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By Nathan Huff
The Supreme Court case of Buck v Bell is an important one. It's important, because it reflects attitudes towards disabled people in the past, but it's also important because the decision still stands to this day! Ultimately, the case involved a young woman named Carrie Buck. This was someone the state of Virginia had decided to label as "feebleminded". In 1927, the United States Supreme Court ruled to uphold a states right to sterilize a person deemed unfit to procreate (NPR 2016).
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-70-000-forced-sterilizations
On the left is a photo of a young woman with dark hair that falls just past her ears. She is wearing a white garment of some kind, and what appears to be a black undershirt. This is Carrie Buck. The woman in the now infamous court case Buck v. Bell. She was considered to be feebleminded and this was the reason that it was ultimately decided to sterilize her by force.
"Feebleminded"
"Feebleminded"
So what did it mean to be "feebleminded?" Well, as it turns out it didn't mean a lot while also meaning a great deal. The fact is that this term was used because of how malleable it was. It could be used as a way of describing a variety of disabilities. Furthermore, it was also used as a way for those in power to define large quantities of people that they disliked (NPR 2016). Women that were thought to be overly interested in sex and minorities were often targeted (NPR 2016). So the term "feebleminded" became a sort of weapon in the American Eugenics movement.
Why is this important today?
Why is this important today?
Well, for starters this is important because the Supreme Court's decision still stands, but it's also important because we can see some of these demonizing attitudes reflected in rhetoric today. This is particularly true when people talk about refugees or immigrants. There's this tendency for people to demonize people viewed as different, and I think when we look at it through the lens of these attitudes of inferiority we can see that maybe these attitudes are still a part of our society today. Especially, since, like I mentioned previously, this result still stands today.
Eugenics
Eugenics
The decision to sterilize Carrie Buck and many others was a product of the ill-formed misconceptions and beliefs of the time. The early to mid 1900's saw a rise in the dehumanizing of people with developmental disabilities. This was due largely to a widespread support for "Eugenics" Eugenicists believed that the human race could be improved by controlling reproduction as a way of cleansing the human race of negative or less desirable traits.
https://disabilityjustice.org/right-to-self-determination-freedom-from-involuntary-sterilization/
Justice OIiver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Justice OIiver Wendell Holmes Jr.
"It is better for all the world, 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. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three generations of imbeciles are enough."- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
This is an excerpt from the majority opinion that was written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. It has since become notorious for how cruel it is, but it also offers a glimpse into the unfortunate prevailing attitudes of the time.
Featured below is a picture of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. He is an old white man with white hair, and a white handlebar mustache. He is also wearing a black suit.
Additional Resources and Works Cited
Additional Resources and Works Cited
A lot of the sources I found didn't list authors of their own so I have linked to these sources in the appropriate group as well as collecting all of the links (and more!) right here for your perusal.
https://bioethics.georgetown.edu/2016/02/buck-v-bell-one-of-the-supreme-courts-worst-mistakes/
https://education.blogs.archives.gov/2017/05/02/buck-v-bell/
https://disabilityjustice.org/right-to-self-determination-freedom-from-involuntary-sterilization/
Reflection
Reflection
Why do you think Buck V. Bell was never overturned? Do you think it's important that it is overturned? Why or why not?
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