McKnight

Anna McKnight

Professor Presnell

UWRT 1104

26 March 2017

The North Carolina Board of Eugenics and its Aftermath

I first heard about the terrors of eugenics when I was sitting in a classroom, tuning

the sound of my professors voice in and out. I heard her tell the class that people in

North Carolina were sterilized against their will, for decades- needless to say, this caught

my attention. I learned that over 7,600

sterilizations occurred under North

Carolinas Board of Eugenics. Eugenics is

a term to define the process of controlled

breeding in the effort to increase desirable

human characteristics within a population.

This practice is most commonly associated

with Nazi Germany; however,

the United States has its own haunting past of eugenic practices. My initial impression of

the eugenics board left me in shock. How could something like this ever happen? Who

did it happen to? Why?

My Initial Research

The questions that floated around in my mind influenced me to look further into
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North Carolinas history of forced sterilization. I discovered that with the passage of the

North Carolinas eugenics laws, sterilizations began in 1929. This practice begun with the

intent to purify the human race. North Carolina officials thought that by sterilizing

people they saw unfit to have children, they would be improving society as a whole,

and taking a burden off of their shoulder. It would also combat welfare costs. The very

first sterilization law in North Carolina was passed in 1919, but was not put to use due to

the fear that it was unconstitutional. There were many different ways the board operated

on people. According to the Biennial Report of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina

the board recorded the types of surgeries that took place: vasectomy, salpingectomy,

castration and ovariectomy. Invasive surgeries took place among thousands and the

doctors often neglected to care for the patients post-surgery, leaving the possibility of

infection. The forced sterilizations continued on from 1929 through 1973, and continue to

affect the lives of many living victims and their family members today. During these

years, over 7,600 were recorded to have been sterilized. The eugenics board claimed to

provide sterilization services to feebleminded individuals, including those deemed as

mentally ill, mentally retarded, and epileptic, as written in the law itself.

Pictures from the Eugenics bill

Who the Law Affected:

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In my initial research, I learned that the sterilizations were focused towards

individuals with disabilities- learning this absolutely broke my heart. It hit close to home

for me because the special needs population is one I hold near to my heart. For about a

year now, I have worked as a caregiver for a young boy with special needs. He is 12 years

old and has a heart of gold. Hes intelligent, witty and always sweet. He has epilepsy,

autism and numerous other developmental disabilities, but it doesnt hold him back from

living a beautiful life. Had he been born 50 years earlier, that sweet little boy could have

been cut open against his will, stripped of the right to have his own children. It shocks me

to think that something so horrible could have happened to someone I love so dearly.

Anna (Me), Ben, and his service dog, Dubs at McDowell Park.

With a heavy heart, I decided to look further into the populations that were affected by

the laws. I discovered that approximately 85% of the victims were women. In the latter
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half of the practice, by the later 60s, 99% of the victims were women. Of these women,

60% were African American- although African Americans only made up about a quarter

of the population at that time. One woman, Elaine Riddick, was cut open and operated on

at the age of 13 after she had just given birth to her son after being raped by a neighbor.

"They cut me open like I was a hog," Riddick said. "My body was too young for what

they did". Social workers saw this teen as promiscuous and therefore she was unfit

to bear children, states the Mother Jones article titled Survivors of North Carolinas

Eugenics Program. Riddicks rights were signed over by her grandmother, an illiterate

woman.

Elaine Riddick

North Carolinas Notable Aggression

As I looked further into the topic, I became really intrigued by how aggressive

North Carolinas government was. Eugenics in North Carolina was unique because the

board gave social workers the right to pick and choose individuals to sterilize as they
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pleased. About 2,000 victims were under the age of 19 and had never been

institutionalized for any sort of mental illness or disability. The youngest victims were

only 10 years old.

From a eugenics pamphlet from the 50s.

WRAL news station in Raleigh states it is estimated that around 3,000 North Carolinian

victims are still alive today. After reading all of this, I redirected my search to figure out

the governments response to their terrible actions- this is when I found the NC Justice

for Sterilization Victims Foundation. In 2010, Governor Bev Perdue developed

Executive Order 83 to compensate victims that were sterilized under jurisdiction of the

Eugenics Board. The NC government set aside 10 million dollars for victim reparations.

My search took me to a brochure that was developed by the N.C. Justice for Sterilization

Victims Foundation. Something that really stuck out to me was that the sterilizations

were funded by the N.C. Department of Public Welfare, meaning that a percentage of tax

dollars went to funding the sterilizations. They occurred in all 100 counties in North

Carolina, with Mecklenburg County having the most- 485 during the peak of the
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program. It disgusted me to find that the county that a majority of my family has lived in

for over 100 years sterilized so many people. According to research done by The

University of Vermont, North Carolina is the only state to pass a law in the attempt to

mend the harm that was inflicted. Even with Executive Order 83 in place, according to

the News Observer, many victims will not receive compensation due to the fact that an

unknown amount of procedures that occurred without the Boards approval- such as those

done by Mecklenburg County Health Officials.

What This Means To Me

With the research Ive conducted over the last few months, Ive come to believe

that the government truly holds power over its people, and it has the potential to be a

really detrimental thing. The Eugenics Board in North Carolina proves that there are

extremely crooked people in the world- even the very state, or county, that we live in.

North Carolinas attempt to purify the human race through preventing the reproductive

rights of thousands parallels Hitlers actions in Nazi Germany- to better the world by

making it whiter. The government is a powerful thing and it can quite literally affect

the lives of many. People should consider instances of a coercive government because it

is important to be aware of the dangers behind it. Like Nazi Germany, the North Carolina

Board of Eugenics is a thing of the past, yet it remains relevant today. Ideals of

superiority are still very prominent in the society that we live in. People are discriminated

against for simply being different than the next, whether theyre a different race or

theyre in a special education classroom. People have the choice to be hateful and close-

minded or loving with open arms. I choose to love others.

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Works Cited

"Biennial Report of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina : North Carolina.

Eugenics Board." Internet Archive. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Boggs, Belle. "North Carolinas Shocking History of Sterilization." Salon. Web. 11 Mar.

2017.
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Colin Campbell and Ann Doss. "More NC eugenics victims could become eligible

for compensation." Newsobserver. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

Mennel, Eric. "Payments Start For N.C. Eugenics Victims, But Many Won't Qualify."

NPR. NPR, 31 Oct. 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

North Carolina. NC DOA. Office of Justice for Sterilization Victims. About the Office.

Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Photographs by Andy McMillan / Text by Maya Dusenbery, Samantha Oltman, Nicole

Pasulka, Tim Murphy, Ian Gordon, Will Greenberg, and Brandon Ellington

Patterson. "Photos: Survivors of North Carolina's Eugenics Program." Mother

Jones. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Revision Strategy:

In order to revise my essay, I really listened to the comments that Barbara and my

classmates left. I needed to add detail which is something I did. I also added in my

personal experience with Ben which I think was a good detail to add in. Adding in

headers helped organize the paper and make it look even better, which was a suggestion

from Patrick. Sending my (almost) final product to Barbara yesterday also really helped

to have her look over it.