Eugenics = “well-born” Francis Galton 1860s Genetic determinism. Concern about which heritable traits are spreading thru the human population. Policies to “rationally” improve biological quality by controlling reproduction. Artificial selection is more “humane” than Social Darwinism because it aims to prevent births of the “unfit.”

Social Darwinism as human survival of the fittest The human species achieved its evolutionary success & abilities by the action of natural selection. Cruel, rigorous weeding out of the inferior individuals and races. Becomes scientific justification for laissez-faire capitalism, opposition to social welfare, etc. (Herbert Spencer)

Charles Darwin (1871) Descent of Man “With savages, the weak in body & mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick…. Thus the weak members of societies propagate their kind….”

“…No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how want of care leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.”

Suspension of natural selection in modern societies “Coddling” the unfit with charity, social reforms, health care, poorhouse, etc. Is progress guaranteed? Could we revert? Late-19th-century degeneration fears Cultural decadence National decline, military failures Social ills, poverty, unrest, crime Alcoholism, immorality, laziness Mental illness & growth of the asylum

Eugenics movement 1900-1940s (and beyond WWII) 30+ countries had own versions. Considered politically progressive = use of rational science to “improve.” Organizations of social reformers and scientists (geneticists, doctors). Science of human heredity at the time.

Pedigrees = supposed scientific evidence that “defects” are transmitted by genes.

1912 “Kallikak” family discovered by eugenicist Henry Goddard (good & bad heredity)

COSTS of hospitals, asylums, prisons, feebleminded colonies, poverty, unproductive citizens (State fair exhibits to promote eugenics awareness)

How to improve the hereditary make-up of the “race”? Voluntary & coercive policies. Positive eugenics Encourage, educate “fitter” people to have more offspring. Negative eugenics Persuade, pressure, or compel “unfit” people to have no offspring, not pass on their “defective” genes. Compulsory segregation & sterilization.

Positive eugenics: Better Babies & Fitter Families Contests

Measuring up to eugenic ideals: what criteria? Health IQ Education, occupation Special talents, tastes Church, politics Clubs, activities

Negative eugenics: 30 states had forced sterilization laws by 1930s

60,000 legally sterilized 1907-1970s. Who 60,000 legally sterilized 1907-1970s. Who? Mental illness and mental deficiency (feeblemindedness)

Menace of the Moron Moral defect leads to crime, laziness. Financial burden on the “normal.” Disabled as “an evil stalking beast that was going to devour society” (historian Martin Pernick)

1918 IQ tests US Army For recruits who were non-English speaking or illiterate. Complete the picture. 40% found to be FM.

Actual Test Questions, Army Alpha SAMPLE People hear with their eyes\ears\nose\mouth 1. Pinochle is played with rackets\cards\pins\dice 2. Habeus corpus is a term used in medicine\law\pedagogy 3. Bud Fisher is a famous actor\author\athlete\comic 4. Velvet Joe appears in ads for tooth powder\soap\dry goods\tobacco 5. The number of a Kaffir’s legs is . . . 2\4\6\8

WWI Army Mental Tests: Racial Rankings

1913 Ellis Island mental testing. “moron detectors” 1913 Ellis Island mental testing “moron detectors” 80% immigrants scored feebleminded Deportation rate increased

Eugenicists’ expert testimony on race & IQ led to the 1924 Immigration Restriction Act (quotas). Disability justifies discrimination since 1882 (Baynton).

Inventing the feeble mind: social construction of impairment How was “deficiency” determined? Often no valid evidence. Who was diagnosed? Socially undesirable traits and social control. Behaviors more than medical or physical conditions. Alcoholism, sexuality, criminality.

Supreme Court ruling, Buck v Supreme Court ruling, Buck v. Bell 1927 “Three generations of imbeciles are enough” Carrie Buck and her mother

Oliver Wendell Holmes decision 1927 “There can be no doubt that so far as procedure is concerned the rights of the patient are most carefully considered. We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the state for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better 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.”

Most extreme: eugenics in Nazi Germany, 1933-45 Forced sterilization law for “hereditary defectives.” (400,000+) “Lives not worth living,” “useless eaters” Institutionalization Killing programs (“euthanasia”) 200,000+ adults and children with disabilities. Final Solution against the Jewish people.

Nazi propaganda: perfect bodies; Aryan race; wealth & morals.

US Eugenic “Euthanasia” and Disability

1917 eugenic film The Black Stork: “There are times when saving a life is a greater crime than taking one.”

Eugenics Image Archive, hosted by the HGP Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, formerly Eugenics Record Office: http://eugenicsarchive.org

US eugenics being practiced into 1970s

History of people with disabilities, esp institutionalized. Medical model; genetic determinism. Social construction of impairments using science and racist/sexist ideologies. Overlap between disability and other human differences. Legacy today in pre-natal genetic testing. Subjectivity of “well-born” and “improvement” Medical fix, eliminate people