What Is Eugenics? Tracing the Roots of Ableism and Racism in America Part I of II

What is Eugenics?

As the attack on people of color and people with disabilities intensifies in the United States, it’s time to step back and take a long look at the structures that have led us here. Eugenics and eugenic thinking have permeated our nation for hundreds of years, and understanding that history can help us better understand the motivations of some of our politicians today.

Sir Francis Galton is often called “the father of eugenics.” He was a half-cousin of Charles Darwin, and was fascinated by Darwin’s theory of natural selection. In 1883, Galton took the theory a step further with the idea that, just as we breed cattle and dogs for more desirable traits, we could select for “desirable” traits among humans. Galton believed that most of our traits are inherited – nature rather than nurture. He named this school of thought “eugenics,” and published a book about it.

Eugenics found great support in academic and religious communities, and many people sought to “improve” the human race through its use.  Eugenics are enforced through positive and negative means (not as value judgements; more like positive and negative sides of a magnet).

Positive and Negative Eugenics

“Positive” eugenics encourages people with “desirable” traits to have more children, who will inherit those traits. Laws and traditions throughout history promote it. For example, arranged marriages encourage people to select spouses based on their presumed “fitness”—the eugenic concept of having “good genes.” There are also subtler instances, like societal or financial rewards for having more children. A current example is Donald Trump’s child tax credit.

“Negative” eugenics discourages reproduction for people with presumed “undesirable” traits, which are often decided through racism and ableism. Examples include dark skin, non-European features, and physical and mental disabilities. Negative eugenics also includes marriage bans and anti-miscegenation laws, designed to prevent the “mixing of good blood with bad.” Sterilization of people with “undesirable” traits is a common form of negative eugenics.  And at its most violent, negative eugenics can and has included infanticide, euthanasia of the disabled, and widespread murder of people of color.

Early United States History

The history of eugenics in the US is long and varied. Since the creation of this country, eugenic principles have been present in many forms and have caused great suffering. Even before Galton came up with the name eugenics, it had begun to happen.

When early settlers from Europe arrived in the already-inhabited Americas, they proceeded to carry out genocide against the Native people living there. Millions of Native Americans were killed between the late 1400s and early 1900s. Atrocities included bounties on Native people, the Trail of Tears, and the almost complete removal of Native ancestral lands. In the 20^th century, the government sterilized Native American women, and ripped their families apart, placing children in specialized “schools,” completely removing them from their culture.  

All of this violence was motivated by racism and eugenic thinking. There were strong preconceptions among the Europeans that people of color were inherently less “worthy.”  They were forced into a white European framework, and killed or marginalized for any failure to assimilate.  Today, there are only about four million Native Americans living in the United States.

Eugenic violence during this period reached into the transatlantic slave trade.  Slave owners forced their Black African slaves with “desirable” qualities to marry or have children, and had no hesitation brutalizing those they found unsuitable.  A hierarchy was created within the enslaved class—the lighter- skinned or more European-looking/conventionally attractive slaves were forced to work in the house, in closer proximity to their enslavers, and darker-skinned, more classically “African-looking” were assigned to work in the fields or in manufacturing. This reflected the way white skin and traditional European beauty standards were viewed in white culture. It was not uncommon for a slave owner to rape their more “desirable” slaves to create more, lighter-skinned enslaved children.

Modern examples of racism still seen today include sterilization, denial of rights, and cultural genocide. I recommend looking into the Jim Crow era and the civil rights movement of the 1960s to learn more about modern challenges that Black people face in our culture—challenges that are often rooted in eugenic assumptions about intelligence and worth.

“Better Babies” and the “Fitter Family”

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, eugenic thinking also had an outsize effect on people with disabilities. We don’t often see historical portrayals of individuals with disabilities, so we may forget that we have always been here. Galton’s tradition of eugenics was in full force, with scientists in the US believing in the genetic superiority of white Europeans and attempting to reduce numbers of “undesirables” with sterilization. Even Margaret Sanger, who first made birth control available, believed that birth control would be ideal for limiting the reproductive capacity of disabled people and people of color. There were efforts to “euthanize” people with disabilities, but thankfully they were not largely successful.  Generally, people with disabilities were kept at home or in institutions, and out of public sight.

It’s also worth mentioning that in this time period, immigration laws were created to slow or stop the flow of people into the US—specifically, “undesirable” people such as Jewish and Asian immigrants.  Many were banned from entering the US, while white or European immigrants were allowed to enter.

At this point, with eugenics being the “norm,” an interesting concept came along. The “Scientific Baby Contest” at the Louisiana State Fair in 1908 kicked off almost 40 years of eugenic pageants, including Better Baby and Fitter Family competitions. In these competitions, often held at state fairs, babies were judged on “health and appearance” – essentially, they were judged to the standard of a white, abled, and conventionally European-looking baby. Fitter Family contests were similar, but rather than judging an individual infant, a whole family was judged on their size, physical and mental qualities. These competitions came with bragging rights and often cash prizes—they were true celebrations of eugenic  ideals, and they were common and unexamined.

1927: Buck v. Bell

In 1927, the Supreme Court handed down a statute that would change the face of eugenics. Buck v. Bell decided that it was legal to forcibly sterilize the “unfit,” largely meaning people with disabilities. This case has never expressly been overturned. The story begins with a woman named Emma Buck, who was incarcerated at the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded. It is unclear if Emma truly ever had a disability – we don’t know much about her.  She was reportedly sent to the facility due to “immorality.” Emma had given birth to a daughter named Carrie, who was placed with a foster family, the Dobbs. When Carrie was 17, she was raped and impregnated by the Dobbs’ nephew, and was then declared “feebleminded and promiscuous.” The Dobbs adopted Carrie’s child, naming her Vivian, and Carrie was sent to the same institution as her mother.

The superintendent of the institution sought to sterilize Carrie, and she and her guardian appealed to the courts. After being ruled against in unfair trials at the state level, where she was not well-defended against the eugenic “evidence,” Carrie’s case went all the way to the US Supreme Court. In an almost unanimous decision, the Supreme Court stated that Carrie, Emma, and Vivian were all “feebleminded and promiscuous,” and it was in the state’s interest that they be sterilized.

We don’t know what happened to Emma; Vivian died of measles at the age of eight. Carrie was surgically sterilized. After Buck v. Bell, eugenic sterilization of people with disabilities took off across the US. It wasn’t until 1942 that things slowed down. Skinner v. Oklahoma declared that involuntary sterilization of “criminals” was a violation of the 14^th Amendment. Though this decision threw some water on the fire of eugenic sterilization, it didn’t entirely put it out. Disabled women and women of color continued to be sterilized for eugenic reasons through the 1900s, and even into the modern era.

The Nazi Influence

When most people think about eugenics, Nazi Germany comes to mind, but that’s only a part of the eugenics story. As the movement grew in the US, it did the same in many European countries, including Germany. When Adolf Hitler came to power, he took it a step further, declaring several categories of people “unworthy of life.” People with disabilities were killed in droves, as were people with mental health conditions, the Deaf, and gay and trans individuals. Hundreds of thousands of people, including many children, were killed. Those who escaped death were involuntarily sterilized, just like Carrie Bell.

When the US entered World War Two after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the general attitude towards eugenics began to change somewhat. Since the opposing side of the war was so focused on “racial purity,” and as their crimes against humanity were exposed, public opinion began to turn against eugenics. Now associated with Nazi Germany, the idea began to fade from public view.  Eugenic ideas continued to lurk in the cultural background of the US, quietly influencing policy and structures of power, but it became unpopular to talk about it openly.

Stay tuned for part II.

Rachael Cowan
Systems Change Advocate, Stavros CIL