Eugenics, Derived From The Greek Word Eugenes Meaning Well Born

In Pages 11 and 12 in Laura Hildebrand's book Unbroken she talks about eugenics in the way that America was infatuated with eugenics. Eugenics promised strengthening of the human race by taking out people that were unfit. One of the tools of eugenics was sterilization which were procedures that rendered people unable to reproduce . when Louie the main character of Laura's book, was around his teenage years the state in which he lived California, Was overwhelmed with eugenics and ended up sterilizing around 20,000 people. As you can see why Louie, a troubled teenager, who never really was the type to make the honor roll, had a minority background, and was a notorious troublemaker may have had a reason to fear his life. Once he realized what he was risking he

The idea of eugenics made it possible for involuntary sterilization. In order to improve the human race, it meant regulating reproduction. 1907 Indiana passed to sterilize the mentally insane and inmates. Their plan was to eliminate “defective” genes. By 1960 63,000 people were involuntary

Chapter 8 of Kitcher's novel, Inescapable Eugenics, identifies past abuses of eugenics resulting from inaccurate, misleading information; abuses that include dominant groups using eugenics to discriminate against other undesirable groups.

Lack of scientific knowledge about genetic biology was the primary reason why eugenics movement died out towards the latter half of the 20th century. It was concluded that there was actually no significant way to identify “fit” families. The eugenics movement unjustly called people unfit without reason. The primary downside to the eugenics movement in the United States is that scientist paid too much attention to the genetic correlations between class and genes, but rarely looked at the environmental factors that affected the class. Essentially what the eugenics movement did was called families that were alcoholics and thieves due to your genes. An argument could have been very easily made that these families were

In England, which gave birth to the eugenics movement, it is interesting to note that sterilization laws never took hold. Bertrand Russel, a British philosopher at the time published Marriage and Morals (1929) in which he wrote “I say only that our scientific knowledge at present is not adequate for this purpose, and that it is very dangerous when a community allows its moral reprobations to masquerade in the guise of science, as is undoubtedly happening

History throughout the United States has multiple positive and negative attributions that reflect onto today’s society. One circumstance that has been partially neglected was the eugenics movement in America; the notion of eugenics occurring in the United States is infrequently brought up today. According to Dr. Laura Rivard, the average person most likely does not even know what eugenics is. An English intellectual named of Francis Galton is responsible for starting this movement. Eugenics can briefly be defined as exploiting the fundamentals of genetics and heredity for the benefit of superiorizing the human race.

Eugenics came from an era where Social Darwinism was used to explain many social inequalities. Social Darwinism was created by Herbert Spencer and was based off of the work by Charles Darwin. Darwinism contains the ideas of survival of the fittest and the capability of an individual to survive in an environment. Spencer took Darwin’s idea and applied it to society, and explained that social inequalities came from the fact that the wealthy are genetically wired to be better off. Eugenicists noticed that government money was being funded towards the poor and degenerates. They didn’t understand this and they believed it was a waste of money because those people were destined to be impoverished. Eugenicists believed sterilization was the solution. Eugenicists believed anyone with the traits of poverty, feeble-mindedness-including manic depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism, rebelliousness, criminality, nomadness, and prostitution in their lives should be sterilized. Before WWII, eugenics was very popular in the United States. People such as Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were in support of eugenics. They both supported the sterilization of the feeble minded and insane, but did not support the killing of these people. Once Hitler’s atrocities had been discovered, the eugenics movement had a large decrease in popularity

In late nineteenth century on into the early twentieth century America was going through a change. A change may in society thought was for the best. Slavery was ending, and the upper class was worried about the estimated four million African Americans and immigrants introducing themselves in the economy with little or no education. These people were worried the overload in population would negatively affect the economy they have worked so hard to create. It was felt something had to be done to prevent the impregnation of “bad genes” into the American community. Eugenics seemed to offer that solution. Eugenics still implements their version of “population control” and/or “family-planning” in our society today and we don’t even know it. We play along and support without even knowing why we’re playing along or what we are supporting. To help open the eyes of the majority, we need to go back in time and show how the “Eugenics Movement” started. How the country we love so much, did not love us back and how the support of this movement is stronger today than when it started.

The eugenics movement in the United States beginning in the late 19th century and extending to the mid 20th century was a biosocial movement, which advocated procedures to improve the genetic composition of the American population. This essay will examine how eugenic ideologies influenced public and social policy in the United States between 1880 and 1950. The essay will first discuss the background of eugenics and how the eugenics movement gained momentum in the United States. Secondly, it will look at the various organisations associated with eugenics, that lobbied for legislations that aligned with their beliefs. Thirdly, it will consider how the advocating of the various eugenic organisations caused eugenic ideologies to become normalised in American society. Lastly, it will study the numerous policies established in different States that were formed based on eugenic principles.

Eugenics is a special effort targeted at cultivating the genetic composition of the human race. In history, eugenicists had promoted selective breeding to accomplish goals that were set. Nowadays, we have the proper technology that makes it possible to directly modify the genetic composition of an individual. Nevertheless, people have different views on how to best use this kind of technology. In 1883, a British scholar named Sir Francis Galton, who was also the cousin of Charles Darwin, used the term eugenics, to represent “well-born.” Galton believed that the human race could directly help its future by selectively breeding individuals who have certain “desired” qualities. This idea was constructed on Galton’s study of the upper class in Britain. After the completion of these studies, Galton established that an elite position in society was due to those persons having good genetic makeup. “Galton idea of Eugenics was developed due to Charles Darwin’s theory of Social Darwinism, which explains survival of the fittest, the capability to

Industrialization resulted in the creation of urban centers, which resulted in higher rates of poverty, crime, alcoholism, and other forms of what eugenicists referred to as degenerative behavior (Bachrach 46). In response to a greater amount of defectives in the population, eugenicists advocated sterilization. Laughlin’s “Model Sterilization Law” represents a measure for negative eugenics. It is a generic law for sterilization of the institutionalized that was sent to state legislatures to get them to implement eugenic measures (Allen). The assumption was that if the degenerate were allowed to reproduce, their children would inherit their parents’ degenerate traits, resulting in costs for the state to care for the children that would come from citizens. Sterilization addressed the root of the problem by stopping degenerate individuals from reproducing at all. By portraying the eugenic measure in a socio-economic light, eugenicists garnered enough support for sterilization for it to be successfully implemented in over 30

There is much bias and confusion surrounding the topic of eugenics. Many times the reason for this is the lack of understanding of what the term means, where it states “In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, a respected British scholar, and cousin of Charles Darwin, first used the term eugenics, meaning ‘well-born.’ (Genetics Generation, 2015).” This term has evolved to encompass more than just “well-born” as can be seen in the encyclopedia. “The eleventh edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica defines eugenics as ‘the organic betterment of the race through wise application of the laws of heredity.’ (Court, 2004).” The meaning of the word eugenics, due to the way it has been used, confuses many people.

Under this law, no recorded sterilizations occurred. In 1929, a modified eugenics law was adopted. Under this law, 49 people were sterilized under the authority of the administration of the institutions. The supreme court ruled this law unconstitutional in 1933 citing the absence of a public hearing notice or standards for appeal. The law was modified and also called for the creation of a North Carolina Eugenics Board. It consisted of three state officials, one representative of a mental health institution and one representative of the State Hospital in Raleigh. The board’s duties were to “review all cases involving the sterilization of mentally diseased, feeble-minded, or epileptic patients, inmates, or non-institutionalized individuals” (North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources). Over the next forty-one years, more than 7,500 sterilizations were carried out under this law. The state ceased this process in 1974 and the Eugenics Commission was subsequently abolished in 1977 ("Eugenics Board of North Carolina", 2017).

Gregor Johann Mendel Moravian scientist who become known as the founder of the modern science of genetics. He conducted pea plant experiments between 1856 and 1863 through which he established many of the rules of heredity, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.

Gregor Mendel is known as the Father of Modern Genetics, (Gregor Mendel - New World Encyclopedia:, n.d.). Gregor was pretty popular in the world of science, unfortunately while he was alive he was not recognized for any of his works with research. He was born in Austria in 1822 and his parents were agriculturalists. As a young child his family lived and owned a farm, Mendel became very intrigued with plants, shrubbery, and produce. As he grew older he absolutely loved to learn and was spiritual, he soon moved away from home. Over the course of his lifetime he became a professor, minister, and researcher. While Gregor was a monk, he was able to nurture and take care of the garden at the monastery. He was responsible for the Laws governing Inheritance of Traits. Mendel planted and tested some 28,000 pea plants, he discovered that the plants ' progeny reserved traits of the parents. Mendel piloted his experiment using empirical probability from 1856 to 1863.