Eugenics in North Carolina

Created by Sarah Elizabeth Taylor

The twentieth century was a time of great progress for North Carolina. New scientific advancements helped to steadily advance the health of the citizens, but the state hoped to improve their health further by establishing state-wide programs. One of the largest of these was the Eugenics program, in which the state hoped to increase the quality of health in future generations of North Carolinians by controlling who was allowed to procreate. This study guide chronicles the development of the Eugenics program in North Carolina. The featured documents record the ideology behind the practice, the development of the policies of eugenic sterilization, as well as the program's decline and reparations movements.

• North Carolina. Bulletin of the North Carolina Board of Health. 1887-1973. .
  This set of documents gives an overview of the views of the North Carolina Board of Health. Each volume consists of articles and documents that affected the health of North Carolinians at the time. The featured documents discuss the emergence of the Eugenics movement in North Carolina, as well as the ideology behind the practice.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens' Rights
• Significant Dates: 1936, 1944, 1968
• Alternate Names: Bulletin of the North Carolina State Board of Health

• North Carolina State Board of Health. Biennial Report of the North Carolina State Board of Health. 1915-1972. .
  This set of documents consists of the reports of the State Board of Health to the North Carolina General Assembly. Each volume contains summaries of the board’s activities, health related articles and reports, tables and statistics, and mandates from the period covered. The featured reports explain the board’s position on the topic of eugenics.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens' Rights
• Significant Dates: 1928/1930, 1952/1954
• Alternate Names: Report of the North Carolina State Board of Health

• North Carolina. Public Documents. Raleigh, NC: State Printer and Binder, 1827-1972.1917, 1929, 1933, 1935, 1936-1937, 1938-1939, 1941, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1949, 1959, 1971, 1973, 1977, 2003.
  This set of documents contains an account of the laws passed by the General Assembly from 1917-2003, including arguments in favor of eugenics, the laws that regulated it, statistics on its use in North Carolina, and its abolition.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal, Rights, Laws, Health, Citizens' Rights, Statistics
• Alternate Names: Public Laws and Resolutions Passed by the General Assembly at its Session of…; Laws, etc.; Public Laws and Resolutions Passed by the General Assembly at its Extra Session of...; Session Laws and Resolutions Passed by the General Assembly; Session Laws of North Carolina

• Operations under 1929 Law. 1929..
  This document gives a statistical overview of the sterilizations performed on men and women in the name of eugenics from 1929-1933.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights, Statistics

• North Carolina Eugenics Board. Eugenics Sterilization Program in North Carolina. 1930-1960. .
  This document contains a series of questions and answers which explain the purpose of the Eugenics Board, as well as its policies regarding eugenic sterilization.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights

• North Carolina. Biennial Report of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina. 1934-1968. .
  This set of documents contains the biennial reports of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina from 1934-1968. These reports explain the activities of the board during the biennium, make arguments in favor of eugenics and give statistics regarding the activities of the board.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights
• Significant Dates: 1934-1936, 1936-1938, 1938-1940, 1942-1944, 1944-1946, 1946-1948, 1948-1950, 1952-1954, 1954-1956, 1956-1958, 1958-1960, 1960-1962, 1962-1964, 1964-1966, 1966-1968

• North Carolina Eugenics Board and Brown, R. Eugene. Eugenical Sterilization in North Carolina: A Brief Survey of the Growth of Eugenical Sterilization and a Report on the Work of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina Through June 30, 1935.1935. .
  This document presents a defense of eugenics, giving a history of the program in North Carolina, as well as an explanation of the practice, examples, and statistics.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights

• Brown, R. Eugene. Eugenical Sterilization in North Carolina: Purpose, Statutory Provisions, Forms and Procedure. 1938..
  This document is presented as a defense of sterilization in the name of eugenics. It gives a history of sterilization, starting with a worldwide overview, and narrowing the focus to North Carolina. It provides an overview of legal steps, a copy of the laws that set up the system, and copies of the forms used.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights

• Human Betterment League of North Carolina. What do You Know about Sterilization. 1945. .
  This document is designed to educate people in the rhetoric of eugenical sterilization. It is set up in a question and answer format and could be used as a tool of propaganda to convince the public of the benefits of the program.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights, Propaganda

• Birthright, Inc. U.S Maps Showing the States Having Sterilization Laws in 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940. 1947. .
  This document contains a statistical analysis of the sterilizations that were performed in the United States from 1910-1940, of which North Carolina contributed a significant portion.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights, Statistics
• Alternate Names: Publication No. 5

• Gamble, Clarence J. Better Human Tomorrow: a Doctor Discusses Frankly the Process of Sterilization and Argues for Wider Use of the Sterilization Law. 1947. .
  This document presents a defense of eugenics, in which a representative of the Human Betterment League of North Carolina explains the process of sterilization, its supposed benefits, and practice as it existed in North Carolina at the time.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights, Propaganda

• Eugenics Board of North Carolina. Study Relating to Mental Illness, Mental Deficiency, and Epilepsy in a Selected Rural County. 1948. .
  This document chronicles a study that was commissioned by the Eugenics Board with the purpose of figuring out the amount of people in North Carolina who may have been considered unfit for parenthood. The study is undertaken in a sample county, and outlines their methodology, the county's sterilization activities, the study's conclusions, and the forms used in the study.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights

• North Carolina Eugenics Board. Manual: the Eugenics Board of North Carolina. 1948-1960.
  This document is a manual distributed by the Eugenics Board to smaller governmental divisions in North Carolina. It includes a history of eugenics in North Carolina, its purpose, an explanation of the Eugenics Board, procedures on who may be chosen and how they are approved, and copies of related forms and laws.
  
  
• Categories: Early 20th Century, Legal Rights, Laws, Health, Citizens’ Rights
• Significant Dates: XXXXXXX
• Alternate Names: 1948, 1960.

• Human Betterment League of North Carolina. You Wouldn't Expect…. 1950..
  This document is a pamphlet organized in the style of a children’s book. It explains the practice of eugenics in simple terms and could be used as a tool of propaganda to gain support for the cause.
  
  
• Categories: Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights, Propaganda, Children

• Richardson, William P. North Carolina's Handicapped Children: Proceedings of the First North Carolina Conference on Handicapped Children. 1954. .
  This document contains an overview of the activities and findings of the North Carolina Conference on Handicapped Children. This summary includes a section on the Human Betterment League of North Carolina, who was greatly interested in furthering the cause of eugenics.
  
  
• Categories: Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights, Children
• Alternate Names: Proceedings of the First North Carolina Conference on Handicapped Children

• Eugenics Board of North Carolina. Sterilization--the North Carolina Program. 1954..
  This document contains a series of questions and answers designed to help those who are involved in eugenic sterilization explain the practice to perspective patients and their caregivers.
  
  
• Categories: Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights

• North Carolina State Archives. Eugenics Board of North Carolina: Cases Handled 1964-1973. 1964-1973. .
  This document includes a law that helps to clarify language in a previous law regarding the Eugenics Board, showing that the North Carolina legislature was still concerned with eugenics and its administration in the mid-twentieth century.
  
  
• Categories: Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Laws, Health, Citizens’ Rights
• Alternate Names: Session Laws and Resolutions Passed by the General Assembly; Session Laws 1959, Chapter 1019; S.L. 1959, C. 1019

• North Carolina State Archives. Eugenics Board of North Carolina: Cases Handled 1964-1973. 1964-1973. .
  This document contains statistical tables that record the sterilizations performed in North Carolina from 1964-1973. Each table includes a category describing the reason that the operation was performed.
  
  
• Categories: Late 20th Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights, Statistics

• North Carolina Department of Administration. Administrator [Newsletter]. 2007-2010. .
  This set of documents consists of the quarterly employee newsletter for the North Carolina Department of Administration. The featured documents contain discussions of the effects of the eugenics program.
  
  
• Categories: Early 21st Century, Legal Rights, Health, Citizens’ Rights
• Significant Dates: March 2010 Special Edition, Fall 2010
• Alternate Names: Administrator (N.C Department of Administration)

• North Carolina General Assembly House Committee on Compensation for Victims of the Eugenics Sterilization Program. House Select Committee on Compensation for Victims of the Eugenics Sterilization Program: Report to the 2009 Session of the 2009 General Assembly. 2008. .
  This document gives an overview of the activities and decisions of the House Select Committee on Compensation for Victims of the Eugenics Sterilization Program. The summary includes an outline of the committee proceedings, their recommendations for compensation, as well as proposed legislation.
  
  
• Categories: Early 21st Century, Legal Rights, Laws, Health, Citizens’ Rights
• Alternate Names: Report to the 2009 Session of the 2009 General Assembly

• North Carolina, Governor's Task Force to Determine the Method of Compensation for Victims of North Carolina's Eugenics Board. Governor's Task Force to Determine the Method of Compensation for Victims of North Carolina's Eugenics Board, Preliminary Report to the Governor of the State of North Carolina: Pursuant to Executive Order 83. 2011..
  This document gives an overview of the activities and findings of the Governor’s Task Force to determine the Method of Compensation for Victims of North Carolina’s Eugenics Board. The summary includes a history of eugenics and the program in North Carolina, tables and statistics, analysis of past recommendations, plans for educating the public, recommendations for future action, and appendices that record the creation of the board, as well as minutes from several meetings that include victim testimonies.
  
  
• Categories: Early 21st Century, Legal Rights, Laws, Health, Citizens’ Rights, Statistics