Eugenics in America

About this episode

This episode explores the history of eugenics in America, its impact on society, and the stories of its victims.

This episode traces the full history of eugenics in America from its origins in Francis Galton's Victorian-era theories through the establishment of Charles Davenport's Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor and the rise of Harry Laughlin's model sterilization laws. We cover the fraudulent family studies of the Jukes and the Kallikaks, the dangerously elastic diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, and the passage of compulsory sterilization laws beginning with Indiana in 1907. The narrative follows Carrie Buck's story through the landmark 1927 Supreme Court decision in Buck v. Bell, where Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes declared that "three generations of imbeciles are enough," a ruling that has never been explicitly overturned. We examine how eugenics shaped the Immigration Act of 1924, contributed to the turning away of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, and directly influenced Hitler's racial hygiene programs, the Aktion T-4 euthanasia campaign, and the administrative machinery of the Holocaust. The episode documents the continuation of forced sterilization well into the 1970s across California, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Puerto Rico, and Native American…

Topics covered

• eugenics
• American history
• forced sterilization
• Supreme Court
• racial hygiene
• immigration policy
• social justice

Keywords

• eugenics
• forced sterilization
• Buck v. Bell
• racial hygiene
• compulsory sterilization
• immigration
• Holocaust
• social justice
• Carrie Buck
• historical impact

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Eugenics Record Office, Indian Health Service, Immigration Act of 1924

Places: Indiana, California, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Puerto Rico, Native American reservations

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