Sir Francis Galton. Courtesy of the American Philosophical Society. [2.1]
ENLARGE [2.2] Faces and Races, illustration from a eugenical text, Racial History of Mankind. Courtesy of Special Collections, Pickler Memorial Library, Truman State University.
[2.3] Harry H. Laughlin and Charles Davenport at the Eugenics Record Office. Courtesy of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archives.
Sir Francis Galton first coined the term eugenics in 1883. Put simply, eugenics means well-born. Initially Galton focused on positive eugenics, encouraging healthy, capable people of above-average intelligence to bear more children, with the idea of building an improved human race. Some followers of Galton combined his emphasis on ancestral traits with Gregor Mendels research on patterns of inheritance, in an attempt to explain the generational transmission of genetic traits in human beings.
Negative eugenics, as developed in the United States and Germany, played on fears of race degeneration. At a time when the working-class poor were reproducing at a greater rate than successful middle- and upper-class members of society, these ideas garnered considerable interest. One of the most famous proponents in the United States was President Theodore Roosevelt, who warned that the failure of couples of Anglo-Saxon heritage to produce large families would lead to race suicide.
The center of the eugenics movement in the United States was the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) at Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Biologist Charles Davenport established the ERO, and was joined in his work by Director Harry H. Laughlin. Both men were members of the American Breeders Association. Their view of eugenics, as applied to human populations, drew from the agricultural model of breeding the strongest and most capable members of a species while making certain that the weakest members do not reproduce.
Eugenicists attempted to demonstrate the power of heredity by constructing pedigree charts of defective families. These charts were used to scientifically quantify the assertion that human frailties such as profligacy and indolence were genetic components that could be passed from one generation to the next. Two studies were published that charted the propensity towards criminality, disease, and immoral behavior of the extended families of the Jukes and the Kallikaks. Eugenicists pointed to these texts to demonstrate that feeblemindedness was an inherited attribute and to reveal how the care of such degenerates represented an enormous cost to society.
The ERO promoted eugenics research by compiling records or pedigrees of thousands of families. Charles Davenport created The Family History Book, which assisted field workers as they interviewed families and assembled pedigrees specifying inheritable family attributes which might range from allergies to civic leadership. Even a propensity for carpentry or dress-making was considered a genetically inherited trait. Davenport and Laughlin also issued another manual titled How to Make a Eugenical Family Study to instruct field workers in the creation of pedigree charts of study subjects from poor, rural areas or from institutionalized settings. Field workers used symbols to depict defective conditions such as epilepsy and sexual immorality.
The American Eugenics Society presented eugenics exhibits at state fairs throughout the country, and provided information encouraging high-grade people to reproduce at a greater rate for the benefit of society. The Society even sponsored Fitter Family contests.
ENLARGE [2.4] Kallikak family of New Jersey Normal and Degenerate Lines (enlarge to view additional eugenical pedigree charts). Courtesy of Paul Lombardo.
ENLARGE [2.5] Eugenics Display. Courtesy of the American Philosophical Society.
[2.6] Winners of Fittest Family Contest. Courtesy of the American Philosophical Society.
[2.7] Harry H. Laughlin photograph. Courtesy of American Philosophical Society.
ENLARGE [2.8] Comparative Intelligence Chart. Courtesy of the American Philosophical Society.
ENLARGE [2.9] Virginias Racial Integrity Act of 1924 (enlarge to view additional Virginia legislative acts). Courtesy of Special Collections, Pickler Memorial Library, Truman State University.
In 1914, Harry H. Laughlin attended the first Race Betterment Conference, sponsored by J. H. Kellogg. The same year, in his Model Sterilization Law, Laughlin declared that the socially inadequate of society should be sterilized. This Model Law was accompanied by pedigree charts, which were used to demonstrate the hereditary nature of traits such as alcoholism, illegitimacy, and feeblemindedness. Laughlin asserted that passage of these undesirable traits to future generations would be eradicated if the unfortunate people who possessed them could be prevented from reproducing. In 1922 Laughlins Model Law was included in the book Eugenical Sterilization in the United States. This book compiled legal materials and statistics regarding sterilization, and was a valuable reference for sterilization activists in states throughout the country.
Proponents of eugenics worked tirelessly to assert the legitimacy of this new discipline. For Americans who feared the potential degradation of their race and culture, eugenics offered a convenient and scientifically plausible response to those fears. Sterilization of the unfit seemed a cost-effective means of strengthening and improving American society.
By 1924 Laughlins influence extended in several directions. He testified before Congress in support of the Immigration Restriction Act to limit immigration from eastern and southern Europe. Laughlin influenced passage of this law by presenting skewed data to support his assertion that the percentage of these immigrant populations in prisons and mental institutions was far greater than their percentage in the general population would warrant.
Laughlin also provided guidance in support of Virginias Racial Integrity Act, which made it illegal for whites in Virginia to marry outside their race. The act narrowly defined who could claim to be a member of the white race stating that the term white person shall apply only to such person as has no trace whatever of any blood other than Caucasian. Virginia lawmakers were careful to leave an escape clause for colleagues who claimed descent from Pocahontasthose with 1/16 or less of the blood of the American Indian would also count as white.
The language of Laughlins Model Sterilization Act was used in Virginias Eugenical Sterilization Act to legalize compulsory sterilizations in the state. This legislation to rid Virginia of defective persons was drafted by Aubrey E. Strode, a former member of the Virginia General Assembly, at the request of longtime associate, Albert Priddy, who directed the Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded in Lynchburg, Virginia.
2004 Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
Read more:
Origins of Eugenics: From Sir Francis Galton to Virginias ...
- Anton Chaitkin: the British Monarchy & Euthanasia [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Rate the The Mental Hygiene Society - Yale University connection [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Len Horowitz files pandemic charges against Rockefeller [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Judge Napolitano on Forced Vaccinations in Massachusetts [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Joseph Moshe (MOSSAD Microbiologist): “Swine flu vaccine is bioweapon” [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Canadian study that suggests seasonal flu shots raise a person's risk of catching swine flu [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Doctor Admits Vaccine Is More Deadly Than Swine Flu Itself & Will Not Give It To His Kids [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Ineffectiveness And Dangers Of Flu Shots [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Maafa 21 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Doctors Concerned FluMist Vaccine Could Spread Live H1N1 Virus [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Martial Law Soon [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Humanity's Greatest Challenge - Fear or Love [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Does the Vaccine Matter? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Ten questions about flu vaccines that doctors and health authorities refuse to answer [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Swear NO Oaths (UNDERSTANDING JURISDICTION) [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- WARNING! Goodbye U.S Sovereignty... Hello One World Government ! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Glenn Beck interviews Lord Monckton on the Soviet style takeover of America by the NWO & BHO [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- TAVISTOCK - THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN AMERICA [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Become a Free Man { SUI JURIS } [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The Income Tax Trial of the Century [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Gary Null Speaking Out Against vaccines at the NYS Assembly Hearing | 10-13-2009 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- WHO memos 1972 explains how to turn vaccines into a means of killing [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The Swine Flu (aka 'H1N1) That's Not A Flu At All [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Lord Christopher Monchton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, answers critics of his claim that Obama intends to cede U.S. sovereignty [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Swine Flu Government Data Scam Government using fraud to generate flu hysteria [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The Strecker Memorandum video [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- United States Patent 4,647,773 Gallo -Continuous production of retroviruses [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1970 : The funding of the Bio-terrorism AIDS virus [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The Merchants of AIDS - full article [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Another Tool of Eugenics: Fluoride [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- 1988: Dr. Jonathan Mann : Killed in Plane Crash [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Boyd Graves: Interview with Alex Jones [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Boyd Graves: Letter to Ninth Circuit Court [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Gallo and Litton Bionetics: Creators of Aids [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- This site is being developed [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- 2002: Eleven microbiologists mysteriously dead over the span of just five months [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Kissinger, Eugenics and Nazis [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- July 27, 1990: Aids is man-made - By William Cooper [Killed by Law enforcement in 2001] [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The Merchants of aids [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Why we should not trust the health market. [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Dr. David James preview - conscious media network [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- AIDS HIV BAYER CORPORATION HEMOPHELIA TAINTED BLOOD SUPPLY [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Ugandians not dying fast enough. International Eugenists (Aids experts) want them to engage in casual sex [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Proof that AIDS was engineered to kill primarily blacks [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- In lies we Trust. The history of American Bioterrorism [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Dallas: A possible Aids Cure? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Glutathione Accelerator - Any Good? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Dr. Boyd Ed Graves International AIDS activist dies age 57 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Genocide in Progress with novel flu virus. [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Genocide in Progress with new flu virus- CDC is suspect [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Vaccines: The Bargain Basement Technology of the 20th Century [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Anthrax - as American as Apple Pie. Eustace Mullins [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Swine flu: Some pregnant women shunning H1N1 vaccine [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- CFR lies to get You to take the Shot [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- US spraying Ukraine?? [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Eustace Mullins: Murder By Injection [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Microbiologist nabbed by FBI after warning us that vaccine is a bioweapon deployment [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Airplanes sprayed mysterious substance over Ukraine days before pneumonic plague outbreak [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- NIH Whistleblower Alexander S. Jones: Deadly Flu Spreads Across Ukraine [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- RBD Change D225G in Ukraine Lungs Raises Concerns [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Young Boy in Agony After AH1N1 Nasal Flu Mist [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Unconfirmed Reports of Large Numbers of Deaths from the Vaccine in the Ukraine [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Vaccinations are Causing Impaired Blood Flow (Ischemia), Chronic Illness, Disease and Death for us All [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- British scientists suspect that swine flu virus has mutated in Ukraine. [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Vaccination: Federal Health Agencies Continue to Deceive Americans [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Ukraine plagues and now heavy supply and personnel movement in and out of US Deep Underground Military Bases (DUMBs) [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- College Students Getting Smarter, Shunning H1N1 Vaccine [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Deeper down the rabbit hole [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Ukraine Pneumonic Plague Research Nov 2009 [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Keiser on 'Tsunami alert': Dubai debt crisis awakes storm? [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Christopher Story - EU Corruption [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- John Harris - Undermining Democracy [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- The first case of HIV/AIDS cure and no mention in the media. Why? [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- What is AIDS? [Last Updated On: January 7th, 2010] [Originally Added On: January 7th, 2010]
- Europe to Investigate the UN Over “Pandemic” Scam [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2010] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2010]
- Nuke @ Olympics ????? [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2010] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2010]
- Intelligent Anti-Fluoride Statement - Dr. J. William Hirzy [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2010] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2010]
- Testimony [4-9] Fluoride's Definitive Medical Indictment [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2010] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2010]
- History Lesson [Last Updated On: March 10th, 2010] [Originally Added On: March 10th, 2010]
- As the Bank System fails so will society [Last Updated On: March 13th, 2010] [Originally Added On: March 13th, 2010]