".....this interesting quote from the founder of eugenics, Francis Galton, in his autobiography Memories of My Life (1908). You may be familiar with it already, but it's worth repeating:The publication in 1859 of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin made a marked epoch in my own mental development, as it did in that of human thought generally. Its effect was to demolish a multitude of dogmatic barriers by a single stroke, and to arouse a spirit of rebellion against all ancient authorities whose positive and unauthenticated statements were contradicted by modern science. (p. 287)Galton's new "dogmatism" -- the fruits of that rebellion -- gave us bizarre human breeding efforts for the "fit," forced sterilizations of the "unfit," and nightmarish programs of racial hygiene. Whatever else may be said of eugenics, there can be little question about the crucial and seminal impact of Darwin's work on the founder of the movement." EvolutionNew&Views  |
| Galton |
"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."
"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.”" |
| Davenport & Laughlin |
"The center of the American eugenics movement 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."
"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."
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| Mr. Laughlin |
"In 1914, Harry H. Laughlin attended the first Race Betterment Conference, sponsored by J. H. Kellogg. The same year, in his Model Sterilization Act, Laughlin declared that the “socially inadequate” of society should be sterilized.
Laughlin also provided guidance in support of Virginia's 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 Pocahontas—those with 1/16 or less of “the blood of the American Indian” would also count as white.
The language of Laughlin's Model Sterilization Act was used in Virginia's Eugenical Sterilization Act to legalize compulsory sterilizations in the state of Virginia. "
University of Virginia
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed,
and the bounds of their habitation;
Acts 17:26