Eugenics

"Race and Membership in American History: The Eugenics Movement focuses on a time in the early 1900s when many people believed that some "races," classes, and individuals were superior to others. They used a new branch of scientific inquiry known as eugenics to justify their prejudices and advocate programs and policies aimed at solving the nation's problems by ridding society of "inferior racial traits.""

In this classroom video, a high school history teacher facilitates a conversation with students about the legacy of the eugenics movement in the United States. During this video, students consider complicated questions: Who is responsible, and how can they be held accountable? Who, if anyone, stood up to the injustices of the time period? What have students learned from this history? What legacies of the eugenics movement do students see today?

After Darwin blew the doors off the scientific community, a lot of people did some weird and unscientific stuff with his ideas. Francis Galton and a few others decided natural selection could be used to make the human race "better" and came up with Eugenics.

Explore the most comprehensive digital archive of the American eugenics movement, compiled under an initiative led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories.

Lutz Kaelber at the University of Vermont has compiled a set of statistics and resources related to the history compulsory eugenic sterilization in every American state, tracing the legal battles of sterilization laws that would lead to the sterilization of over 60,000 individuals.

"A project of the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, Haunted Files is a multi-part exhibition and online space that explores how anti-Asian policies and legislation set the groundwork for the “scientific racism” of modern American politics. Bringing the “relics” of eugenics out of the buried archives, it confronts us with the legacy that continues to trouble today’s national conversations about race, immigration, intelligence, norms, and belonging."

Panel 1: WHAT? Eugenics and Disability: Past and Present

Panel 2: SO WHAT? The Consequences of Misremembering Eugenics

Panel 3: NOW WHAT? Looking Ahead to Brave New Worlds

By Facing History & Ourselves

BY RICH REMSBERG - 2011

DPLA's Primary Source Sets

In the video above, Rosemarie Garland-Thompson explains her view that eugenics is still alive today in various forms. She focuses largely on the idea that commerce is a driving force in shaping our contemporary ideas around which types of bodies are valued.