Science Sundays: (A day late & a dollar short) talking about eugenics!

By: Meradeth Houston on 10:10 AM

So, yesterday came and went without me really realizing, "hey, you didn't do your weekly science-post thing." I blame the holiday today. (Ahh, holidays. Let me assure you I am beyond overjoyed to have been able to sleep in until nearly 10am and now be working in my fancy flannel pajamas!)

Anyhow, today I thought I'd talk a little about eugenics and the insanity that that phase of American history really was. It's only of my favorite topics to pontificate upon to my students, so hopefully you find it interesting :)

Anyhow, eugenics: basically the controlled breeding of humans to rid our species of undesirable traits. We did this with domesticated species like cattle, horses, and chickens, so why not with humans? That way we could get rid of genetic diseases like hereditary blindness, or mental characteristics like alcoholism and feeblemindedness (which is one of those ambiguous traits that basically just means mentally substandard). We can thank Francis Galton for the term, and a multitude of early scientists like Charles Davenport for making it extremely popular in the United States around the turn of the last century.

A licence to state a person was fit to pass along their genes!

Some of the ways eugenics principles were brought to the public at large included both "positive" and "negative" eugenics. Positive eugenics (if it really can be called that) was a means of promoting healthy breeding of individuals who would pass along good, high quality genes to the next generation. There were contests held at state fairs across the country to pick individuals & families who were representing the best eugenics applications--such as the Fittest Family, or even the best eugenics sermon to be given from the pulpit.

States with sterilization laws on the books. 

Negative eugenics was more on the force people to comply side of things. This included marriage laws between individuals who were deemed unfit (so alcoholics, epilectics, feebleminded, or individuals of a different 'races'), and many of the immigration laws from countries said to be less healthy. Also, enforced sterilization of individuals of the same. One of the most horrifying case is that of Carrie Buck, which went all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was deemed okay to enforce sterilization on those deemed unfit to pass along their genes (based on the principle that it was okay to enforce vaccinations, no less!).

Carrie Buck & her mother. 

You may recognize the negative eugenics principles as those that Nazi Germany used--and it was the USA's early research and enforcement of these techniques that really spurred the Nazi's on. They took it to the next level with genocide, however the US's role shouldn't be overlooked.

Anyhow, eugenics is one of those insane periods in our history that often gets overlooked, though it had a massive influence around the world. I would honestly argue that the principles of eugenics are still lingering here and there under different names, despite the "falling out" of eugenics after WWII.

Can you think of any books or movies that deal with eugenics principles?