Category Archives: Eugenics

Claude Wilson | Published 14 hours ago

Alongside the benefits of our growing understandingof genetics, theres been the dark shadow of its pseudoscience.

More than just an unfortunate chapter of history confined to Nazi Germany, eugenics the practice of selective breeding has long had a foot in American politics. North Carolina provides a perfect example of the wretched history of eugenics in the United States.

The focal point of the Old North States relationship with eugenics over the years was the Eugenics Board of North Carolina, a state board formed in 1933. It forcibly sterilized citizens, many of whom were black and impoverished.

The stated targets of sterilization of the Eugenics Board were the so-called feeble-minded, which was bad enough, but they also sterilized the blind and deaf, expanding to the sterilization of any welfare recipients social workers chose to single out. Over the course of more than 40 years, about 7,600 people were sterilized by the state until 1977, when the Eugenics Board was formally abolished. However, laws allowing involuntary sterilization remained in place until as late as 2003.

The driving force behind the forced sterilizations authorized by the Eugenics Board after World War II was the so-called Human Betterment League, an organization made up of Winston-Salems wealthy elite for the purpose of furthering the cause of eugenics in North Carolina. Founded in 1947, the efforts of the League led to an 80 percent increase in forced sterilizations in the state and continued to promote forced sterilizations until the early 1970s, eventually disbanding in 1988.

Beyond thousands of forced sterilizations administered under the authority of the Eugenics Board, countless more were carried out by local clinics in the state. While a bill passed in 2013 provided compensation to victims of involuntary sterilization by the Eugenics Board, no compensation has been instituted for victims of these clinics.

North Carolina is only one of many states that have sanctioned forced sterilization. Beyond the already horrible history of American eugenics, the American model of eugenics and forced sterilization would provide a direct model for similar programs implemented in Nazi Germany.

Harry Laughlin, one of the leading American eugenicists of the 1930s, would brag to colleagues about how Nazi Germany was adapting his compulsory sterilization law models, and in 1936 was awarded an honorary degree by the University ofHeidelberg for his contributions to the science of racial cleansing.

Despite the repeated debunking of eugenics by respectable academics and researchers, Social Darwinist thinking and support for eugenicist thought remainfar more prevalent than they should. The most prominent example is Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murrays1994 "The Bell Curve," a perniciously ignorant, poorly researched and deliberately misleading book which claims human intelligence is linked to race. The book was published without any peer review, based itself on flawed statistical methods and faulty assumptions and has been torn to shreds by a number of prominent scholars.

But Charles Murrays pseudo-research is still taken seriously in certain circles. The majority of Murrays research came from the Pioneer Fund, a non-profit foundation that has funded prominent white supremacists, such as Roger Pearson and Jared Taylor. Among the founding members of the fund was Harry Laughlin.

The original eugenicists saw themselves as philanthropists who were helping the world, and future neo-eugenicists will probably view themselves that way as well. This is why it is important we dispel the pseudoscientific, white supremacist myths that are perpetuated by people like Charles Murray and organizations like the Pioneer Fund.

opinion@dailytarheel.com

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Know the dark side of North Carolina eugenics - The Daily Tar Heel

Famed Vermont author Dorothy Canfield Fisher's name will stay on a children's book award at least for now.

The Vermont Library Board met Tuesday and heard two and a half hours of debate about a request to rename the award. Critics behind the effort say Fisher was associated with the Vermont Eugenics Survey, and that she stereotyped its targets including French Canadians and French Indians in her writing.

But after several speakers at the meeting mounted a fierce defense of Fisher, the board delayed making a recommendation on whether to rename the award until its next meeting on October 10. State Librarian Scott Murphy will have the final say.

"I'm not trying to kick the can down the road, I'm trying to figure out a way to deal with this," board chair Bruce Post told Seven Days after the meeting in Berlin.*

Afterwards, he said he needed more time to consider the issue. "It's too early to comment. I have to internalize all that information," he said of the "really good commentary" he heard at the meeting.

Writer, artist and plumber Tom Mulholland of Montpelier attended to defend Fisher. He sat at the same table as Essex Junction resident Judy Dow, a French-Indian educator who is leading the push to remove Fisher's name from the award.

Mulholland accused Dow of historical "vandalism" and said her characterization of Fisher as a eugenicist was based on innuendo and insinuation. "Unless there's absolute fact, she's innocent," Mulholland said.

Retired University of Vermont professor Helene Lang also defended Fisher in a lengthy presentation to the board, calling criticism of the author "very unfair and inadequately substantiated."

She added: "I've lost sleep over this."

Both Lang and Mulholland noted that several prominent Vermonters served with Fisher on the Vermont Commission on Country Life, which grew out of the Vermont Eugenics Survey directed by UVM professor Henry Perkins.

Fisher's participation on the commission does not mean she supported the eugenics survey work, her defenders said.

Dow, though, said that the time has come to listen to those who have been oppressed and to consider changing the name on the award.

As Lang and Dow repeatedly engaged in sharp exchanges, Post eventually stepped in. "OK hold it," he said at one point. "Please stop."

Although none of the board members took a public stance at the meeting, several thanked Dow for bringing up the issue, saying it was a worthy debate.

*Clarification, 9:12 p.m.: A previous version of this story misstated when Post spoke to Seven Days.

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Library Board Delays Decision on Renaming Fisher Award - Seven Days

Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Photo courtesy of Manchester Historical Society

(This story is by Cherise Madigan, of the Bennington Banner, in which it first appeared.)

Dorothy Canfield Fisher was a prolific local writer, and her namesake rests at various institutions in Arlington today including Fisher Elementary School. In 1957 a Vermont childrens literacy program was established in the authors honor, and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award has recognized outstanding childrens writers over the last 60 years.

Fishers reputation has been questioned in recent weeks, as Essex educator and artist Judy Dow has led the fight for the removal of Fishers name from the award. Dow, who has both French Canadian and Abenaki roots, claims that Fisher not only stereotyped French Canadians and Native Americans in her extensive works, but played an active role in the eugenics movement.

In an address to the Vermont Department of Libraries in April, Dow presented evidence of Fishers ties to Vermonts eugenics movement and argued for the removal of Fishers name from the award.

The reason I started this was because our children are our most precious gift, said Dow. To name an award for a childrens book after someone who was a eugenicist is so wrong.

Now, the decision rests with State Librarian Scott Murphy, who will hear a recommendation from the Board of Libraries on July 11 and make a final decision thereafter.

Its a touchy situation and its really hard to look at these issues with our current morals and values and to judge history based on that, said Murphy. Im trying to get as much input as I possibly can from citizens before I make any decision. I have to be very careful to make sure we are taking the proper steps for Vermont.

The allegations of Fishers eugenicist entanglements stand in stark contrast to the authors identity as an accomplished writer and social activist, promoting adult education programs and prison reform alongside her organization of World War I relief efforts. Fisher was honored as one of the 10 most influential women in the United States by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a trailblazer in her own right.

Though Fisher made valuable contributions to society and literature, her ties to Vermonts eugenics movement raise questions. While some argue that her involvement was tangential, others claim Fisher was more deeply involved.

The Vermont eugenics movement, led by University of Vermont professor Henry F. Perkins, insisted upon the reality of a racial hierarchy in which degenerate classes of people including Vermonts French Canadian population, native peoples including the Abenaki, and African-Americans were doomed by heredity. These degenerates, Perkins insisted, posed a threat to Vermonts way of life and cultural identity in an era when a declining population and economic stagnation topped the list of challenges faced by the state.

She was a progressive, but it was the progressive party that was running the eugenics program, said Dow. She was a product of the time, and the product of the time was eugenics.

The eugenics movement resulted in the creation of the Vermont Eugenics Survey, running from 1925 to 1936, as well as the formation of the affiliated Vermont Commission on Country Life.

The VCCL was created by Perkins in 1928 to provide a comprehensive survey of the rural regions of the state, with the Eugenics Survey at its center and core. Fisher was among the more than 70 individuals recruited to contribute to chapters of the organizations 1931 publication, Rural Vermont: A Program for the Future. In this survey, contributors were charged with answering the question, What is happening to the old Vermont Stock?

Fisher was most heavily involved in VCCLs Committee on Tradition and Ideals, focusing heavily on increasing the number of tourists and second home owners in Vermont. In 1932, just one year after a sterilization law sponsored by Perkins and the Eugenics Survey was passed by Vermonts Legislature (through which at least 250 feeble minded Vermonters were sterilized between 1933 and 1960, according to the Department of Health), Fisher accepted a position on the commissions executive committee.

It is not surprising that a writer from an earlier time might have beliefs and opinions that we now condemn, said state Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington. This is not just evidence of prejudice: The possible connection to the eugenics movement that had unjust and tragic consequences is of concern.

Many of Fishers writings contain problematic racial stereotypes that may have been a byproduct of her era, though many of Dows critics argue that authors should not be judged by their fictitious works. It is not certain that all of Fishers representations are pure works of fiction, however.

Dorothy Canfield Fishers book Bonfire was based on a study the Eugenics Survey of Vermont did on Sandgate, said Dow. You can go through the report and pull out the names, and match the names used in Bonfire to the names in the report.

A 1928 study by the Vermont Eugenics Survey titled Key Families in Rural Vermont Towns, featured Sandgate as an example of rural degeneracy. Indeed, many of the names mentioned in the Town Gossip section of the report can be found in Fishers novel Bonfire, which is set in a fictionalized Vermont town entrenched in poverty and populated primarily by French Canadians and French Indians. In Bonfire, residents of this community are depicted as primitive, and irresponsible sub-normals. At one point, a character is described as half-hound, half-hunter, all Injun.

Outside of her fictional works, Fisher was the author of a state tourism pamphlet produced by the VCCL which aimed to recruit superior, interesting families of cultivation and good breeding. Additionally, in a 1941 commencement address, Fisher praised the residents of Manchester for taking in the nomadic Icy Palmer, a Tuscarora Indian abandoned at a local sugarhouse in 1924. Though her intentions seem valiant, Fisher denies in the address that Vermont was home to any measure of ugly racial hatred and oppression, while insisting that no Native American populations ever found a true home in the state.

I am, of course, deeply disturbed by the allegations concerning Dorothy Canfield Fisher. We always hope that those we honor have an honorable past, but almost always they do not, said Melissa Klick, a native Vermonter with both French Canadian and Abenaki heritage, and the owner of the Icy Palmer Candle Co. Icy Palmers funeral was not allowed to be held in a church, and she bowed to white people as they passed; she was assisted but not socially accepted by the Manchester community.

While a heated debate rages on whether Fishers name should remain on the book award, Murphy will ultimately rely on the feedback of Vermonts residents and libraries to decide the issue.

The whole point of this award is childrens literacy, and if this name is going to deny a certain group of people that involvement, then thats significant. Theres somebody thats feeling pain, and Im cognizant of that, said Murphy. On the opposite side is the idea that judging history by todays point of view can be dangerous, and can sometimes do more harm than good.

Regardless, Fishers complex history has opened the door for a meaningful dialogue on Vermonts troubling history with eugenics.

I feel we must use historiography to keep examining our past to improve our understanding of the future, said Klik. Lets move forward to make sure that the ignorance that shaped Canfields prejudices no longer has a place in Vermont, nor any other corner of America.

We change everything thats outdated as time goes on, so why wouldnt we change this if its offensive? said Dow. Its time that the oppressor listens to the stories of those that were oppressed, and thats a good start.

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Author under scrutiny for long-ago ties to eugenics - vtdigger.org

STEVENS POINT If youre looking for some light summer reading, dont pick up Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck.

Author Adam Cohen treats the humorless subject with appropriate seriousness in his 2016 book as he explores the American eugenics movement and bogus science that supported it in the early 20th century. Eugenics supporters preached that the improvement of the human species was best achieved by encouraging or permitting reproduction of only those people with genetic characteristics judged desirable.

We took it much further in the first four decades of the last century, using eugenic science to seek to eliminate through sterilization undesirables like epileptics and those labeled through bogus testing morons, idiots and imbeciles. These included poor people, those labeled sexual perverts, alcoholics, criminals and just about anyone else deemed to be capable of passing on undesirable traits. Eugenics supporters took it a step further, too, successfully limiting the immigration of undesirables such as Jews and Italians.

If it all sounds a bit like Nazi Germany, it should. The U.S. eugenics movement inspired the Nazis on their brutal racial purification journey, as author Cohen points out. And if it sounds a bit like some of the nationalistic fervor racing across the U.S. today, there are some unfortunate parallels, he notes.

A major difference between then and now is that progressives and conservatives alike embraced eugenics the last time around, if for different reasons. Progressives like Teddy Roosevelt believed sterilization and other eugenic activities would prevent unfit people from breeding and saw it as part of efforts to improve the lot of the majority of Americans. Conservatives were drawn to it in the belief that there was a natural elite, and that differences among people couldnt be eradicated by improving their environment.

The story of Carrie Buck is one of a young Virginia woman institutionalized in one of the states institutions for the feeble-minded. Using bogus science to establish she was a low-grade moron, eugenicists used her case to test the legality of their sterilization law. Her mother was labeled similarly with the same test, as was her infant daughter, born after Buck was raped. The case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1927, where justices ruled 8-1 that the law was legal. None other than the revered Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the opinion, proclaiming among other things: Three generations of imbeciles are enough. It apparently didnt matter to Holmes that Buck was labeled a moron, a less feeble-minded category than imbecile.

His ruling set the stage for tens of thousands of state-sponsored sterilizations across the country, most of them women.

Wisconsin has its own eugenic history. Lutz Kaelber, a historical sociologist at the University of Vermont and on the faculty committee of the Miller Center for Holocaust Studies, writes that of more than 1,800 recorded sterilizations in Wisconsin, almost 80 percent were women. This started in 1913, when the state passed its first sterilization law, and continued until 1963. Sterilizations increased dramatically after the Supreme Court ruling. Criminals, insane, feeble-minded, and epileptics were the chosen, he reports. All of this was facilitated by state law, with many of the procedures carried out at the Wisconsin Home for the Feeble-Minded in Chippewa Falls, now known as the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled.

It was progressives, dominant in Wisconsin politics at the time, who pushed the concept in the Legislature and Wisconsin's public arena, notes Kaelber.

All of this was a long time ago, so there is no need to be concerned today, right? Maybe we should be. For one thing, the Supreme Court ruling was never overturned. Public sentiment, led by the Catholic Church, turned states away from sterilization, but it is still technically legal in some cases.

Sterilization wasn't the only method used by proponents of eugenics. The desire to "improve" humankind fueled anti-immigration sentiment, and since Jews were among those considered undesirable, many thousands were turned away during the Nazi years. Todays anti-immigrant sentiment carries some of the same prejudices and dangers.

And while mass sterilization doesnt seem likely again soon, does denying medical care to the least among us amount to a 21st-century version of eugenics?

Bill Berry of Stevens Point writes a semimonthly column for The Capital Times. billnick@charter.net

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Bill Berry: Eugenics not a proud aspect of American history | Column ... - Madison.com

Author Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

(Jon Margolis writes political columns for VTDigger.)

Some of her novels and stories were about children, and she was obviously writing those for young people. No wonder, then, that Vermont librarians call their best-kids-book-of-the-year prize the Dorothy Canfield Fisher (or just the DCF) award.

Fisher was also politically active, and her politics were decidedly left of center. Eleanor Roosevelt admired her. The daughter and granddaughter of fierce abolitionists, Fisher devoted much of her professional life to combating intolerance, bigotry and authoritarianism, in the words of a 1997 article in the Journal of the Vermont Historical Society by historian Hal Goldman. In 1943 she urged Gov. William Wills to try to persuade Vermont resorts to drop their policy of being restricted, the euphemism for no Jews allowed.

Now comes a request to the state librarian that he drop Fishers name from the annual award because she was a racist.

Specifically, in the view of Abenaki educator Judy Dow, of Essex Junction, Fisher stereotyped Abenaki and French Canadians in her fiction and was part of the eugenics movement of the 1920s and 1930s that sought to sterilize those considered degenerate or feeble-minded.

The second of these allegations is complicated, not because there is anything complicated about Vermonts eugenics initiative it was a truly shameful episode but because it is not clear that Fisher played any part in it, or even that she thought it was a good idea. Goldman, who is an adjunct professor of history and a provosts teaching fellow at Minnesotas Carleton College, said he found the evidence of the ties between Fisher and the eugenics movement very attenuated.

Thats academic for weak.

But there is nothing complicated about the charge that Fishers novels and short stories display negative views of racial or ethnic minorities. That charge is nonsense.

Fiction is fiction. Characters in fiction speak as those characters, not as their author. If a character in Fishers novel Bonfire describes another as half-hound, half-hunter, all Injun, thats how that character at that time and in that place would talk. If in Seasoned Timber a bigoted headmaster scorns a students awful Jewish mother, well, thats how bigoted Vermont headmasters talked back then.

Considering that starting in 1939 a steady stream of Jewish refugees from Hitlers Germany found refuge with Fisher and her husband in Arlington (this from Ida H. Washingtons biography of Fisher, published by New England Press in 1982), the headmaster clearly was not reflecting the views of his creator.

The task of a fiction writer is to portray the world as it is, not as the writer would like it to be. Any effort to discern a writers opinions through the words of his or her fictional characters is worse than foolish; it misconstrues the purpose of literature. It is barbaric.

So was the Vermont eugenics movement, which ended up sterilizing an unknown number of people, disproportionately Abenaki or French Canadian. Patients consented to the operations, but often that consent was the only way they could be released from prison.

Fisher was not part of the eugenics operation. It is not certain that she supported it. The worst that can be said about her with any confidence is that it is not certain she did not support it.

Perhaps she was a bit of a snob. She wanted Vermont to attract those who earn a living preferably by the trained use of their brains, rather than those who buy or sell material objects or handle money.

Well, la di da, and no wonder some suspect she might have harbored bigoted thoughts. But there is no reason that an Abenaki, a French Canadian, a Hutu or an Eskimo cant earn a living with the trained use of his or her brain, and no grounds for concluding that Fisher thought otherwise.

Removing Fishers name from the award would do little harm. She was hardly a giant of 20th century American literature a la Hemingway, Faulkner or her friend Willa Cather (and lets not inquire too deeply about some of their ethnic prejudices). Though someone checked her most famous book, Understood Betsy out of Burlingtons Fletcher Free Library just two months ago, most of todays teens and preteens dont read her and know her name only because of the award.

But that doesnt answer the question of whether changing the name of the award would do any good, beyond easing the sensitivities of those who care about it.

Needless to say, this anti-Dorothy flap has to be viewed in the context of other efforts to remove the names and symbols of people and causes once admired, now scorned.

Some of this has been beneficial. The Confederate States of America and its leaders and symbols should not be honored. Their secession was the greatest act of treason ever committed against the United States, and it was motivated (this is beyond debate because the traitors said so at the time) by a belief in slavery and white supremacy.

But not much about the past including its flaws is that clear-cut, and it might be wise to guard against the temptation to go out in search of new dragons to slay.

Especially dragons as unthreatening as Dorothy Canfield Fisher appears to be.

The rest is here:

Margolis: Fact and Dorothy Canfield Fisher's fiction - vtdigger.org

COLUMBIA Six days past her due date and 36 hours of labor later, Reigna Griffin was welcomed into world on July 1 by way of an operating room at Palmetto Health Richland.

"I just felt a bunch of tugging," said Treana Parrish, 23, who gave birth to her first child by C-section. "Then it was over."

Months earlier, during one of her first prenatal appointments, Parrish decided that she wanted an intrauterine device inserted immediately after Reigna was born because she doesn't want any more children.

"I knew I wanted that when I first found out about it," said Parrish, who works at Target stocking shelves.

The small T-shaped IUD, a so-called "long-acting reversible contraceptive," will prevent future pregnancies by secreting a hormone into the uterus that prevents the egg from becoming fertilized. The device may remain in place up to five years.

Parrish is far from alone. Five years ago, South Carolina's Medicaid program became the first in the country to offer this free service to women while they were still in the hospital after giving birth. Since then, 25 other states have adopted similar policies, and thousandsof women covered by the South Carolina Medicaid program and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina have decided to get an IUD or a similar long-acting reversible contraceptive while they're still in the hospital.

"We think most women are really happy about it," said Dr. Judy Burgis, an OB-GYN at Palmetto Health. "We try to offer it universally to everyone."

Long-acting reversible contraceptives, commonly called LARCs, have become increasingly popular in recent years because they are considered more effective than oral contraception and require no daily effort on the patient's part. Birth control pills, by contrast, are less reliable because they're subject to human error. Patients must remember to take the pills at the same time every day to maximize their efficacy. Failing to do so may result in an unwanted pregnancy.

Traditionally, new moms who want an IUD have opted to receive one during the recommended postpartum visit at their gynecologist's office about six weeks after they've had a baby. But Melanie Giese, the director of the S.C. Birth Outcomes Initiative, said 55 percent of moms don't show up for that visit. When her group began discussing the possibility of making these LARCs more widely available, Giese wanted to reach these moms where she knew she could find them in the hospital.

To date, 12 South Carolina hospitals, including Palmetto Health Richland and Medical University Hospital in Charleston, offer patients this service. Some doctors won't insert an IUD after birth because about 15 percent of patients will expel the device if their cervix is still dilated. Still, since 2012, at least 5,000 moms covered by Medicaid have received an IUD in these hospitals.

Medicaid, which pays for more than half of all births in the state each year, reimburses the hospitals for the full cost of these expensive implants, about $923 per device. The patients pay nothing.

Giese estimated the state has saved at least $1.8 million in preventing unintended pregnancies.

"There's a passion for it," Giese said. "It's a very hot topic."

Meanwhile, some public health experts have expressed concern that LARCs have been marketed mainly to poor, minority patients. In South Carolina, for example, 53 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries are black or Hispanic.

"It borders on population control," said Lynn Roberts, an assistant professor of public health at the City University of New York and a reproductive justice expert. "We think its wrong to over-promote (long-acting reversible contraceptives) to particular groups, and particularly to poor women of color, because of the history of sterilization."

During the eugenics movement of the 1920s and '30s, several states, including South Carolina, passed sterilization laws that disproportionately impacted poor, disabled and minority women. Proponents of the movement believed that controlled breeding would prevent overpopulation and would improve the genetic makeup of the human race. Likewise, in Puerto Rico during the 1950s, the first large-scale human trial for birth control subjected women there to very high dosages of hormones.

Few women in the United States have been forcibly sterilized in modern times, but in an editorial published in the medical journal Contraception, Jenny Higgins, a gender and women's studies professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, points out that minority women are much more likely to have their "tubes tied" to prevent further pregnancies and that in the 1990s, a birth control implant called Norplant was "aggressively marketed to poor women and women of color, especially to young, urban, African American and Latina girls."

Higgins acknowledged that long-acting reversible contraceptives offer "compelling advantages," but that health care professionals also run the risk of alienating patients.

A spokeswoman for the Medicaid agency said she could not provide demographic data about Medicaid beneficiaries who have opted to receive a LARC in the hospital.

Dr. Drew Mather, an OB-GYN at Palmetto Health, said he discusses birth control options with his pregnant patients during their first prenatal visit and during at least two other appointments over the course of their pregnancies.

"We present them with all their options," he said.

Parrish, for one, said she never felt pressured to make a decision one way or another. She talked to her doctor, did some research on her own and chose an IUD called Mirena. She said it had fewer side effects than some of the others.

Her doctor inserted the device about 10 minutes after Reigna's delivery.

"I don't like pain, so I said, 'Go ahead and do it while the epidural is in,' " she said. "That was great."

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Popular with new moms, critics say South Carolina birth control option targets minorities - Charleston Post Courier

The Conservatives have dismantled the welfare system and introduced a system of eugenicsin an effort to make disabled people suffer and die, according to a newly-elected LabourMP.

Jared OMara, who has cerebral palsy, said the Government hascompletely torn up the welfare system by shutting down the Independent Living Fund and making cuts to disability and social care benefits.

Mr OMara, who ousted former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Cleggfrom his Sheffield Hallamseat,also declared his support for efforts to bring a criminal prosecution against Toryministers over claims that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) fitness to worktests have led to the deaths of benefit claimants.

The former school governorinsisted the policies were making disabled people have suicidal thoughts.

He told Disability News Service(DNS): A lot of people say you cant use that word, but I will do: its eugenics.They want disabled people to suffer and die. Thats literally whats happening.

Disabled people are out there suffering and dying because they have not got the financial means and financial support and nor have they got the legal means to lead an equal life, or even to lead a satisfactory life.

Conservative MP accuses mother of disabled child of lying

He added thatreports that mentally ill people have been asked why they havent committed suicide by independence payment assessors support his claims.

How is that not eugenics? Putting thoughts of suicide into a disabled persons head. Its literally eugenics,he said.

Im not going to shy away from it, people might say I am taking it too far, but as far as I am concerned, what I have seen and what has happened across the board, its been eugenics.

There are people just like me and people who have got conditions that make things even worse for them than mine does, and they are dying and they are suffering.

A DWP spokesperson said: We have a proud record in supporting disabled people, including through the landmark Disability Discrimination Act.

In the last three years, over 500,000 have moved into work and we continue to spend around 50bna year on benefits to support disabled people and those with health conditions more than ever before.

In the wide-ranging interview with DNS, Mr OMaraalso said he absolutelysupported efforts by anti-austerity groups to bring criminal proceedings against former DWP ministers Chris Grayling and Iain Duncan Smith relating to the fitness to work tests.

A disabled activist from the Black Triangle campaign lodged a complaint with Scottish police claiming the pair might be guilty of willful neglect of duty by a public official, but Scottish criminal justice agencies refused to investigate the matter in December.

A DWP spokesperson said at the time: It is important we make sure that people are receiving the right support, and they are not simply written off to a life on benefits.

The Work Capability Assessment has been improved dramatically since 2008 following a number of reviews, including five independent ones.

After a month in his role as Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, Mr OMara said he has not been able to attend debates in the Commons chamber as he cannot stand for longer than 10minutes.

The 35-year-old MP was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at six months old. The condition leaves him with severe fatigue and the right-hand side of his body is semi-paralysed. Mobility and standing for too long are issues and he needs bannisters on both sides of stairs.

The disability rights campaigner, who compares himself to Forrest Gump, previously said: Im this slightly eccentric, little bit weird disabled guy who keeps stumbling into large achievements.

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New disabled MP accuses Conservatives of 'eugenics' policies to ... - The Independent

Better Baby contests were popular at county and state fairs in early 20th century Oregon, reflecting an emerging interest in eugenics, the science of genetics and how it affects social problems.

In response to the idea that good citizenship came from good breeding, Better Baby competitions replaced baby beauty contests at the fairs.

In 1913, infant Margaret Hooper won a medal and a ribbon with a score of 98.7 out of 100 at the Josephine County Fair. Kenneth Campbell gained a score of 99.3. The 2-year-old children qualified to participate in the Better Baby contest at the Oregon State Fair in Salem.

These contests, billed as promoting healthy children, were based on how close a child came to a set of standards including height, weight, and attitude. Judges considered family background in addition to physical measurements.

At the state fair, Margaret won first prize in the class of 2-year-old country girls. Kenneth won distinction, but no prize in the state contest. The grand champion was a 3-year-old from McMinnville, the son of a professor. Margarets father was a bank clerk. Kenneths father farmed south of Grants Pass.

Sources: "Josephine County Boy and Girl Score High."Rogue River Courier, 10 Oct. 1913[Grants Pass OR], p. 1.Historical Oregon Newspapers, oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088281/1913-10-10/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1846&index=8&date2=2017&words=eugenics&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&lccn=sn96088281&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=eugenics&. Accessed 22 June 2017; Lawrence, Cera R. "Oregon State Board of Eugenics."The Embryo Project Encyclopedia, National Science Foundation, Arizona State University, 22 Apr. 2013, https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/oregon-state-board-eugenics. Accessed 22 June 2017.

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As It Was: Baby Contests Seek to Improve Society in 1920s - Jefferson Public Radio

ARLINGTON The eugenics movement is a dark chapter of Vermont's history, and now one local author's alleged role in that movement is under intense scrutiny.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher was a prolific local writer, and her namesake rests at various institutions in Arlington today including Fisher Elementary School. In 1957 a Vermont children's literacy program was established in the author's honor, and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award has recognized outstanding children's writers over the last 60 years.

Fisher's reputation has been questioned in recent weeks, as Essex educator and artist Judy Dow has led the fight for the removal of Fisher's name from the award. Dow, who has both French Canadian and Abenaki roots, claims that Fisher not only stereotyped French Canadians and Native Americans in her extensive works, but played an active role in the eugenics movement as well.

At a presentation to the Vermont Department of Libraries in April, Dow presented evidence of Fisher's ties to Vermont's eugenics movement and argued for the removal of Fisher's name from the award.

"The reason I started this was because our children are our most precious gift," said Dow. "To name an award for a children's book after someone who was a eugenicist is so wrong."

Now, the decision rests with State Librarian Scott Murphy, who will hear a recommendation from the Board of Libraries on July 11 and make a final decision thereafter.

"It's a touchy situation and it's really hard to look at these issues with our current morals and values and to judge history based on that," said Murphy. "I'm trying to get as much input as I possibly can from citizens before I make any decision; I have to be very careful to make sure we are taking the proper steps for Vermont."

A Multifaceted Identity

The allegations of Fisher's eugenicist entanglements stand in stark contrast to the author's identity as an accomplished female writer and social activist, promoting adult education programs and prison reform alongside her organization of World War I relief efforts. Fisher was honored as one of the 10 most influential women in the United States by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a trailblazer in her own right.

Though Fisher made valuable contributions to society and literature, her ties to Vermont's eugenics movement raise questions. While some argue that her involvement was tangential, others claim that Fisher was more deeply involved.

The Vermont eugenics movement, led by University of Vermont Professor Henry F. Perkins, insisted upon the reality of a racial hierarchy in which "degenerate" classes of people including Vermont's French Canadian population, native peoples including the Abenaki, and African-Americans were doomed by heredity. These "degenerates," Perkins insisted, posed a threat to Vermont's way of life and cultural identity in an era when a declining population and economic stagnation topped the list of challenges faced by the state.

"She was a progressive, but it was the progressive party that was running the eugenics program," said Dow. "She was a product of the time, and the product of the time was eugenics."

The eugenics movement resulted in the creation of the Vermont Eugenics Survey, running from 1925 to 1936, as well as the formation of the affiliated Vermont Commission on Country Life (VCCL).

The VCCL was created by Perkins in 1928 to provide a comprehensive survey of the rural regions of the state, with the Eugenics Survey at "its center and core." Fisher was among the more than 70 individuals recruited to contribute to chapters of the organization's 1931 publication, "Rural Vermont: A Program for the Future." In this survey, contributors were charged with answering the question, "What is happening to the old Vermont Stock?"

Fisher was most heavily involved in VCCL's Committee on Tradition and Ideals, focusing heavily on increasing the number of tourists and second home owners in Vermont. In 1932, just one year after a sterilization law sponsored by Perkins and the Eugenics Survey was passed by Vermont's legislature (through which at least 250 "feeble minded" Vermonters were sterilized between 1933 and 1960, according to the Department of Health), Fisher accepted a position on VCCL's executive committee.

"It is not surprising that a writer from an earlier time might have beliefs and opinions that we now condemn," said State Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington. "This is not just evidence of prejudice: the possible connection to the eugenics movement that had unjust and tragic consequences is of concern."

Local Linkages

Many of Fisher's writings contain problematic racial stereotypes that may have been a byproduct of her era, though many of Dow's critics argue that authors should not be judged by their fictitious works. It is not certain that all of Fisher's representations are pure works of fiction, however.

"Dorothy Canfield Fisher's book "Bonfire" was based on a study the Eugenics Survey of Vermont did on Sandgate," said Dow. "You can go through the report and pull out the names, and match the names used in "Bonfire" to the names in the report."

A 1928 study by the Vermont Eugenics Survey titled "Key Families in Rural Vermont Towns," featured Sandgate as an example of "rural degeneracy." Indeed, many of the names mentioned in the "Town Gossip" section of the report can be found in Fisher's novel "Bonfire," which is set in a fictionalized Vermont town entrenched in poverty and populated primarily by French Canadians and "French Indians." In "Bonfire," residents of this community are depicted as "primitive," and "irresponsible sub-normals." At one point, a character is described as, "half-hound, half-hunter, all Injun."

Outside of her fictional works, Fisher was the author of a state tourism pamphlet produced by the VCCL which aimed to recruit "superior, interesting families of cultivation and good breeding." Additionally, in a 1941 commencement address, Fisher praised the residents of Manchester for taking in the nomadic Icy Palmer, a Tuscarora Indian abandoned at a local sugar house in 1924. Though her intentions seem valiant, Fisher denies in the address that Vermont was home to any measure of "ugly racial hatred and oppression," whilst insisting that no Native American populations ever found a true home in the state.

"I am, of course, deeply disturbed by the allegations concerning Dorothy Canfield Fisher. We always hope that those we honor have an honorable past, but almost always they do not," said Melissa Klick, a native Vermonter with both French Canadian and Abenaki heritage, and the owner of the Icy Palmer Candle Company. "Icy Palmer's funeral was not allowed to be held in a church, and she bowed to white people as they passed; she was assisted but not socially accepted by the Manchester community."

Starting point for dialogue

While a heated debate rages on whether Fisher's name should remain on the book award, Murphy will ultimately rely on the feedback of Vermont's citizens and libraries to decide the issue.

"The whole point of this award is children's literacy, and if this name is going to deny a certain group of people that involvement then that's significant. There's somebody that's feeling pain, and I'm cognizant of that," said Murphy. "On the opposite side is the idea that judging history by today's point of view can be dangerous, and can sometimes do more harm than good."

Regardless, Fisher's complex history has opened the door for a meaningful dialogue on Vermont's troubling history with eugenics.

"I feel we must use historiography to keep examining our past to improve our understanding of the future," said Klik. "Let's move forward to make sure that the ignorance that shaped Canfield's prejudices no longer has a place in Vermont, nor any other corner of America."

"We change everything that's outdated as time goes on, so why wouldn't we change this if it's offensive?" said Dow. "It's time that the oppressor listens to the stories of those that were oppressed, and that's a good start."

More information on Vermont's Eugenics program can be found at http://www.uvm.edu/~eugenics/. The full report on Sandgate can be found at http://www.uvm.edu/~eugenics/primarydocs/ofkfssg090028.xml.

Reach Cherise Madigan at 802-490-6471.

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

Go here to see the original:

Questions raised on Fisher's eugenics ties, award name - The Manchester Journal

ARLINGTON The eugenics movement is a dark chapter of Vermont's history, and now one local author's alleged role in that movement is under intense scrutiny.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher was a prolific local writer, and her namesake rests at various institutions in Arlington today including Fisher Elementary School. In 1957 a Vermont children's literacy program was established in the author's honor, and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award has recognized outstanding children's writers over the last 60 years.

Fisher's reputation has been questioned in recent weeks, as Essex educator and artist Judy Dow has led the fight for the removal of Fisher's name from the award. Dow, who has both French Canadian and Abenaki roots, claims that Fisher not only stereotyped French Canadians and Native Americans in her extensive works, but played an active role in the eugenics movement as well.

In an address to the Vermont Department of Libraries in April, Dow presented evidence of Fisher's ties to Vermont's eugenics movement and argued for the removal of Fisher's name from the award.

"The reason I started this was because our children are our most precious gift," said Dow. "To name an award for a children's book after someone who was a eugenicist is so wrong."

Now, the decision rests with State Librarian Scott Murphy, who will hear a recommendation from the Board of Libraries on July 11 and make a final decision thereafter.

"It's a touchy situation and it's really hard to look at these issues with our current morals and values and to judge history based on that," said Murphy. "I'm trying to get as much input as I possibly can from citizens before I make any decision; I have to be very careful to make sure we are taking the proper steps for Vermont."

A Multifaceted Identity

The allegations of Fisher's eugenicist entanglements stand in stark contrast to the author's identity as an accomplished female writer and social activist, promoting adult education programs and prison reform alongside her organization of World War I relief efforts. Fisher was honored as one of the 10 most influential women in the United States by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a trailblazer in her own right.

Though Fisher made valuable contributions to society and literature, her ties to Vermont's eugenics movement raise questions. While some argue that her involvement was tangential, others claim that Fisher was more deeply involved.

The Vermont eugenics movement, led by University of Vermont Professor Henry F. Perkins, insisted upon the reality of a racial hierarchy in which "degenerate" classes of people including Vermont's French Canadian population, native peoples including the Abenaki, and African-Americans were doomed by heredity. These "degenerates," Perkins insisted, posed a threat to Vermont's way of life and cultural identity in an era when a declining population and economic stagnation topped the list of challenges faced by the state.

"She was a progressive, but it was the progressive party that was running the eugenics program," said Dow. "She was a product of the time, and the product of the time was eugenics."

The eugenics movement resulted in the creation of the Vermont Eugenics Survey, running from 1925 to 1936, as well as the formation of the affiliated Vermont Commission on Country Life (VCCL).

The VCCL was created by Perkins in 1928 to provide a comprehensive survey of the rural regions of the state, with the Eugenics Survey at "its center and core." Fisher was among the more than 70 individuals recruited to contribute to chapters of the organization's 1931 publication, "Rural Vermont: A Program for the Future." In this survey, contributors were charged with answering the question, "What is happening to the old Vermont Stock?"

Fisher was most heavily involved in VCCL's Committee on Tradition and Ideals, focusing heavily on increasing the number of tourists and second home owners in Vermont. In 1932, just one year after a sterilization law sponsored by Perkins and the Eugenics Survey was passed by Vermont's legislature (through which at least 250 "feeble minded" Vermonters were sterilized between 1933 and 1960, according to the Department of Health), Fisher accepted a position on VCCL's executive committee.

"It is not surprising that a writer from an earlier time might have beliefs and opinions that we now condemn," said State Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington. "This is not just evidence of prejudice: the possible connection to the eugenics movement that had unjust and tragic consequences is of concern."

Local Linkages

Many of Fisher's writings contain problematic racial stereotypes that may have been a byproduct of her era, though many of Dow's critics argue that authors should not be judged by their fictitious works. It is not certain that all of Fisher's representations are pure works of fiction, however.

"Dorothy Canfield Fisher's book "Bonfire" was based on a study the Eugenics Survey of Vermont did on Sandgate," said Dow. "You can go through the report and pull out the names, and match the names used in "Bonfire" to the names in the report."

A 1928 study by the Vermont Eugenics Survey titled "Key Families in Rural Vermont Towns," featured Sandgate as an example of "rural degeneracy." Indeed, many of the names mentioned in the "Town Gossip" section of the report can be found in Fisher's novel "Bonfire," which is set in a fictionalized Vermont town entrenched in poverty and populated primarily by French Canadians and "French Indians." In "Bonfire," residents of this community are depicted as "primitive," and "irresponsible sub-normals." At one point, a character is described as, "half-hound, half-hunter, all Injun."

Outside of her fictional works, Fisher was the author of a state tourism pamphlet produced by the VCCL which aimed to recruit "superior, interesting families of cultivation and good breeding." Additionally, in a 1941 commencement address, Fisher praised the residents of Manchester for taking in the nomadic Icy Palmer, a Tuscarora Indian abandoned at a local sugar house in 1924. Though her intentions seem valiant, Fisher denies in the address that Vermont was home to any measure of "ugly racial hatred and oppression," whilst insisting that no Native American populations ever found a true home in the state.

"I am, of course, deeply disturbed by the allegations concerning Dorothy Canfield Fisher. We always hope that those we honor have an honorable past, but almost always they do not," said Melissa Klick, a native Vermonter with both French Canadian and Abenaki heritage, and the owner of the Icy Palmer Candle Company. "Icy Palmer's funeral was not allowed to be held in a church, and she bowed to white people as they passed; she was assisted but not socially accepted by the Manchester community."

The Beginning of a Dialogue

While a heated debate rages on whether Fisher's name should remain on the book award, Murphy will ultimately rely on the feedback of Vermont's citizens and libraries to decide the issue.

"The whole point of this award is children's literacy, and if this name is going to deny a certain group of people that involvement then that's significant. There's somebody that's feeling pain, and I'm cognizant of that," said Murphy. "On the opposite side is the idea that judging history by today's point of view can be dangerous, and can sometimes do more harm than good."

Regardless, Fisher's complex history has opened the door for a meaningful dialogue on Vermont's troubling history with eugenics.

"I feel we must use historiography to keep examining our past to improve our understanding of the future," said Klik. "Let's move forward to make sure that the ignorance that shaped Canfield's prejudices no longer has a place in Vermont, nor any other corner of America."

"We change everything that's outdated as time goes on, so why wouldn't we change this if it's offensive?" said Dow. "It's time that the oppressor listens to the stories of those that were oppressed, and that's a good start.

More information on Vermont's Eugenics program can be found at http://www.uvm.edu/~eugenics/. The full report on Sandgate can be found at http://www.uvm.edu/~eugenics/primarydocs/ofkfssg090028.xml.

Reach Cherise Madigan at 802-490-6471.

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

Read more here:

Local author under scrutiny for ties to eugenics - Bennington Banner (subscription)