The Secret History of American Eugenics part 2

While researching America’s secret history of Eugenics I discovered that of all the states, my home state of North Carolina ranked third for the number of people compulsorily sterilized. The State of North Carolina officially closed down its Eugenics Board in 1977. After the passage of the sterilization law in 1929, sterilization began at comparatively low rate; it was not until about 1938 that the forced sterilizations began to increase. The total number of victims sterilized in from 1929-1973 was well over 7,600. African-Americans represented 39% of those at first, but by the late 1960’s blacks made up 60% of those sterilized (even though they were only a quarter of the population). Although women represented approximately 85% of those, by the late 60s the sterilization of men was virtually halted and women made up 99% of all sterilized victims. After WWII, sterilizations accelerated and peaked in the two years between 1950 and 1952, with 704 sterilizations. This makes North Carolina unique in that respect, because most other states began to cease performing the operations. After 1960, the sterilization rate began to slow and continued to decrease from a rate of about 250 a year in 1963 to 6 per year in 1973. From 1950-1963 there were an average of about 300 sterilizations per year. In the peak years there were about 7 sterilizations for every 100,000 residents per year.

According to the North Carolina History Project:

The Eugenics Board of North Carolina practiced negative eugenics (discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable and undesirable traits). The Eugenics Board approved applications for four types of sterilization: vasectomy and castration for men and salpingectomy, and ovariectomy for women.

The very first sterilization law was passed in 1919 but it was never used, because many feared that the law was unconstitutional. Then in 1929, The North Carolina General Assembly passed its true sterilization law stating, “the governing body or responsible head of any penal or charitable institution supported wholly or in part by the State of North Carolina, or any sub-division thereof, is hereby authorized and directed to have the necessary operation for asexualization or sterilization performed upon any mentally defective or feeble-minded inmate of patient thereof” The original sterilization law of 1929 stated, the groups targeted for sterilization were the “mentally ill, the retarded, and the epileptic”, the law also stated that the purpose of sterilization was to protect “impaired” people from parenthood. The North Carolina General Assembly authorized the governing body (or executive head) of any penal, and/or charitable public institution to order the sterilization of any patient or inmate when it was deemed to be in the best interest of the individual or the public. In addition, each county’s board of commissioners were also authorized to order sterilizations of any mentally defective or feeble-minded resident upon receiving a petition from the individual's next of kin or legal guardian. In 1933, North Carolina enacted the sterilization law that remained for the rest of the eugenics movement there. This law provided for “notice, hearing, and the right to appeal”.

In 1933, under the new law, the General Assembly created the Eugenics Board of North Carolina to review all orders for sterilization. This centralized board included five members: the commissioner of the Board of Charities and Public Welfare, the secretary of the State Board of Health, the chief medical officer of a state institution for the feeble-minded or insane, the chief medical officer of the State Hospital at Raleigh, and the attorney general. Orders for sterilization had to be signed by at least three members of the board and returned to the prosecutor. In the hearings of patients or inmates in a public institution, the head of that institution was the prosecutor in presenting the case to the Eugenics Board. In hearings of individuals who were non-institutionalized, the county superintendent of welfare or another authorized county official acted as the prosecutor. However, in both hearings, the prosecutor provided the board with a medical history signed by a physician familiar with the individual’s case. Mentally competent individuals, at their own expense, could select their own physician for consultation or for an operation. The petition for the hearing was sent to the individual being ordered or to their next of kin or legal guardian. In the situation where this person could not represent or defend themselves at the hearing, the next of kin, guardian, or county solicitor stepped in to represent them. A decision by the board could be appealed by the individual or in his or her behalf to the county superior court and further appealed to the state's Supreme Court. A successful appeal precluded any further petition for the sterilization for one year unless specifically requested by the individual, or by his or her guardian or next of kin.

From the beginning to the end of the Eugenics movement in North Carolina, women comprised six out of seven sterilizations. They were labeled as either “promiscuous, lazy, or unfit”, or more commonly, as “sexually uncontrollable”. Overall, women made up 84.8% of sterilizations. However, more interesting is that the sterilization of men virtually halted in the 1960s, with only 2 sterilizations in 1964, and 254 sterilizations of women. Therefore, after 1960, women accounted for 99% of sterilizations. African-American women in particular were assumed to have uncontrollable sexual behavior, and due to the racial stereotypes in the south in general, black women became a large target for controlled reproduction through sterilization. Social class played a major role in who was targeted, as women on welfare were overrepresented. The poor were not only targeted for their “social ills” but also because they were easier to sterilize. They would often be denied released from institutions until they either voluntarily agreed or a family member agreed to have them sterilized. One of the major proponents of compulsory sterilization was “Feeder Institutions”, where sterilizations were performed. Chief among them was The Bowman Gray School of Medicine (where my Aunt graduated from) which housed a program for eugenic sterilizations starting in 1948 aimed at the eugenic improvement of the population of Forsyth County (where I was born in 1977). The program consisted of a systematic approach that would eliminate certain “genetically unfit strains from the local population”. It expanded the program throughout North Carolina as the school received more philanthropic support for its “research” of genetic ideas. The school is now part of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center-one of the most respected academic medical centers in the country and responsible for the deaths of both my grandmother and mother. It is difficult for me to separate personal feelings from the politics of the matter, although school officials condemn the Eugenics movement there is no mention of the program or the eugenic sterilizations preformed their on the center’s website.

One leading factor attributing to the acceleration after WWII was the race issue. According to data up until the 1960s, more whites were sterilized than blacks. From 1929 to 1940, whites comprised almost four-fifths of the sterilizations. It was during the 1960s, that social workers were given the authority to recommend sterilizations, and the number of sterilizations among African-Americans increased dramatically. When the state gave social workers the authority to submit petitions for sterilization, the Eugenics Board of North Carolina which had initially targeted those who were deemed mentally ill expanded its program to include the general population. The compulsory sterilizations of non-institutionalized victims rose from 23% between 1937 and 1951 to 76% between 1952 and 1966. It was during the 1950s, that some whites had become anxious about supporting blacks through welfare. The heads of welfare departments agreed on the value of sterilization for reducing welfare and Aid for Dependent Children (ADC) payments for African-Americans. They believed that blacks accounted for the majority of illegitimate births that were therefore “subsidized” by the ADC. The state would also threaten to remove the welfare benefits of someone who would not submit to the operation. The fears about the rising cost of the ADC program was the major factor in leading to the shift in race of those who were targeted for sterilization. As the attention shifted away from the structural causes of poverty and crime to placing the blame for poverty and social unrest on African-Americans so the sterilization of African-Americans was easy. The percentage of blacks sterilized rose from 23% in the 1930s and 1940s to 59% between 1958-60 and finally to 64% between 1964 and 1966.

While the sterilization program was only whispered about in African-American communities, any evidence that race played a part in those who were sterilized was not made public, therefore, the eugenics board was allowed to proceed with few hurdle. African-Americans who opposed the sterilizations were of one of two types: there were those who knew about the racial bias and those who did not. Those who knew about the racial bias involved with sterilization tried to push for their equal rights. However, African-Americans that demanded to be heard were ruled out of order by the white-controlled legislature. Many college students were also in opposition to the sterilizations, and in 1960, students from N.C. A&T State University (a primarily black college in Winston-Salem) began a sit-in movement against the states attitude toward race relations. However, this failed to gain any recognition by the state to make any changes in the program. At Shaw University (in Raleigh) from 1968 to 1972, student activists tried to educate African-Americans about the threat of sterilization, because of government stonewalling they lacked any specific details on the issue, and therefore gained very little momentum as well. As the civil-rights movement began to grow across the country the board received more and more petitions to halt the practice. IT would seem the ultimate undoing came not from public pressure however, but from doctors who began to refuse to perform the operations, mainly due to growing opposition from outside the state. Medical practitioners frowned upon the practice and under the Executive Organization Act of 1971; the Eugenics Board of North Carolina was transferred to the newly created Department of Human Resources (DHR). Although the board retained its statutory powers and actions regarding sterilization proceedings, the board's managerial and executive authority was vested in the secretary of the DHR, a cabinet-level officer appointed by the governor. Under the Executive Organization Act of 1973, the Eugenics Board became the Eugenics Commission. The five members of the commission were to be appointed by the governor were; the director of the Division of Social and Rehabilitative Services of the DHR, the director of Health Services, the chief medical officer of a state institution for the feeble-minded or insane, the chief medical officer of the DHR in the area of mental health services, and the attorney general. In 1974 the General Assembly transferred the responsibility for any sterilization to the judicial system. In 1977 the General Assembly formally abolished the Eugenics Commission.

It was not until 2003, however, that the sterilization law was voted to be overturned by the North Carolina Senate, and a law was signed by then Governor Mike Easley to officially put an end to forced sterilizations in North Carolina. North Carolina is trying to amend for its past, making it one of the only states to do so thus far. Governor Easley soon after, issued a public apology stating, “To the victims and families of this regrettable episode in North Carolina's past, I extend my sincere apologies and want to assure them that we will not forget what they have endured".

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The Secret History of American Eugenics

After a particularly frustrating trip to a fast food joint today, I was riding in the car with a friend discussing how the world would be better off if insufferable idiots were not allowed to reproduce and thus make my life less convenient. We joked at how it should be illegal for dumb people to have kids which seemed funny at first. It quickly morphed into a conversation about how at one point in America’s history this was a law. After I returned home I began to research the facts about this and was overwhelmed at the ugly secret that for the most part is an unknown facet of American History. It was little over one hundred years ago, on March 9, 1907, that Indiana's General Assembly passed one of America's first actual compulsory sterilization laws, aimed at "confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles, and rapists". Indiana also had a number of sterilizations before the law was even passed. These sterilizations were carried out by a Dr. Harry Sharp in the Indiana State Reformatory on male inmates to “cure” masturbators. More than 30 states would end up passing compulsory sterilization laws that were eventually overturned or repealed. Although other countries have practiced eugenics and in some cases still do the United States was the first to undertake compulsory sterilization programs for that purpose. The main targets of the American program were the mental handicap, but in many states included those with epilepsy, physical disabilities, the deaf, the blind, the poor, and various minorities including Native Americans, and African Americans. African-American women were sterilized against their will in many states, often without their knowledge, while they were in a hospital for other reasons such as childbirth. Some sterilization’s took place in prisons and other penal institutions, in the end, over 65,000 individuals were sterilized in 33 states under state sponsored compulsory sterilization programs. Michigan was the first state to introduce a compulsory sterilization bill in 1897, but the proposed law failed to collect enough votes to be adopted. Eight years later Pennsylvania's state legislators would pass a sterilization bill that was vetoed by the governor, before Indiana succeeded followed closely by Washington state and California.

In the late 19th century, rising populations in prisons and institutions for the feeble-minded or paupers led to the public perception of a degeneration in society that relentlessly would lead to "race suicide". The socially inadequate were considered to include:
(1) The mentally diseased, e.g. maniacs and schizophrenics
(2) The dependant members of society, e.g. the deaf, deformed and blind
(3) the delinquents, such as the wayward and criminals;
(4) the mentally deficient, e.g. the morons and idiots
(5) the degenerates, e.g. sadists and drug habitués
(6) the infectious, such as those with tuberculosis, the syphilitics and lepers

Richard Dugdale, a New York prison visitor published a family tree of the Juke family identifying 709 persons descended in five generations from Ada Juke, "the mother of criminals". Most of the Jukes at some point in their lives could be found in homes for the feeble-minded, alms houses, brothels and prisons - an enormous expense to the state derived from one individual. Using this information, it was argued that "degenerates" bred "degenerates" and these people were reported to be remarkably fertile.Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, coined the term "Eugenics", meaning "the science which deals with all influences that improve inborn qualities". It was adopted by a vociferous section of society, keen to diminish "cacogenic" germplasm by segregating defectives in institutions and removing their ability to reproduce. It was suggested that "the wise philanthropist, seeing the millions of dollars now used for caring for the weak and defective help only one generation, will soon be induced to provide large sums for eugenics, with the idea of preventing the production of the imbecile, the insane, the inebriate and the criminal”. G. Frank Lydston, Professor of Genitourinary Surgery at Illinois, advocated the medical scrutiny of applicants for a marriage license, with sterilization of the unfit, including consumptives, epileptics, insane, incurable inebriates and criminals. He also argued for sealed apartments with a pipe for the admission of deadly gas "to kill promptly the convicted murderer and the driveling imbecile". "Sterilization is the only sop that should be thrown to the Cerberus of sentiment”. The surgeon of possibly the highest professional standing to speak in favor of eugenic sterilization was Dr William Belfield, Professor of Surgery at Rush Medical College, who listed factors encouraging crime as: "the farcical maladministration of our medieval criminal laws, the notorious partnership between criminals and many public officials and the maudlin sentiment which has infinite compassion for the prisoner but none for those of us who keep out of jail". (Quoted and from "The Chequered History of Vasectomy" by M.J. Drake)

American eugenic laws and practices from the first few decades of the 20th century influenced the much larger German Nazi’s compulsory sterilization program, which led to approximately 350,000 compulsory sterilizations between 1934 and 1945 and is considered a beginning to the Holocaust. After the facts of the Nazi sterilization program became more widely known (after World War II) in which the New York Times reported on extensively before its implementation in 1934, sterilizations still did not end in some American states, some states even continued to sterilize people up until the 1980s. Most sterilization laws in the U.S. were divided into three main categories: eugenic, therapeutic, or punitive. Most state run operations worked only to prevent reproduction, though some states did have laws which called for castration. In general, compulsory sterilization was performed under eugenic statutes there was never a federal sterilization statute, although famed eugenicist Harry H. Laughlin, who’s "Model Eugenical Sterilization Law" proposed the organization of one in 1922. After World War II, when public opinion towards eugenics and sterilization programs became more negative. The Oregon Board of Eugenics, later renamed the Board of Social Protection, existed until 1983, with the last forcible sterilization occurring in 1981. Other forcible sterilizations in Oregon, operating outside of Eugenics law, still continue to this day. A few states continued to have sterilization laws on the books for much longer after 1983, though they were rarely if ever used, California sterilized more than any other state by a wide margin, and was responsible for over a third of all sterilization operations. Information about the California sterilization program was produced into book form and widely disseminated by eugenicists E.S. Gosney and Paul B. Popenoe, which was said by Adolf Hitler to be of key importance in proving that large-scale compulsory sterilization programs were feasible. Popenoe (1888-1979) was an American eugenicist, influential advocate of the compulsory sterilization of the mentally ill and the mentally disabled, and the father of marriage counseling in the United States. He once said “One of the greatest dangers in the use of sterilization is that overzealous persons who have not thought through the subject will look at it as a cure-all, and apply it to all sorts of ends for which it is not adapted. It is only one of many measures the state can and must use to protect itself from racial deterioration.”

California had by far the highest number of sterilizations in the U.S. during the height of the movement, 20,108 people in total were sterilized in the state prior to 1964. The first sterilization law was passed in 1909 where in sterilizations occurred at a steadily increasing rate until around 1950. Prior to 1921, there were 2,558 compulsory sterilizations, after 1950 the rate slowed until only 85 sterilizations occurred after 1960. Some evidence supports that sterilizations may have been performed into the 1970s, although through deception of patients and their guardians. In 1913 the law was expanded to target all inmates in state hospitals or homes for the feeble-minded, as well as all repeat offenders in state prisons. The 1917 amendments greatly expanded the groups targeted even further to include, “those suffering from perversion or marked departures from normal mentality”, and individuals with sexually-transmitted diseases. These two later laws expanded to include virtually any individual deemed unfit. The most commonly targeted groups were those with mental illnesses. These included alcoholics, epileptics, individuals with Down’s syndrome, the insane, and those who were manically depressed. The range of those targeted was expanded as the result of the laws over the years. These individuals were excessively female and racial minorities. Women who were seen as sexually promiscuous were often sterilized as a “cure” for their actions. The law was also applied to many others, ranging from alcoholics to paupers to people infected with syphilis. Mexicans and African Americans were also excessively sterilized. Inmates in prisons, particularly those whose crimes were of a sexual nature, were targeted in the early years of the program. Later, the focus shifted primarily to target those with mental illnesses. Of the total sterilizations, 60% were labeled mentally ill and more than 35% were labeled mentally deficient. Men and women of Mexican decent represented between 7% and 8% of those sterilized, while African-Americans made up 1% of California’s population but accounted for 4% of all sterilizations.

Whereas Germany has taken steps to observe the horrors of its past, regarding compulsory sterilization, the United States has not. For most states, there still are a small number of studies that show how and where sterilizations occurred, such as hospitals, asylums. Other places where sterilizations were performed such as prisons and medical schools have chosen not to document that aspect of their histories. Although in recent years, the governors of many states have made public apologies for their past programs beginning with Virginia and followed by Oregon and California, none have offered to compensate those sterilized. Citing that few are likely still living (and would have had no affected offspring) and inadequate records remain by which to verify cases. There was at least one compensation case filed in the courts on the grounds that the sterilization law was unconstitutional. Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital in 1981 was rejected because the law was no longer in effect at the time of the filing. However, the petitioners were granted compensation as per stipulations of the law itself (which required informing the patients about their operations), had not been carried out in many cases. Needless to say after learning this I did not think it was funny to joke about preventing anyone from reproducing again. There is a lot more information out there pertaining to specific court rulings both for and against compulsory sterilization. I think this is just the first in a series of articles I will have to write on the subject.



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