Honestly, most people think of the Third Reich when they hear the word "eugenics." It’s a natural association. We picture labs in 1940s Germany and horrific medical experiments. But there’s a much more uncomfortable truth that often gets glossed over in American history textbooks: the movement for eugenics in the United States didn’t just exist—it thrived here first. It was mainstream. It was "science." It was backed by the wealthiest families in the country and taught at Ivy League universities.
This wasn't some fringe cult operating in the shadows. We’re talking about a massive, state-sponsored effort to "breed out" what elites considered "unfit" traits.
It’s heavy stuff. But if we don't look at how this ideology baked itself into American law and medicine, we can’t really understand why certain health disparities exist today.
Where the Idea Actually Came From
The term "eugenics" was coined by Francis Galton, who happened to be Charles Darwin’s cousin. He took the idea of natural selection and thought, Hey, why wait for nature to do the work? He wanted to speed things up. He figured if you could breed a better racehorse, you could definitely breed a better human.
By the early 1900s, this idea crossed the Atlantic and exploded.
The Eugenics Record Office (ERO) was established in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, in 1910. It wasn't funded by pennies, either. It had the backing of the Carnegie Institution and Mrs. E.H. Harriman. These were the titans of the Gilded Age. They hired researchers to go out into rural communities and mental hospitals to track "pedigrees." They were looking for things they called "feeblemindedness," "pauperism," or even "shiftlessness."
If you were poor, uneducated, or just didn't fit the Victorian mold of a "good citizen," the ERO probably had a file on you. They treated poverty like a recessive gene. It sounds ridiculous now, but at the time, this was considered the cutting edge of biology.
The Fitter Families Contests
You’ve probably been to a state fair and seen people showing off their best cattle or giant pumpkins. Well, in the 1920s, they had "Fitter Families for Future Firesides" contests.
Seriously.
Families would submit their medical histories and take IQ tests. Doctors would examine them. The winners—usually white, Northern European families with several children—would get medals that said, "I have a goodly heritage." It was a PR campaign for "good" genes. They wanted to make eugenics feel like a wholesome, patriotic duty.
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The Dark Reality of Forced Sterilizations
While the fairs were happening, the legal system was sharpening its teeth.
In 1927, the Supreme Court heard a case called Buck v. Bell. Carrie Buck was a young woman in Virginia who had been committed to a state institution. The state wanted to sterilize her against her will. They claimed she was "feebleminded" and that her mother and daughter were too.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote the majority opinion. He famously said, "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
That ruling didn't just affect Carrie. It gave a green light to every state in the Union to start their own sterilization programs. Over 60,000 Americans were forcibly sterilized under these laws.
Who were the targets?
It wasn't random.
- People in mental hospitals.
- The "criminally insane."
- Poor women, particularly in the South.
- Native American women (this continued well into the 1970s).
- Black women in states like North Carolina, where the eugenics board was incredibly active.
In some places, like California, the numbers were staggering. California performed about a third of all eugenics-related sterilizations in the country. They were so "efficient" at it that Nazi officials actually wrote to American researchers asking for advice on how to implement similar programs in Germany.
That’s a gut-punch of a fact. But it’s documented.
The Immigration Act of 1924
Eugenics wasn't just about who could have kids. It was about who was allowed into the country.
Harry Laughlin, the superintendent of the Eugenics Record Office, was a key advisor to Congress. He argued that "socially inadequate" people from Southern and Eastern Europe were ruining the American "germ-plasm."
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The result? The Immigration Act of 1924 (also known as the Johnson-Reed Act).
This law set strict quotas based on the 1890 census. Why 1890? Because that was before the massive waves of Italian, Jewish, and Slavic immigrants arrived. It was a gatekeeping mechanism designed to keep America as "Nordic" as possible.
President Calvin Coolidge, when signing the bill, reportedly said, "America must be kept American." Behind that phrase was a mountain of eugenics "research" designed to prove that some ethnicities were biologically inferior.
The Shift After World War II
When the world saw the liberation of the concentration camps, eugenics suddenly became a very dirty word. The American eugenics movement didn't vanish, though. It just rebranded.
The Eugenics Record Office closed in 1939, but the people who ran it didn't retire. They moved into fields like population control, genetics, and family planning.
In many states, sterilization laws stayed on the books for decades. Oregon didn’t repeal its law until 1983. North Carolina’s eugenics board was active until 1974.
Even today, we see echoes of this. In 2020, there were harrowing reports of hysterectomies being performed on women in ICE detention centers without their full consent. While the terminology has changed, the underlying idea—that the state can decide who is "worthy" of reproducing—is a ghost that still haunts the system.
Science and Ethics Today: The "New" Eugenics?
We’re in the era of CRISPR and genetic screening now. It’s a different world.
Parents can screen embryos for certain genetic disorders. We can "edit" genes to prevent debilitating diseases. This is amazing, life-saving technology. But many bioethicists warn that we’re drifting back toward a "liberal eugenics."
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The difference? The old eugenics was forced by the state. The new version is driven by consumer choice.
But the questions remain the same:
- Who defines what a "disability" is?
- If we can "fix" deafness or Down Syndrome in the womb, does that make the world less hospitable for people living with those conditions today?
- Will this technology only be available to the wealthy, creating a literal biological class divide?
These aren't just sci-fi plots. These are active debates in the medical community right now.
Moving Forward: Actionable Insights
Understanding the history of eugenics in the United States is more than just a history lesson. It’s a tool for better advocacy and health literacy.
Verify Your Sources
When you read about "breakthroughs" in behavioral genetics (like finding the "gene for poverty" or "intelligence"), be skeptical. Traits like intelligence are incredibly complex and influenced heavily by environment. History shows that "science" can be used to justify social bias.
Support Patient Autonomy
The core sin of the eugenics movement was the removal of consent. Always advocate for "informed consent" in your own medical dealings. If a doctor suggests a procedure and you don’t fully understand why, ask questions until you do.
Recognize Systemic Bias
Be aware that certain communities—particularly Black, Indigenous, and People of Color—have a valid, historical reason to distrust medical institutions. This isn't "paranoia"; it's a trauma response to things like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the eugenics boards of the 20th century.
Engage with Bioethics
Follow organizations like the Center for Genetics and Society. They track how new technologies are being used and advocate for policies that prevent the return of eugenicist practices.
The history of eugenics is a reminder that science isn't always objective. It's done by people. And people have biases. By looking at the mistakes of the past, we can hopefully build a future where medical technology is used to empower people, not to categorize or eliminate them.
To learn more about the specific history in your area, you can search state archives for "Board of Eugenics" records, as many states have recently digitized these files to provide transparency for the families of survivors.