A century of eugenics in America : from the Indiana experiment to the human genome era / edited by Paul A. Lombardo.

ISBN:

9780253004987

9781283101738

Title:

A century of eugenics in America : from the Indiana experiment to the human genome era / edited by Paul A. Lombardo.

Author:

Lombardo, Paul A.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 251 pages).

Series:

Bioethics and the humanities

Contents:

The hoosier connection : compulsory sterilization as moral hygiene / Elof Axel Carlson -- The Indiana way of eugenics : sterilization laws, 1907-74 / Jason S. Lantzer -- From better babies to the bunglers : eugenics on tobacco road / Paul A. Lombardo -- "Quality, not mere quantity, counts" : black eugenics and the NAACP baby contests / Gregory Michael Dorr and Angela Logan -- From legislation to lived experience : eugenic sterilization in California and Indiana, 1907-79 / Alexandra Minna Stern -- Eugenics and social welfare in new deal Minnesota / Molly Ladd-Taylor -- Reassessing eugenic sterilization : the case of North Carolina / Johanna Schoen -- Protection or control? Women's health, sterilization abuse, and Relf v. Weinberger / Gregory Michael Dorr -- Are we entering a "perfect storm" for a resurgence of eugenics? Science, medicine, and their social context / Linda L. McCabe and Edward R.B. McCabe -- Modern eugenics and the law / Maxwell J. Mehlman.

Corporate Subject:

Human Genome Project.

Subject Term:

Eugenics -- United States -- History -- 20th century.

Sterilization, Involuntary -- legislation & jurisprudence -- United States.

Sterilization, Involuntary -- history -- United States.

History, 21st Century -- United States.

History, 20th Century -- United States.

Eugenics -- legislation & jurisprudence -- United States.

Eugenics -- history -- United States.

Added Author:

Lombardo, Paul A.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

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Publication Date:

2011

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
363.92 22	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In 1907, Indiana passed the world's first involuntary sterilization law based on the theory of eugenics. In time, more than 30 states and a dozen foreign countries followed suit. Although the Indiana statute was later declared unconstitutional, other laws restricting immigration and regulating marriage on "eugenic" grounds were still in effect in the U.S. as late as the 1970s. A Century of Eugenics in America assesses the history of eugenics in the United States and its status in the age of the Human Genome Project. The essays explore the early support of compulsory sterilization by doctors and legislators; the implementation of eugenic schemes in Indiana, Georgia, California, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Alabama; the legal and social challenges to sterilization; and the prospects for a eugenics movement basing its claims on modern genetic science.

Author Notes

Paul A. Lombardo is Professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law. He is author of Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

In 1907, Indiana became the first state to pass a sterilization law. The last sterilization of an Indiana resident took place in 1971. Thus, the state has the dubious honor of being the first and one of the last states to sterilize a US citizen forcibly in hopes of protecting the fit from the unfit. The subjects of this essay collection include the definitions of those two terms, the legality of the process, the culture that would rationalize such a procedure, and the uneasiness engendered in many persons by the neo-eugenic language used by supporters of the Human Genome Project. A noted historian of the eugenics movement, editor Lombardo (Georgia State Univ.) has divided this book into essays that focus upon the history of sterilization in Indiana; additional state studies, including California, which sterilized more persons than any other state; and two chapters that examine sterilization as portrayed in popular culture. The final two essays are perhaps the most important, as they look at the implications for contemporary medicine and law regarding the renewed interest in "better breeding" as a result of the Human Genome Project. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries. D. O. Cullen Collin College