DOCSLIB.ORG

“LET HER BE STERILIZED:” BUCK V. BELL, the AMERICAN EUGENICS MOVEMENT, and the ROOTS of the RIGHT to PRIVACY

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“LET HER BE STERILIZED:” BUCK V. BELL, the AMERICAN EUGENICS MOVEMENT, and the ROOTS of the RIGHT to PRIVACY “LET HER BE STERILIZED:” BUCK V. BELL, THE AMERICAN EUGENICS MOVEMENT, and THE ROOTS OF THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY JOHN G. BROWNING Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons, LLP 700 N. Pearl, 25th Floor, Dallas, Texas 75201 Phone: 214.871.8215/Fax: 214.871.8209 [email protected] State Bar of Texas BILL OF RIGHTS COURSE May 28, 2010 Austin CHAPTER 13 JOHN G. BROWNING Attorney\Thompson Coe\Dallas, Texas John Browning is a partner in the Dallas office of Thompson Coe where he handles civil litigation in state and federal courts in areas ranging from employment and intellectual property to commercial cases and defense of products liability, professional liability, media law, and general negligence matters. Mr. Browning received his BA with general and departmental honors from Rutgers University in 1986, where he was a National Merit Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his JD from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989. Some of his honors include being a 2009 recipient of the prestigious Burton Award for Achievement in Legal Writing; rated “AV,” the highest commendation issued by Martindale- Hubbell for legal ability, ethics, and professionalism; selected as a Texas “Super Lawyer” (2005- 2009); inducted as a Charter Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society limited to 3,500 fellows, representing less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers; and elected to the American Law Institute (one of seven lawyers in Texas elected in 2009). Mr. Browning is a noted legal writer whose work has appeared in many national and regional legal publications. He writes the syndicated column “Legally Speaking,” which won the Clarion Award, the Suburban Newspaper Association Award, the Texas Press Association Award, and the Houston Press Club’s Lone Star Award for Best Newspaper Column. In 2009, he was named “Journalist of the Year” by the Houston Press Club, and in 2007 was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism. He has been quoted in The New York Times, Time magazine, and other national publications as an expert on social media and the law. His book The Lawyer’s Guide to Social Networking will be published by Thomson Reuters this year. “Let Her Be Sterilized:” Buck V. Bell, The American Eugenics Movement, and the Roots of the Right to Privacy Chapter 13 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EUGENICS BEGAN AS A RESPONSE TO A NUMBER OF INTERTWINED FACTORS IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY .................................................................................................................................................... 1 II. JUSTICE HOLMES' REASONING IN THE BUCK V. BELL OPINION ............................................................ 9 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................. 14 NOTES .......................................................................................................................................................................... 15 i “Let Her Be Sterilized:” Buck V. Bell, The American Eugenics Movement, and the Roots of the Right to Privacy Chapter 13 “LET HER BE STERILIZED:” While commentators like Felix Frankfurter have attributed Justice Holmes' role in Buck v. Bell to a BUCK V. BELL, THE AMERICAN policy of judicial restraint, others have accused Holmes EUGENICS MOVEMENT, and THE and his brethren on the Court of suddenly going along ROOTS OF THE RIGHT TO with the "eugenics craze" in the United States.8 As this PRIVACY paper will demonstrate, however, Holmes was no casual addition to the eugenics bandwagon. Careful analysis of Holmes' correspondence (both published Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once stated "It and unpublished), speeches, and legal writings reveal is a misfortune if a judge reads his conscious or another, darker side of the "Yankee from Olympus." unconscious sympathy with one side or the other Justice Holmes fervently believed not only that it prematurely into the law and forgets that what seem to would be possible for science to breed a better race of him to be first principles are believed by half his fellow human beings, but that such reform should begin by men to be wrong."1 Indeed, many scholars maintain eliminating "unfit" members of society. Moreover, that Justice Holmes' detachment and policy of these beliefs were firmly rooted in Justice Holmes' deferring to the legislative will made him one of philosophy long before the case of Buck v. Bell America's greatest jurists. Felix Frankfurter observed presented him with an opportunity to further the eugenics cause. Probably no man who ever sat on the Court From the handful of scholars who have identified was by temperament and discipline freer Holmes as a eugenicist, a satisfactory examination of the sources and depth of Holmes' eugenic beliefs has from emotional commitments compelling 9 him to translate his own economic or social yet to emerge. This paper hopes to address this gap in views into constitutional commands.2 Holmes scholarship by placing Justice Holmes in historical perspective. The first part of this paper In Frankfurter's eyes Holmes "transcended personal analyzes the historical background of the eugenics predilections and private notions of social policy, and movement itself and particularly its strategy in passing became truly the impersonal voice of the and testing the validity of eugenic sterilization statutes. Constitution."3 Part I culminates in a discussion of the Buck v. Bell A Social Darwinist, Justice Holmes believed that case itself, including Justice Holmes' opinion and life was a constant struggle.4 Competing economic reactions to it. The second part of this paper explores interests and political ideologies were all subject to the beliefs behind both the substance and the tone of testing in the Darwinian arena. Holmes upheld freedom Holmes' opinion. Part II demonstrates not only that of speech, the rights of labor unions, and social reform Holmes held eugenic beliefs long before the advent of legislation, arguing that since only the strongest group the eugenics movement, but that these hopes for or idea would survive, it was best to allow unfettered eugenic reform were the product of various factors: conflict. As much as he might personally disagree with Holmes' social Darwinist leanings and race-suicide "social experiments" by state legislatures, Holmes felt fears, his Civil War experiences, and outside reading. that such legislation was an expression of the dominant As Part II of this paper illustrates, eugenics occupied will of the voting majority. Writing to Sir Frederick an important place in Justice Holmes' philosophy, Pollock, Holmes said, "I am so skeptical as to our judging from the frequency and fervor with which knowledge about the goodness or badness of laws that Holmes wrote on the topic. I have no practical criterion except what the crowd wants."5 I. Eugenics began as a response to a number of In one of his most memorable Supreme Court 10 opinions, however, Justice Holmes did more than intertwined factors in the late 19th century. In Great merely allow the majority vote to hold sway. The 1927 Britain and the United States, industrialism's effects case of Buck v. Bell involved the constitutionality of a were worsened by tides of new immigrants flowing Virginia law authorizing the sterilization of mental into the cities and hastening the urbanization process. defectives6 for eugenic purposes.7 In his majority In addition to these social concerns, Charles Darwin's opinion upholding the statute, Holmes did more than landmark work on evolution through natural selection just defer to the legislature. Holmes openly embraced provoked a new interest in science. With the advent of eugenic reform with particularly forceful language that "Social Darwinism", reformers, businessmen, and gave legitimacy to the then shaky eugenics movement. philosophers like Herbert Spencer began to apply (or, more aptly, misapply) principles of evolutionary biology to society. They saw the existing social order 1 “Let Her Be Sterilized:” Buck V. Bell, The American Eugenics Movement, and the Roots of the Right to Privacy Chapter 13 as the outcome of a "struggle for life" in which the implies that such a measure would have to have the fittest survived. At the same time, fears of "race- force of law, since voluntary abstinence from marriage suicide" came into vogue. Social Darwinists claimed by the unfit is "more to be hoped for than expected."16 that birthrates of the "best" social classes were However, it was Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton, declining while society was "swamped" by rapidly- who in 1883 coined the term "eugenics" (from the multiplying immigrants and other "inferior" elements; Greek, meaning "well-born") to refer to "the science much of this, it was believed, was due to charitable which deals with all influences that improve the inborn reforms enabling the "unfit" to propagate. qualities of the race . [and] develops them to the Although these beliefs seemed to run counter to utmost advantage."17 Galton employed a statistical the necessity of open competition emphasized in The approach as he studied first the family trees of famous Origin of Species, Darwin himself confused the issue individuals and, later, twins. His research convinced in his later writings. In The Descent of Man, for him that many physical and psychological traits were example, Darwin deplored the propagation of the inherited, leading Galton to conclude that society could
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Feeble- Minded Based on Mental Age
    I \ Classification of the Feeble- Minded Based on Mental Age. By A. C. Rogers, M.D., Faribault, Minn. Reprinted from the BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF MEDICINE Vol. XIII. No. 3. June, . l912. v. CLASSIFICATION OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED BASED ON MENTAL AGE. lly A. C. R oGERS, M.D., Faribault, Minn., Superintendent of the Minnesota School for Feeble-Minded and Colony for Epileptics. All who for the first time give attention to the literature and treatment of mental defectives are puzzled and confused by the lack of uniformity observed by writers and experienced workers in this field, both in the nomenclature adopted and classifications followed. It is the purpose of this paper to call attention, (rst) to the present tendency of the authorities to approximate uni­ formity as to the fundamental conceptions involved; (2nd) the long recognized need for some means of comparing feeble-minded with normal children at various stages of development, and (3rd) recent contributions to child study that seem to furnish the foundation required for developing a very satisfactory psycho­ logic classification of scientific value. It is unnecessary to present in full the various schemes for classification that have been proposed, 1 and the writer will only refer to such features of a few that have gained substantial recog­ nition and standing in the profession as may be necessary to make the situation clear. We will consider first the fundamental conceptions concerning which there is a very general agreement. The first bas reference to the general but constant
    [Show full text]
  • From Moral Imbecility to Maladaptive Behavior: the Social Construction of Educable Mental Retardation
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 276 187 EC 190 953 AUTHOR Gelb, Steven A. TITLE From Moral Imbecility to Maladaptive Behavior: The Social Construction of Educable Mental Retardation. PUB DATE 18 Apr 86 NOTE 36p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (67th, San Francisco, CA, April 18, 1986). PUB TYPE Viewpoints (120) -- Information Analyses (070) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Adaptive Behavior (of Disabled); Classification; *Economically Disadvantaged; *Labeling (of Persons); *Mental Retardation; *Mild Mental Retardation; *Social History; Socioeconomic Status; Trend Analysis ABSTRACT The paper presents the thesis that mild mental subnormality developed as a "scientific," hence natural, explanation for the socially unacceptable behavior of economically marginal persons. The history of such labels as "moron," "imbecile," and "moral imbecile" is traced to the late 19th century emphasis on biology and genetics in human affairs. This focus led to the belief that criminal behavior was caused by mental deficiency and thus provided justification for massive institutionalization of people who did not meet societal expectations. The development of intelligence tests led to what was considered a scientific method of identifying the feebleminded. The need for manpower in World War II resulted in the discovery that many "feebleminded" persons could perform at higher levels than had previously been thought and some special educators credited special education with the new competence of the feebleminded. After the war new classification systems evolved based on social competence. Definitions of mental retardation by the American Association on Mental Deficiency included the construct of "adaptive behavior" which was difficult to measure reliably. Despite current confusion regarding definition, the mildly retarded of today are still drawn from economically marginal backgrounds.
    [Show full text]
  • No. 112,521 in the COURT of APPEALS of the STATE OF
    No. 112,521 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS DONALD J. WIMP, Appellee, v. AMERICAN HIGHWAY TECHNOLOGY and TRAVELERS PROPERTY CASUALTY OF AMERICA, Appellants. SYLLABUS BY THE COURT 1. K.S.A. 44-510c(a)(2) provides the overall rule that an employee is permanently and totally disabled if a work-related injury has left him or her "incapable of engaging in any type of substantial and gainful employment." Restated, when a work injury leaves an employee essentially and realistically unemployable, that employee is permanently and totally disabled. 2. As it stood before statutory amendments in 2011, K.S.A. 44-510c(a)(2) provided two presumptions. If the worker suffered parallel injuries (such as both feet or both hands), there was a rebuttable presumption of permanent total disability. If the worker suffered substantially total paralysis "or incurable imbecility or insanity" resulting solely from work-related injury, there was an irrebuttable presumption of permanent total disability. In that irrebuttable presumption, the term "incurable imbecility," initially added to our workers-compensation statutes in 1917, referred to a level of intellectual impairment categorized in more recent times as moderate to severe mental retardation, and not to merely below-average intellectual capacity. 3. On the facts of this case, in which the employee suffered parallel injuries to both arms, the Workers Compensation Board properly applied a rebuttable presumption of permanent total disability. 4. On the facts of this case, in which the employee had always performed manual labor, had limited ability to do other work, and had limited or no ability to do manual labor after his work injury, substantial evidence supported the Workers Compensation Board's conclusion that his employer did not rebut the statutory presumption of permanent total disability.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Eugenics Alyssa Richards & Cassidy Welsh What Is Eugenics?
    The History of Eugenics Alyssa Richards & Cassidy Welsh What is Eugenics? ● Derived from two Greek words meaning “well” and “born” ● Set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of the human population ● Attempt to only allow the “fit” to reproduce considered “positive” ● “Fit” was defined as: eugenics ○ High IQ ● “Negative” eugenics prohibiting ○ High socioeconomic class ○ Caucasian marriage and forced sterilization of those who are deemed “unfit” Positive eugenics existed for quite some time, even dating back to Plato who suggested selective mating Negative eugenics came sometime after dating back to the late 19th century https://www.nature.com/articles/gim2003376#f3 https://www.nature.com/articles/gim2003376#f3 To reduce the unfit: prevent marriage, racial mixing, sterilizaation, immigration laws, death If the unfit are born: abort, sterilize Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) ● Galton invented the term of “Eugenics” in England in 1883 ● Half-cousin of Charles Darwin ● Came to the conclusion that upper class Brits were this way due to genetic make up ● Hereditary Genius ● Advocated selective breeding ● Felt qualified to breed a better race “Eugenics is the study of the agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally” - Sir Francis Galton Galton and Davenport felt like they were qualified to breed a better race because they believed they were the best and the brightest. - Considered to be the father of the eugenics movement - After reading
    [Show full text]
  • “Segregation Or Sterilization”: Eugenics in the 1912 Vermont State Legislative Session
    “Segregation or Sterilization”: Eugenics in the 1912 Vermont State Legislative Session In his farewell address to the Vermont legislature in 1912, Governor John A. Mead endorsed for the first time a eugenical policy to address a longstanding fear of an increase in “degeneracy” in the state. Under the new theory of eugenics, socioeconomic status, physical and mental ability, and mental health officially became a question of heredity. By Mercedes de Guardiola n October 3, 1912, Vermont Governor John A. Mead (1910– 1912) addressed the Vermont Legislature in his farewell speech. Mead advocated that one subject in particular war- ranted additional attention: “Our Degenerates,” which, according to him, had “never received special attention by the legislature of our state.”1 The governor’s call for a eugenical solution to the problem of “Our Degenerates” marked a defining moment for the eugenics move- ment in Vermont. It was the first time a state official had publicly pro- posed eugenics as an answer to a growing number of perceived social . Mercedes de Guardiola is an independent researcher. She received her B.A. in History and Art History from Dartmouth College, where she wrote her thesis on the history of eugenics in Vermont. Vermont History Vol. 87, No. 1 (Winter/Spring 2019): 59-86. © 2019 by the Vermont Historical Society. ISSN: 0042-4161; on-line ISSN: 1544-3043 60 . crises in the state. Although it drew on the growing international move- ment, it also built upon local institutional forays into the question of the role of heredity in social issues. The promotion of eugenics led the state toward a path of punitive social welfare during a period when the state government struggled to address a growing number of problems brought on by social upheaval and industrialization.
    [Show full text]
  • Avoiding Ableist Language
    Avoiding Ableist Language Purpose: Disability metaphors are abound in our culture, and they exist almost entirely as pejoratives. As Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg wrote on DisabilityandRepresentation.com, “If a culture’s language is full of pejorative metaphors about a group of people, that culture is not going to see those people as fully entitled to the same inclusion as people in a more favored group.” This handout’s primary purpose is to serve as a reference for linguistic microaggressions and everyday, casual ableism. Barren Refers to people who are infertile and carries sexist connotations as well as ableist ones. Blind to ____ / turn a blind eye to ____ / blinded by ignorance/bigotry/etc. Refers to Blind people or people with visual impairments. Bound to a wheelchair (wheelchair bound) Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities. Confined to a wheelchair Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities. Crazy Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Cretin Refers to people with intellectual disabilities. Cripple/Crippled (by ____) Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities. Daft Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Deaf-Mute Refers to Deaf people or people with hearing impairments. Deaf to ____ / turn a deaf ear to ____ / etc. Refers to Deaf people or people with hearing impairments. Derp (also herp-derp and variations) Refers to people with intellectual disabilities. Diffability Can refer to any person with a disability. Differently abled Can refer to any person with a disability. Dumb Refers to Deaf people or people with hearing impairments, people with speech impairments, or people with linguistic or communication disorders or disabilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Six Blacks from Home: Childhood, Motherhood, And
    PATRICK J. RYAN “Six Blacks from Home”: Childhood, Motherhood, and Eugenics in America In August 1919, a settlement house worker in Columbus, Ohio, filed a complaint in juvenile court against a seven-year-old girl whom I will call “Marie.” The complaint read, “Marie runs the streets continually. She is very irregular in her attendance at school, and is as dirty as a pig. She has been found in a lumber yard with a negro, and it was alleged by her asso- ciates that he raped her there. She goes into stores and begs.” According to the surviving records, Marie’s “truancies from home” alerted settle- ment workers to the case. As a young child she reportedly began staying out late at night and loitering in the company of men and boys, and was threatened with being put out of the house when she was found alone with the African American man. By 1928, after Marie became an unwed mother at the age of sixteen, and had spent nine years in and out of child welfare institutions, a summary report contained the interesting typographical error that Marie’s young life had strayed a distance of “six blacks from home.” As incidental as slipping “blocks” into “blacks” may have been in one sense, it captured a powerful truth. Marie violated key boundaries of sexual, gender, and racial purity that made a woman a candidate for respectable motherhood, and she paid dearly for these transgressions.1 When Marie and her mother entered the juvenile justice system for the first time in 1919, they denied that she had had sexual relations of any kind.
    [Show full text]
  • Terminology and Concepts in Mental Retardation. Tc
    REPORT RESUMES ED 013 513 EC 000 463 TERMINOLOGY AND CONCERTS IN MENTAL RETARDATION. TC SERIESIN SFECIAL EDUCATION. BY- DAVITZ, JOEL R. AND OTHERS COLUMBIA UNIV., NEW YCF4K, TEACHERS COLLEGE PUB DATE 64 CONTRACT EC-SAE-6460 EDRS FRICE MF-$0.75 HC-1:5.32 137P. DESCRIPTORS- *TERMINOLOGY, *MENTAL RETARDATION,TAXONOMY, *CLASSIFICATION, A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE LITERATURE ON MENTAL RETARDATION GROUPED TERMS INTO FIVE CATEGORIES-GENERAL TERMS, ETIOLOGICAL TERMS, TERMS CONCERNED WITHDEGREE Cf RETARDATION, EDUCATIONAL TERMS, AND LEGAL TERMS.FOR EACH GROUP, DISCUSSION SUMMARIZES DEFINITICN,PRESENTS AREAS OF AGREEMENT AND DISAGREEMENT, AND POINTS UP ISSUESAND PROBLEMS. A TABLE FOR EACH GROUP LISTSEQUIVALENT TERMS AND ANALYZES MAJOR TERMS IN SEVEN WAYS-ETIOLOGY,INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING, EDUCATIONAL FUNCTIONING, MATURATIONAND SOCIAL COMPETENCE, PSYCHOLOGICAL (FUNCTIONING AND STATUS),PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL (STATUS), AND PROGNOSIS.REFERENCES SUFFLYING THE CONCEPTS USED IN A DEFINITION ARENOTED. THE CONCEPTS CF PSEUDO-FEEBLEMINDEDNESS AND PROBLEMSOf DIAGNOSIS ARE ALSO DISCUSSED. FROM THIS REVIEW CFTHE LITERATURE, A TENTATIVE MULTIDIMENSIONAL SYSTEM FOR THEDEFINITION Cf TERMS IS PRESENTED. USING THIS SYSTEM, A PERSONCAN BE CLASSIFIED ON THE OASIS OF SIX DIMENSIONS-ETIOLCGY,INTELLIGENCE, MATURATION, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL STATUS,PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS, AND PROGNOSIS. EACHOF THESE SIX DIMENSIONS IS FURTHER DIVIDED SO THAT A PERSONCAN BE CLASSIFIED TO INDICATE GENERAL ABILITY ANDSPECIFIC STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES. THUS A GENERAL SYSTEMFOR DEFINITION IS PRESENTED. FOLLCWUP STUDIES Cf INTELLECTUAL,VOCATIONAL, AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONING OF FEEBLEMINDED PERSONSARE SUMMARIZED IN THE HOPE OF DEVELOPING A CLASSIFICATIONSYSTEM BASED ON ADEQUATE PROGNOSTIC KNOWLEDGE. REFERENCELIST CITES 366 ITEMS. (MY) IN THIS SERIES.. i HELPING THE VISUALLY HANDICAPPED CHILDIN A REGULAR CLASS Anthony J.
    [Show full text]
  • Ttu Fap001 000013.Pdf (12.88Mb)
    THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUBNORMAL CHILDREN Brief Course Series in jBDucation EDITED BY PAUL MONROE, PH.D., LL.D. BRIEF COURSE IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION PAUL MONROE, Director of School of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. BRIEF COURSE IN THE TEACHING PROCESS GEORGE D. STRAYER, PH.D., Professor of Educational Administration, Teachers College, Columbia University. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD NAOMI NORSWORTHY, PH.D., formerly Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, and MARY THEODORA WHITLEY, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION JOHN DEWEY, PH.D., LL.D., Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University. SCHOOL HYGIENE FLETCHER B. DRESSLAR, PH.D., Professor of Health Edu­ cation, George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville. PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY WITH EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS FREDERICK R. CLOW, PH.D., Teacher in the State Normal School, Oshkosh. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUBNORMAL CHILDREN LKTA S. HOLLINGWORTH, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Edu­ cation, Teachers College, Columbia University. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION DAVID SNEDDEN, PH.D., Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. THE PSYOHOLOGY OF SUBNORMAL CHILDREN BY LETA S. HOLLINGWORTH, PH.D. ASSISTANT PK0FE8S0R OF EDUCATION TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 All rights reserved -2 i-*(-2.(<-f COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1920. J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO ELIZABETH E. FARRELL A PIONEER IN THE EDUCATIONAL FIELD OF WHICH IT TREATS "The influences of the environment are differen­ tial, the product varying not only in accord with the environmental force itself, but also in accord with the original nature upon which it operates.
    [Show full text]
  • Moral Imbecility and the Problem of Knowledge in Progressive America, 1880-1920
    University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2015 "Why Wait Until They Commit a Crime?": Moral Imbecility and the Problem of Knowledge in Progressive America, 1880-1920 Chelsea D. Chamberlain University of Montana - Missoula Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Part of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, and the United States History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Chamberlain, Chelsea D., ""Why Wait Until They Commit a Crime?": Moral Imbecility and the Problem of Knowledge in Progressive America, 1880-1920" (2015). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 4469. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4469 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “WHY WAIT UNTIL THEY COMMIT A CRIME?”: MORAL IMBECILITY AND THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE IN PROGRESSIVE AMERICA, 1880-1920 By CHELSEA DIANE CHAMBERLAIN Bachelor of Arts, Whitworth University, Spokane, Washington, 2012 Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History University of Montana, Missoula, MT May 2015 Presented May 13, 2015 for Approval by: Sandy Ross, Dean of The Graduate School Graduate School Dr. Kyle G. Volk, Chair, History Department Dr. Anya Jabour History Department Dr. Jeff Wiltse History Department Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Morons, Imbeciles, and Idiots
    MORONS, IMBECILES, and IDIOTS Compiled by Campbell M Gold (2011) CMG Archives http://www.campbellmgold.com --()-- Introduction Two French psychologists, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, created the first "modern intelligence test" in 1911, which measured intelligence quotient ("IQ"). Intelligence Levels As psychologists developed and refined IQ Testing, classification systems were established, and any child with an IQ of above 70 was considered "normal", while those with scores above 130 were considered "gifted." Retardation Levels To classify scores below 70, psychologists invented a scale of "retardation" - Morons, Imbeciles, and Idiots: Morons - Those with IQs between 51 and 70 (adequate learning skills to complete menial tasks and to communicate) Imbeciles - Those with IQs between 26 and 50 (unable to progress past a mental age of approximately six) Idiots - those with IQs between 0 and 25 (poor motor skills, extremely limited communication, and little response to stimulus) The moron/imbecile/idiot classification system remained in use until the early 1970s. 1 (Above - taken from, "Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity", Harry Bruinius, © 2006, 2007) Today Today the classification system has been made one category broader, and the moron, imbecile, and idiot distinctions have been replaced with "mild", "moderate", "severe", and "profound" retardation. Moreover, diagnostic factors, in addition to "IQ", are also employed when classification is made. --()-- Mongolism The term "Mongolian idiot," which in the 19th and early 20th centuries was a specific diagnosis, derives from the urban myth that individuals with Down syndrome, with their wide set eyes and round faces, resembled Mongolians.
    [Show full text]
  • Race and Membership in American History: the Eugenics Movement
    Race and Membership in American History: The Eugenics Movement Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation, Inc. Brookline, Massachusetts Eugenicstextfinal.qxp 11/6/2006 10:05 AM Page 2 For permission to reproduce the following photographs, posters, and charts in this book, grateful acknowledgement is made to the following: Cover: “Mixed Types of Uncivilized Peoples” from Truman State University. (Image #1028 from Cold Spring Harbor Eugenics Archive, http://www.eugenics archive.org/eugenics/). Fitter Family Contest winners, Kansas State Fair, from American Philosophical Society (image #94 at http://www.amphilsoc.org/ library/guides/eugenics.htm). Ellis Island image from the Library of Congress. Petrus Camper’s illustration of “facial angles” from The Works of the Late Professor Camper by Thomas Cogan, M.D., London: Dilly, 1794. Inside: p. 45: The Works of the Late Professor Camper by Thomas Cogan, M.D., London: Dilly, 1794. 51: “Observations on the Size of the Brain in Various Races and Families of Man” by Samuel Morton. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, vol. 4, 1849. 74: The American Philosophical Society. 77: Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, Charles Davenport. New York: Henry Holt &Co., 1911. 99: Special Collections and Preservation Division, Chicago Public Library. 116: The Missouri Historical Society. 119: The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882; John Singer Sargent, American (1856-1925). Oil on canvas; 87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in. (221.9 x 222.6 cm.). Gift of Mary Louisa Boit, Julia Overing Boit, Jane Hubbard Boit, and Florence D. Boit in memory of their father, Edward Darley Boit, 19.124.
    [Show full text]