Opportunity. Opportunity is the most important of the four words when it comes to success. I believe this because people that are born in situations with less opportunity tend to stay in the same situation most of their life, especially if you want to consider wealth a success. Statistically speaking, people born in lower income situations tend to stay in those situations rather than to move up.
2. Luck. Luck is almost as important as opportunity. Luck is very vital in success, and you can sometime see it in people who have little skill and are not exactly hard working.
3. Hard work. Although it is not as important as the first two, it is still more important than skill. Any time I think of comparing hard work and skill I always think of the old phrase, "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."
4. Skill. Although being blessed with a lot of skill would make things easier, it is truly not that important in becoming successful.

Supply Chain Management

After reading these articles I have realized that there are many ways large, million dollar companies can run their businesses. Zara, for example is a very fast paced, trendy company that is able to be that way due to their very localized way of doing things. The company keeps very close relationships with their suppliers and is in constant contact in order to make sure they have the  newest, trendiest clothing at all times. On the other hand, Uniqlo designs their clothing long in advance and believes that customers focus more on quality than they do trends. The company may spend months testing and trying new clothing before they begin mass producing it. Then there is H&M, who uses both philosophies and is kind of a hybrid of the two companies. They use both "fast fashion" and long term planning. The strange thing is is that all off the companies, no matter what their style of business is all make a lot of money doing what they do. The companies have perfected there craft into almost an art form. One question that was brought to my mind while reading this was what do companies like Nike, Under Armour, Adidas and other sporting wear companies do? Because sports fashion can change almost instantly. It seems as if all it takes is for one big name athlete to do something and then there are hundreds of thousands of young athletes running around wearing whatever they were and on the other hand they have staples that they have to create year in and year out, like cleats, yet the style of cleat changes every year and they are always better than the previous. Are sportswear companies into "fast fashion?"

Letter for Test

                                Dear Mom,

           I'm sorry I just now got around to writing this letter, I know you must have been worried sick. Anyways, I have now been here for almost a month and I am becoming really used to my new homeland. I have even caught on to the English language very quickly, as you can tell.

           When I first arrived here I was very scared and worried. I got off the boat in a large city by the name of New York. It is a wonderful, thriving city with many, many people. However, it was incredibly terrifying. It is nothing like home. At first, I couldn't find anyone to talk to, except for this one man who was on the same boat as me. He said that he knew a place where there were more people like us, so after we got off I followed him through the city into a small area that reminded me of home. There are are so many Italians here, the community itself is called Little Italy. Thankfully, you and father gave me enough money to be able to buy a half way decent apartment. Some people in this city live in tiny, one bedroom apartments with almost five times as many people as there should be and it is incredibly disgusting to see the way in which they live. I don't travel from Little Italy much, except to work. I often feel threatened when I leave the community because some of the "natives" will yell at me and threaten me, and I have heard stories of the things they do to immigrants like myself. Either way, I am very thankful to be in America now.

           I am also adapting to the American way of life very easily. In Little Italy, most of the Italians are very Americanized, or they are trying to be like the Americans. We all have studied the English language very hard and most of us are picking it up well enough to talk to our bosses. We even sometimes eat their food, and I must say it is pretty good.

Griffin Widner

I Pledge

B—US History

10/28/14

Native American Religious Freedom

                Followers of the “Native American Spirituality” do not regard their beliefs and practices as part of a religion. Their “religion” is very complex and hard to follow since there were many tribes and most of their principles were passed down verbally. Main practices in their religion include ceremonies, symbolism, and the use of medicine men and shaman that communicate with the gods.

                In the 1870’s Native Americans believed it was time to establish their spiritual beliefs as a legitimate religion, therefor the Native American Church was founded. The Native American Church was actually a combination of Christianity and tradition Native American beliefs, but still practiced the same principles as the traditional Native American Spirituality. One such practice was the use of Peyote, which had been used by the Indian tribes for thousands of years as both a physical and spiritual medicine.

                Peyote is a small, spineless cactus that grows naturally in some desert climates. The main ingredient in the plant is mescaline, a type of hallucinogen that humans can consume in order to “trip.” To consume peyote, one must cut the disc shaped buttons from the crown of the cactus and dry them. Once they are dried a person can either eat them or brew them into a traditional tea. However it is consumed, peyote produces a high that lasts around 12 hours and is said to be somewhat spiritual. Although the drug is very powerful, the side effects of it are still unknown. Recent studies suggest that it is not actually physically harmful to those who occasionally use it.

The use of Peyote for any reason was illegal just like most other substances until the mid 1990’s. The laws on peyote began to change after a monumental law case in Oregon. The case, Employment Division v Smith, was brought about after two Native American who worked as counselors in a private drug rehabilitation center were fired after getting caught using Peyote. The two men had previously used it in religious ceremonies, because they were members of the Native American Church. After being fired, they were also denied unemployment benefits because they had been fired upon the fact that the rehab facility viewed the use of peyote as misconduct. The case was taken to state court, in which the counselors lost the case. However, the Supreme Court vacated the ruling and sent the case back into Oregon courts. During the second state court trial, it was found that Oregon law didn’t allow consumption of drugs for religious purposes which was in violation of the free exercise clause, which protects a person’s absolute freedom of belief. After this case occurred in 1991, President Bill Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (1993), the bill was quickly struck down by the Supreme Court. One year late, President Clinton signed a law that exempted the religious use of peyote from federal and state controlled substance laws. This now meant that the Native American Church could legally continue a thousand year old practice within the United States.

The whole idea of not allowing the Native Americans to use peyote in religious ceremonies is very ironic to me. It’s crazy to think that a country that was founded upon freedom, specifically freedom of religion, would try to stop a group of people from continuing their religious practices.

Native American Religious Ceremony

Peyote Tea

Peyote Cactus

Native American Church symbolism

 Sources

Peyote and the Native American Church- About Religion

Peyote—National Institute on Drug Abuse

Native American Religious Freedom—Civilrights.org

Employment Division v Smith—OYEZ

Free Exercise Clause—Bill of Rights Institute

Native American Spirituality—Religious Tolerance

Native American Religion—Indians.org

Native American Church—Oklahoma Historical Society