Margaret Rios
July 9, 2013
The Buck v. Bell case began when Carrie Buck was seventeen and claimed that she was raped by J.T. and Alice Dobbs son and turn out to be pregnant. So when that happened a test revealed that Carrie had da mind of a nine year old which was consider being feeblemindedness. Her mother was also tested and considered to be feeblemindedness because her test revealed that she had the mind of an eight year old. Carrie and her mother were sent to the Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded (Buck v. Bell, 2006).
Dr. Albert Priddy was the superintendent of the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded at Lynchburg he supported the population through the eugenics movement and sterilization. Dr. Priddy had sterilized about 75 to 100 young women without their permission. While doing the sterilization the Virginia legislature did not approved Dr. Priddy to sterilize the women so he had to stop the procedures. But when Dr. Priddy’s friend Aubrey Strode went to talk to the legislature she asked for them to clear the sterilization law. The state had been dealing with budget problems, so since they were in budget problems Dr. Priddy’s colleagues recommended a law that they should be able to sterilize individuals in a condition like that (Buck v. Bell, 2006).
The Virginia Assembly passed a law allowing the sterilization of feebleminded. The law that they passed had to be followed as well as court appeals, hearings, and appointing a guardian. So as all of this went on the Buck family was living in Virginia which Dr. Priddy looked into Carries situation and claimed that she would be the perfect test case for Virginia's new sterilization law. The only reason he picked Carrie out to be sterilized was because she was claimed to be feebleminded (Buck v. Bell, 2006).
Colony board hired Dr. Priddy’s friend Aubrey Strode to represent Carrie in this case. So on November of 1924, Buck v. Priddy case had