Author: Eric Lin
Editors: Elizabeth Li, Hwi-On Lee
Artist: Becky Li
In 1859, the esteemed scientific literature The Origin of Species was published by English naturalist Charles Darwin after his travels on the HMS Beagle across the globe. Years later, Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development, a scientific work by Darwin’s half-cousin Francis Galton, became the first to apply Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection to human relations. Galton believed that human qualities deemed “desirable” were hereditary and that, through careful breeding, such traits could become prominent within the species. The term coined to describe this field of study of the human genome is “eugenics.”
Eugenics has been used by governments and nations worldwide to justify horrific acts of cruelty, such as forced sterilization and even genocide. The most well-known example of such heinous crimes is the systematic genocide of the Jewish population during the Holocaust.
In America, eugenics became widely discussed in 1865 with the discovery of Mendel’s laws, which explained the inheritance of genes and traits, sparking discussions about breeding humans for specific traits. At the time, American eugenicists believed in the genetic superiority of Nordic, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon people, leading to the forced sterilization of many colored, poor, and disabled people. The eugenics movement reached its peak before World War II, especially with the founding of the Eugenics Record Office in 1911. This office collected vast amounts of family pedigrees and provided training for eugenics field workers who were sent to analyze individuals at various institutions—such as mental hospitals and orphanage institutions—across the United States. Among the supporters of the eugenics movement were feminist reformers such as the National Federation of Women's Clubs, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the National League of Women Voters, who advocated for eugenics reforms in the government. By 1933, California had subjected more people to forceful sterilization than all other U.S. states combined.
American eugenics, especially forceful sterilization, inspired the Nazis’ systematic genocide of the Jewish population during the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler was particularly influenced by the writings of Madison Grant, the president of the American Eugenics Society. Grant extolled the Nordic race and bemoaned its "corruption" by Jews, African Americans, Slavs, and others who did not possess blond hair and blue eyes.
The Eugenics movement worldwide began to die down after the holocaust. However, the study of the human genome and its implications is still a hotly debated topic to this day.
Citations:
Eugenics: Its Origin and Development (1883 - present). (n.d.). Genome.gov.
Farber, S. A. (2008). U.S. Scientists’ Role in the Eugenics Movement (1907–1939): A
Contemporary Biologist’s Perspective. Zebrafish, 5(4), 243–245.
Reporter, G. S. (2017, November 26). Hitler’s debt to America. The Guardian.
Research guides: American Eugenics Movement: Topics in Chronicling America: Introduction.
Wayback machine. (n.d.).
https://web.archive.org/web/20150906064933/http://library.lifedynamics.com/Birth
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