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.
Contributions by:
Maxwell J. Mehlman,
Angela Logan,
Jason Lantzer,
Alexandra M. Stern
Edited by:
Paul A. Lombardo
Imprint: Indiana University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 413g
ISBN: 9780253222695
ISBN 10: 0253222699
Series: Bioethics and the Humanities
Pages: 268
Publication Date: 01 November 2010
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Further / Higher Education
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Contents Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: Looking Back at Eugenics / Paul A. Lombardo Part 1. The Indiana Origins of Eugenic Sterilization 1. The Hoosier Connection: Compulsory Sterilization as Moral Hygiene / Elof Axel Carlson 2. The Indiana Way of Eugenics: Sterilization Laws, 1907–74 / Jason S. Lantzer Part 2. Eugenics and Popular Culture 3. From Better Babies to the Bunglers: Eugenics on Tobacco Road / Paul A. Lombardo 4. ""Quality, Not Mere Quantity, Counts"": Black Eugenics and the NAACP Baby Contests / Gregory Michael Dorr and Angela Logan Part 3. State Studies of Eugenic Sterilization 5. From Legislation to Lived Experience: Eugenic Sterilization in California and Indiana, 1907–79 / Alexandra Minna Stern 6. Eugenics and Social Welfare in New Deal Minnesota / Molly Ladd-Taylor 7. Reassessing Eugenic Sterilization: The Case of North Carolina / Johanna Schoen 8. Protection or Control? Women's Health, Sterilization Abuse, and Relf v. Weinberger / Gregory Michael Dorr Part 4. Eugenics in the Human Genome Era 9. 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 10. Modern Eugenics and the Law / Maxwell J. Mehlman List of Contributors Index"
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 for A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era
"""A most important volume and a significant contribution to the field, [the book] will serve both experts and the general public in parsing the difficult issues raised by a transformed eugenics in the 21st century."" Steven Selden, University of Maryland ""A groundbreaking achievement in the historiography of American eugenics."" Joanne Woiak, University of Washington"
