Eugenics
History of Eugenics
Katie Gauthier
` Eugenics was first defined by Sir Francis Galton in the 1880’s in Britain. “Galton thought that biological inheritance of leadership qualities had determined the social status of Britain's ruling classes.” By improving the genetic quality of American people, Eugenicists were hoping to eradicate feebleminded, crime driven, promiscuous, and other “improper” individuals. Eugenicists were attempting to create a society of perfect families. Anything less than perfect would be removed from the picture. Eugenics is a controversial topic. It shaped the world, as we know it today, however, it also caused a lot of suffering that was not needed. The Eugenicists way of thinking was unnecessarily cruel and did not have the proper scientific backing to justify the actions that came from their ideas. The lack of scientific evidence, forced sterilization and the German’s extreme actions are all examples of how the Eugenicists ideas were those of ill-founded nefariousness. When Eugenics was in the peak of its acceptance, there was no science available that would prove that the traits that were deemed unfavorable were indeed genetically inherited. Genetics was still a field that did not have the level of scientific profundity in order to make assumptions that feeblemindedness or repetitive criminal history was past down from generation to generation. Eugenicists were only using hypothesized science that did not have any evidence other than what was assumed. “While eugenics was indeed popular, it was poor science and it was rejected on scientific grounds.” In the case of Buck vs. Bell, Carrie Buck had a daughter that was deemed feebleminded. However, we know that her daughter had an average to high report card and in fact was an intelligent child. Paul Lombardo explains that, Arthur Estabrook, a sociologist of the Eugenics Record of Office, traveled to Virginia to test Carrie Buck’s daughter for intelligence. “He and a Red Cross nurse
Katie Gauthier
` Eugenics was first defined by Sir Francis Galton in the 1880’s in Britain. “Galton thought that biological inheritance of leadership qualities had determined the social status of Britain's ruling classes.” By improving the genetic quality of American people, Eugenicists were hoping to eradicate feebleminded, crime driven, promiscuous, and other “improper” individuals. Eugenicists were attempting to create a society of perfect families. Anything less than perfect would be removed from the picture. Eugenics is a controversial topic. It shaped the world, as we know it today, however, it also caused a lot of suffering that was not needed. The Eugenicists way of thinking was unnecessarily cruel and did not have the proper scientific backing to justify the actions that came from their ideas. The lack of scientific evidence, forced sterilization and the German’s extreme actions are all examples of how the Eugenicists ideas were those of ill-founded nefariousness. When Eugenics was in the peak of its acceptance, there was no science available that would prove that the traits that were deemed unfavorable were indeed genetically inherited. Genetics was still a field that did not have the level of scientific profundity in order to make assumptions that feeblemindedness or repetitive criminal history was past down from generation to generation. Eugenicists were only using hypothesized science that did not have any evidence other than what was assumed. “While eugenics was indeed popular, it was poor science and it was rejected on scientific grounds.” In the case of Buck vs. Bell, Carrie Buck had a daughter that was deemed feebleminded. However, we know that her daughter had an average to high report card and in fact was an intelligent child. Paul Lombardo explains that, Arthur Estabrook, a sociologist of the Eugenics Record of Office, traveled to Virginia to test Carrie Buck’s daughter for intelligence. “He and a Red Cross nurse