Source: Dr. Siri Brown, UC Berkeley
Tags: eugenics, Francis Galton, scientific racism, forced sterilization, 1924 Johnson-Reed Act, anti-miscegenation, Margaret Sanger, Negro Project, immigration restriction, social Darwinism, Madison Grant, IQ testing, race betterment, Tuskegee
The eugenics movement used pseudo-science to argue that "unfit" populations (defined by race, ethnicity, disability, and class) should be prevented from reproducing. It was not a fringe idea: eugenics was embraced by major institutions, universities, presidents, and public figures. Its ideology was put into practice through immigration restriction (the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act), anti-miscegenation laws, and forced sterilisation programmes, with California leading the nation. The movement's legacy connects directly to modern questions about racially motivated medical experimentation.
Eugenics
The study of, or belief in, the possibility of improving the human species by encouraging reproduction of people with "desirable" traits (positive eugenics) and discouraging or preventing reproduction of people with "undesirable" traits (negative eugenics). Described by its proponents as "self-direction of human evolution."
Francis Galton (1822–1911)
Primary architect of the eugenics movement. In 1883, coined the terms "eugenics," "the well born," and "nature vs. nurture." Published "Hereditary Genius," the first book to examine "genius" and "greatness." Also founded psychometrics and differential psychology. His ideas emerged during Reconstruction and the period of Chinese immigrant labour struggles, in a social context of post-Civil War anxiety around race.
Social Darwinism / survival of the fittest
The ideological foundation of eugenics: the belief that "unfit" populations (the poor, the disabled, certain racial groups) are less evolved and should be outcompeted by the "strong."
Mendelian eugenics
The application of Mendel's genetics to race: the claim that traits like race follow simple inheritance patterns (e.g. Black + white = Black, analogised to how a purple flower + white flower = purple). This pseudo-scientific framing was published and presented to policymakers.
The Negro Project
Margaret Sanger's initiative to control and reduce the Black population through birth control. She reached out to Black doctors and ministers to promote birth control within Black communities. Sanger wrote that "the most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal," targeting Black churches (the most prominent institution in Black communities and often the only property Black people owned).
The Passing of the Great Race (1916)
Book by Madison Grant arguing for Nordic superiority, claiming children of mixed-race marriages "belong to the lower type" and warning of "race suicide."
1924 Johnson-Reed Act (Immigration Act of 1924)
Lowered existing immigration quotas from 3% to 2% of the foreign-born population, deliberately using the 1890 census (which showed higher numbers of British/Nordic Americans and lower numbers of Southern/Eastern Europeans). Barred all Asians from the Asia-Pacific Triangle. No quota applied to African Americans (classified as having "no country of origin") or to the US-Mexico border (cheap Mexican labour was still wanted).
Forced sterilisation
State-sanctioned sterilisation of individuals deemed "insane, feebleminded, or otherwise unfit." California was the leading state, performing one-third of all sterilisations nationwide. The 1909 California sterilisation bill empowered the state to order these procedures. Racial bias was evident: Mexican Americans were 7–8% of those sterilised in California, and African Americans were 4% of the sterilised population despite being only 1% of the state's population.
Galton's ideas were published in the 1860s, when slavery had just ended and African Americans were defining freedom, and Chinese immigrants were struggling with racism
The movement gained momentum at the turn of the century, as millions of Europeans were immigrating through Ellis Island
Eugenics was concerned with race, ethnicity, ethnic origin, and mental capacity
Social Darwinism: the "unfit" are less evolved and should be outcompeted
Mendelian genetics misapplied to race: simple inheritance patterns used to argue racial mixing produces "inferior" offspring
Social failure (poverty, alcoholism, disability) reframed as a medical/genetic problem
Prevention of "breeding" among the "unfit" as a solution to social problems
Proponents claimed "well-born" families had 2 children while "unfit" families had 4–8
Studies conducted in asylums, prisons, orphanages, homes for the blind, and immigration stations, with significant bias in the populations sampled
Height and IQ tests used to determine "fitness"
Harry Goddard administered IQ tests to new Eastern and Southern European immigrants and reported them as overwhelmingly "feebleminded":
83% of Jews
80% of Hungarians
79% of Italians
87% of Russians
These tests were presented as evidence that Nordic immigrants were more intelligent than Southern/Eastern European ones
IQ testing influenced the development of standardised tests like the SAT, built on the assumption that intelligence can be "measured"
The eugenics movement was mainstream, supported by:
Carnegie Institution
Rockefeller Foundation
J.H. Kellogg (Race Betterment Foundation, believed immigrants and people of colour would damage the US gene pool)
Oliver Wendell Holmes (Supreme Court Justice)
Mrs. E.H. Harriman (women's suffrage advocate who donated heavily to eugenics)
H.G. Wells (author)
President Woodrow Wilson
President Theodore Roosevelt ("Society has no business to permit degenerates to reproduce their kind")
John Maynard Keynes (British economist)
Margaret Sanger (founder of the American Birth Control League, later Planned Parenthood)
The American Birth Control League was founded on eugenic principles of controlling the reproduction of certain populations
First clinics were placed in Eastern European neighbourhoods; the Negro Project targeted the Black population
Sanger's stated views: "Birth control must lead to a cleaner race"; "Slavs, Latin, and Hebrew immigrants are human weeds, a deadweight of human waste"
The Negro Project strategy: recruit Black doctors who could convince other Black doctors, and hire Black ministers because "the most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal"
Sanger wrote: "We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members"
Argued that children of mixed-race marriages "belong to the lower type"
Warned of "race suicide" if Nordic races did not maintain purity
Advocated Nordic superiority
The American Breeders Association
The Eugenics Record Office (established 1910)
The American Eugenics Society (established 1921)
Three International Conferences (1912, 1921, 1932)
Widely published in books, journals, and articles
Films such as "The Black Stork" promoted eugenic thinking
University courses: Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Stanford, and others; by 1928, 376 university classes were teaching 200,000 students per year
Taught in high school textbooks, preached in church sermons, promoted at state fairs
The lecture emphasises that a theory becomes harmful when it is actualised in law, policy, and practice. Three main areas:
Lowered quota from 3% to 2% of the foreign-born population
Deliberately used the 1890 census rather than the more recent 1910 or 1920 counts
The 1890 census reflected higher numbers of British/Nordic Americans and fewer Southern/Eastern Europeans
Using 2% of the 1890 figures yielded more of the "fit" (Northern/Western European) immigrants
Barred all Asians from the Asia-Pacific Triangle (the 2% formula did not even include any Asian populations)
African Americans had "no country of origin" under the law, so they were excluded from the quota system entirely
No quota on the US-Mexico border (cheap Mexican labour was still desired)
Sponsors: Congressman Albert Johnson and Senator David Reed
Reed: the goal was to "maintain the racial preponderance of the basic strain on our people"
Southern/Eastern Europeans and Jews characterised as "sick and starving and therefore less capable of contributing to the American economy"
New enforcement mechanisms: visa process changes (applicants must apply in their home country), border patrol and stations established, deportation funding
Impact: immigration declined from 375,000 (1923–24) to 164,000 (1924–25)
By 1915: 28 states had invalidated marriage between Black and white people
Six states added anti-miscegenation provisions to their constitutions
Additional states added broader "white vs. colour" marriage restrictions
California was the leading state
Key institutions: Pasadena Human Betterment Foundation, LA American Institute of Family Relations, California Division of the American Eugenics Society
1909: California passed the third sterilisation bill in the nation, empowering the state to order sterilisation of those deemed insane, feebleminded, or unfit
California performed one-third of all sterilisations nationwide (both women and men)
Most victims were poor, white, mentally ill or mentally deficient individuals
Racial bias in sterilisation:
Mexican Americans: 7–8% of those sterilised in California
African Americans: 1% of the California population but 4% of those sterilised
Goethe real estate restrictions targeted Mexicans
Tuskegee syphilis study (experimentation on Black men)
IUD testing in African nations
WHO and the spread of HIV/AIDS
US medical experimentation in Guatemala
Environmental racism
HIV and foster children in New York City
⚠️ Eugenics was mainstream, not fringe. Know the range of supporters: institutions (Carnegie, Rockefeller), universities (Harvard, Stanford), presidents (Roosevelt, Wilson), Supreme Court justices, and public figures.
⚠️ The distinction between theory and practice is a key framing: eugenics as a theory becomes dangerous when actualised in law and policy. Be ready to name the three main areas (immigration restriction, anti-miscegenation, forced sterilisation).
⚠️ The 1924 Johnson-Reed Act's deliberate use of the 1890 census is a critical detail. Understand why that year was chosen and what effect it had.
⚠️ Margaret Sanger and the Negro Project: know the strategy (using Black doctors and ministers) and the key quote about not wanting "word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population."
⚠️ California's role in forced sterilisation (one-third of all sterilisations nationwide) and the racial bias in who was sterilised are likely testable.
⚠️ IQ testing and its biases: Goddard's tests on new immigrants were conducted in conditions virtually guaranteed to produce low scores. These results were then used to justify immigration restriction.
⚠️ The connection to modern racially based medical experimentation (Tuskegee, etc.) may appear as an essay prompt.
Q: What is eugenics and what are its two forms?
A: Eugenics is the belief that the human species can be improved by controlling reproduction. Positive eugenics encourages reproduction by those deemed to have "desirable" traits. Negative eugenics discourages or prevents reproduction by those deemed to have "undesirable" traits (through sterilisation, immigration restriction, or anti-miscegenation laws).
Q: Why did the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act use the 1890 census rather than a more recent one?
A: The 1890 census showed higher numbers of British and Nordic Americans and lower numbers of Southern and Eastern Europeans. Using 2% of the 1890 foreign-born population yielded a quota that admitted more Northern/Western Europeans (deemed "fit") and far fewer Southern/Eastern Europeans and Jews (deemed "unfit"). It was a deliberate manipulation of the data to achieve a desired racial outcome.
Q: How did Margaret Sanger's Negro Project operate, and what was its goal?
A: The goal was to control and reduce the Black population through birth control. Sanger's strategy was to recruit Black doctors to advocate for birth control within their communities and hire Black ministers to make "a religious appeal," since the Black church was the most trusted institution. Sanger wrote that she did not want "word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population."
Q: What evidence shows racial bias in California's forced sterilisation programme?
A: Mexican Americans were 7–8% of those sterilised. African Americans made up only 1% of California's population but represented 4% of those sterilised. These disproportionate figures reveal that race influenced who was targeted, even in a programme ostensibly aimed at the "mentally unfit."
Q: How does the lecture connect the eugenics movement to modern medical practices?
A: The lecture raises the question of whether racially based medical "science" persists today, citing examples such as the Tuskegee syphilis study (experimentation on Black men without consent), IUD testing in African nations, US medical experimentation in Guatemala, environmental racism, and HIV-related experimentation on foster children in New York City.
Q: What were the three main ways eugenics theory was actualised in law and policy?
A: (1) Immigration reform and restriction, primarily the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act. (2) Anti-miscegenation legislation, with 28 states banning Black-white marriage by 1915. (3) Forced sterilisation programmes, with California leading the nation by performing one-third of all sterilisations.
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