Why It Matters So Much to Teach About the American Eugenics Movement

By Tenzin Dhondup

I first heard of the American Eugenics Movement in my 12th-grade psychology class, where my teacher mentioned names like Lewis Terman and Robert Yerkes, praising their scientific accomplishments while also naming them ‘eugenicists’.

After searching what it meant to be a ‘eugenicist’, I learned about how figures like Terman and Yerkes had weaponized pseudoscience and “intelligence tests” to justify the forced sterilization of so many people—most of whom were poor, disabled, women, and people of color. 

However, I also learned that “intelligence tests” were just one piece of the scientific racism and “settled science” of eugenics that were used to justify the forced sterilization of over 60,000 people in 32 states during the 20th century.

I discovered that, more broadly, the American Eugenics Movement attributed the widening socioeconomic inequalities of the 20th century to heredity. The perceived rise in mental illness, crime, and “infiltration” of immigrants also fueled the American Eugenics Movement.  The resulting tactics, including forced sterilization, interracial marriage bans, and racist immigration laws, violated the dignity, bodily autonomy, and humanity of tens of thousands of people—all under the pretenses of “public health” and the “greater good”. 

As I continued to learn more about the American Eugenics Movement, I grew more angry and more frustrated.

How could the American Eugenics Movement warrant only a quick aside in a psychology class? Why wasn’t this - one of America’s most profound and enduring atrocities - addressed in any of my courses? And why was it up to me to teach myself this essential history? 

And so I felt moved to push for the inclusion of an anti-eugenics curriculum at Naugatuck High School. I advocated for an audience with the Social Studies department and created lesson plans to present. 

My first lesson was a Primary Document Gallery that showed the pernicious ways eugenics manifested in every aspect of 20th-century American life.

The slideshow included seemingly innocuous images, such as a sight from the 1940 Nebraska State Fair, where four toddlers stand awkwardly wearing giant sashes embossed with “Baby Contest.” The other primary documents were far more glaring, such as a sign that read "SOME PEOPLE ARE BORN TO BE A BURDEN ON THE REST", which was displayed at public events. 

Finally, I included an excerpt from Buck v. Bell, the 1927 Supreme Court case supporting the forced sterilization of Carrie Buck, an institutionalized white woman deemed  “feeble-minded.” The excerpt includes justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ opinion, in which forced sterilization was codified into the law of the land:

 “[Carrie Buck] is the probable potential parent of socially inadequate offspring… she may be sexually sterilized without detriment to her general health and that her welfare and that of society will be promoted by her sterilization, and thereupon makes the order.”

Around primary documents like these, I argued, classroom discussions about the extent and impact of eugenics in American history could be held.

The second piece of my proposed curriculum was a Group Inquiry Project in which students could explore the many facets of the American Eugenics Movement. The topics for investigation included: the origins of eugenics; the role of pseudoscience; the role of the media; laws concerning sterilization, marriage and immigration; and connections to Nazi Germany. 

The point of my proposed curriculum was to allow students and teachers alike to confront the indelible marks of eugenics on our society and to spark critical dialogue about important - and contentious - topics such as bodily autonomy and human rights.

Unfortunately, my proposed curriculum was met with inaction. Teachers cited, in particular, the challenges of having to cover the entirety of the current mandated history curriculum. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. 

I urge you to realize that teaching about the American Eugenics Movement would bring justice for the innumerable past and present victims of eugenics, add anti-racist depth to the US history curriculum, teach students to think more critically about the world around them, and finally, help us face our history with agency and courage.

TENZIN DHONDUP is an ARTLC Steering Committee Member, a graduate of Naugatuck High School, and an incoming first-year student at Yale University.