Q: Why did it happen?

A: Supporters of eugenics believed that "defective" humans could be weeded out of the population. Scientists discredited the assumption by the 1930s, and most states ceased their programs.

The North Carolina program, however, expanded in the 1950s and 1960s, partly because out-of-state doctors, professors and other eugenics supporters were seeking a testing ground for a new national campaign they hoped would sterilize millions of Americans. Specifically, a Princeton, N.J.-based group known as Birthright formed in the mid-1940s.

The group sought states with low numbers of Catholics, according to documents in the Social Welfare History Archives at the University of Minnesota. The Catholic church historically opposed eugenics and any artificial means of birth control.

One of the leading promoters of the North Carolina eugenics program was Dr. Clarence Gamble, a Boston doctor and heir to the Proctor & Gamble fortune. He helped form Birthright and was the driving force behind the national campaign.

Gamble convinced his brother Cecil Gamble to help, and in December 1944, the Gamble Family Trust made a $10,000 donation to Birthright, which would be the equivalent to about $125,000 today.

Clarence Gamble didn't have a role in Proctor & Gamble, and while Cecil Gamble was on the board, the company said last year the donation was personal and in no way reflected the company's opinion.

Birthright later changed its name to the Human Betterment Association. They had a national office in New York and loosely affiliated chapters in North Carolina, Georgia, Iowa, Arkansas and Texas. Some of the chapters were short-lived, but the one in North Carolina operated for almost 30 years.

Q: How was the eugenics campaign promoted?

A: Gamble hired a New York City advertising firm to help sell the campaign. Leading journalists, along with some doctors and professors, voiced support, too.

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Eugenics Q&A