Chapter 2

And that interest brought him to a new position as what? (Dr.Priddy and interest in politics)

Turned to mental health, with an emphasis on reforming the way in which the mentally ill were cared for.

The location provided "considerable room for facilities" and "most important, farming." What else did it provide considerable room for?

The rooms were also there for recreation.

They're not done yet! "New options were emerging." His name was Dr. Albert J. Ochsner and he described a procedure, let's see, this should be the fourth tactic. What was it?

A new procedure that rendered a man sterile by severing his vas deferens- what came to be known as a vasectomy. Unlike castration, it was not disfiguring and did not upset a man's hormonal balance.

According to Cohen those promoting eugenics (e.g., progressives, intellectuals, and professionals) "were in comparatively short supply" in the South. OK, I can live with that. And when eugenics gained "traction" "one of the main centers of eugenic thought was the University of Virginia." For example, what did Ivey Foreman Lewis teach?

A professor of biology who rose to become a top university administrator, was one of the nation's most influential eugenics educators.

"The drive for eugenic sterilization laws came largely from societal elites who had an outsize impact of public policy." Who were part of this "small energetic group of enthusiasts"? (I found three.)

1. Carl Degler 2. Dr. William T. Belfield 3. Dr. S. D. Risley

What/Who were other "carriers" of the eugenic message? (I found six.)

1. National magazines 2. Major newspapers 3. Religious leaders spread the word in articles for religious journals 4. There were high-profile conferences 5. There were eugenic presentations 6. Eugenics even found its way into nation's movie houses in the form of horror films.

"Eugenics found support across the ideological spectrum." How so

? In addition to the feminist, some of the era's most outspoken progressives endorsed some manner of eugenics. Even Theodore Roosevelt felt that the feebleminded should not be able to reproduce.

Ok, so this is one of the places that our class read cuts across differences. "There was almost always a strong current of racism and anti-Semitism to the eugenics movement." Examples?

? In hereditary genius, Galton flatly asserted that whites were superior to the "African negro," a race that he asserted contained a particularly large number of "half-witted men," and he claimed that Jews were "specialized for a parasitic existence."

And the government? (have to offer)

? Issuing its own stern reports on the tide of feeblemindedness. A study prepared for the California state legislature in 1915 said the problem had always existed "but only recently have we begun to recognize how serious a menace it is to the social, economic, and moral welfare of the state."

And the general-interest media? (have to offer)

? Scientific American warned in 1912 that the "reproduction of feeblemindedness" was "rife" in much of the country.

Who were the first to be admitted?

A 37 year old man who illustrated well why a specialized institution for epileptics was needed.

What frustrated him about "mental disabilities and epilepsy"? (Dr. Priddy)

Although there were therapies and regimens that could help, there was no cure for his inmates' disabilities.

How about Robert Bennet Bean?

An anatomy professor in 1916, researched the biology of race and propounded the idea that differences in brain size made whites and blacks "fundamentally opposite extremes in evolution".

"The eugenicists matched the demographic profile of the reformers of the era". How so

Both the leaders of the eugenics movement and the rank and file were largely middle-class, well educated, white, and Protestant.

As superintendent of Virginia's Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded, Dr. Albert Priddy was a combination of what roles?

Chief medical officer, chief executive officer, and plantation master. He was also something else a social reformer, with a keen vision of the role he wanted the colony to play in improving society.

What did the "nation's universities" have to offer?

Churned out large quantities of these reports, all expressing alarm

Efforts to pass a eugenic sterilization law in Virginia failed. Who was the first of the state mental hospital superintendents to push for a eugenic sterilization law?

Dr. DeJarnette, from the Western State Hospital.

And another, similar procedure was being "perfected" (hum) and we'll call it the fifth tactic. What was it?

Dr. M. Madlener, developed the salpingectomy, a procedure in which the fallopian tubes are cut and partially removed so a women's eggs cannot travel from the ovary to the uterus to be fertilized.

And ultimately the answer was not "treating the condition" rather a quicker more permanent "cure". What was it?

Eugenic sterilization, which he was convinced could quickly and permanently cut off mental defect at its source. Because of the position he had risen to in the state's medical establishment, and the tenacity with which he pursed his goals, he was in a good position to get his way.

So, where's Virginia or any other Deep South state, for that matter?

Eugenics was promoted largely by progressives, intellectuals, and in the south of the era all of these were in comparatively short supply.

And there were other "influential voices." What did Lewis Terman (remember him?) have to say? Feeblemindedness

Feeblemindedness was "one of the most important factors in delinquency, crime, alcoholism, pauperism, prostitution, and the spread of venereal disease."

And was an advocate for what? (Dr.Priddy)

For an issue that was gaining attention in statehouse nationwide: improved care for the mentally ill

Charles Darwin's half cousin took this "newly emerging idea about evolution" and ran with them! We're talking about the person who actually coined the word "eugenics." Who?

Francis Galton, Darwin's half cousin.

He became a medical doctor at the age of 20 and returned home to establish a practice. In addition to his thriving medical practice, he was drawn to what? (Dr.Priddy)

He was drawn to politics. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.

What was Darwin's position?

Human should recoil at letting natural selection operate ruthlessly. The support that people gave "the helpless, "he said, derived from "the instinct of sympathy"- a social instinct that had, over time, become "more tender and more widely diffused."

And yet, even with all "influential forces in favor of eugenic sterilization, and relatively little organized opposition, state legislature did not rush to enact legislation - at least, not right away." Why not?

In 1897 the Michigan legislature considered a bill introduced under the name "An Act for the Prevention of Idiocy." It authorized the state to castrate criminals and "perverts." Support for sterilization was not strong in Michigan, and the bill ran into opposition from lawyers who said it was unconstitutional.

Dr. Priddy (now known to this reader/writer as Dr. Sexist Priddy) "took a dim view of many of his female charges." How did he describe "one group"?

In 1914 annual report he described one group as unfortunate "creature," who were "adept in the use of the vilest language and practices, common among women of their class." The women "moron" at colony, Dr. Priddy would later say, "consisted for the most part of those who would formerly have found their way into the red-light district and become dangerous to society.

"Opinions were changing about what to do with the feebleminded." How so?

In the early days of the Republic, there was little help available for people with medical difficulties.

And then the tide began to turn beginning in 1907 and by 1913 "the first wave of legislation was complete". Name the twelve states who had enacted sterilization laws. Did Oregon come around?

Indiana, Washington, California, Connecticut, Nevada, Iowa, New jersey, New York, North Dakota, Michigan, Kansas, and Wisconsin. Yes Oregon did eventually come around.

Moreover, Spencer had strong beliefs about intervening. What did he believe intervening would ultimately do?

Intervening to help the unfit would weaken all of humanity, "and eventually the degenerate species would fail to hold its ground in presence of antagonistic species".

In 1912 the colony expanded its mission. How so?

It began to accept the feebleminded, and women inmates, both epileptic and feebleminded.

And although clearly better off, the colony was limited in what it could offer "epileptic patients." What could it not offer?

It did provide modest recreation and diversions. There were weekly dances, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and summer watermelon feast.

These last two, affectionately referred to as "eugenic sterilization," had "all the advantages that previous techniques lack." Like?

It was modern medical procedure that was far less barbaric than castration; it was completely effective when done correctly; and it was relatively inexpensive- one procedure rendered a person infertile for life.

There was a "popular debate over whether society should help its weakest members." They're talking about philanthropy. What was the argument against philanthropy?

Jane Hume Clapperton complained, Charities "deliberately selected the half-starved, the diseased, the criminals, and enabled them to exist and propagate

What was unique about this family? (Kallikak)

Kallikak produced two lines of descendants, one through his wife, "a women f his own quality," and another through a "feeble-minded girl" he met in a tavern. The line from Kallikak's wife, Goddard found, included generations of doctors, judges, and other successful men. The line from the "feebleminded girl" was rife with prostitutes, criminals, and epileptics.

So, they rallied around a tactic they saw as more promising. What was this the third tactic/model and what was the "obvious problem" with the model?

Segregation, but it wasn't cheap to do. Locking people up for their entire reproductive cycle imposed a large burden on state taxpayers.

"He compared sterilization laws with laws against what?

Laws against spitting that were passed to prevent the spread of tuberculosis- which had also once been ridiculed, but came to be widely accepted.

Eugenics appealed in particular to what professions, leaders?

Many legislators, and presidents/ governors/ government related people.

"Scientific racism

Mass-market books spread the message to a vast reading audience, none more so then Madison Grant's The Passing of the Great Race.

Gregor Mendel and the pea plants! (Having any high school flashbacks yet?) Although, as you may have noticed, eugenicists are pretty good are making any and all conclusions work in their favor; how did they make Mendel's laws support their beliefs?

Mendel's work provided experimental precision, quantitative analysis, and certitude in a field that had so far been marked by mere speculation. This new science of heredity was precisely what the eugenicist were looking for. Eugenics argued that positive and negative traits were passed down from generation to generation, and with Mendel's pea plants, Galton and his followers now had, a scientific basis for saying so.

The eugenicists made the mistake of assuming what?

Of assuming that "like produces like"- that brilliant parents produce brilliant children, and criminals produce criminals.

Who was recruited as the new hospital's superintendent

On April 8, 1910, the colony's board appointed Dr. Priddy of Southwestern State Hospital.

When and where was Albert Priddy born? On

On December 7, 1865, on a farm in Lunenburg county, southeast of Lynchburg.

He described two kinds of eugenics. What were they

Positive (which is the "good" genes to be passed down) and negative (bad or "unfit" genes) eugenics.

Next up, Henry Goddard (remember him?) and The Kallikak Family study. How was Goddard able to use this family to support "his theories of inherited mental defect"?

Six generations of a New Jersey family and showed how it supported his theories of inherited mental defect.

"One drop rule"?

Southern eugenicist believed that if they strictly policed the race line, any hereditary defects of blacks would remain with them- and not corrupt the white race.

He called it "dangerous folly" - a view which would later be branded what?

Spencer's pitiless view of the human condition would later be branded "social Darwinism," but his writings actually preceded Darwin's.

What did Lothrop Stoddaad's The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy suggest

Stoddard invoked "the vision of a 'Pan-Colored' alliance for the overthrow of white hegemony at a single stroke- a dream which would turn into a nightmare of race-war beside which the late struggle in Europe would seem child's play." He warned: "We stand at a crisis- the supreme crisis of the ages."

Oscar McCulloch contributed "what would be one of the most influential post-Jukes studies" - the Tribe of Ishmael - "generation after generation of murderers, thieves, beggars, and prostitutes." MuCulloch agreed with Dugdale. And there was a "But." What was it?

That environmental factors were important. He described the harsh conditions in which they lived: "mostly out of doors in the river bottoms, in old houses".

"There was no strong national movement opposing eugenic sterilization" except for maybe two. Who were they?

The Catholic Church and public health leaders.

Turns out Virginia was a "pioneer in mental health." How so?

The first place to have "a hospital be constructed for the 'lunatics and ideots wandering helplessly around the country."

"It was not clear how the movement would achieve its goals." What was the "first tactic" and what caused it to stop

The first tactic that eugenicists tried was on that struck many as barbaric: forced castration. In 1855 Gideon Lincecum, a Texas physician, drafted a bill to castrate criminals.

Backing up into the 1800's we meet Herbert Spencer who provided us with "a natural sorting process" - one that he considered "not only natural, but right." What was it?

The healthiest humans lived and reproduced, while "nature's failures"- those with mental, physical, or moral deficiencies- did not.

Why was America "particularly receptive" to the "mania over feeblemindedness?

The start of the twentieth century was an ear of fast-placed, disruptive change. As rural residents fled farms and small town, the United States was transforming from a predominantly rural nation to an urban, industrial one, and in the process community and family ties were breaking down.

So still no let yet but that did not stop doctors from eugenic sterilizations. Who were the subjects?

The subjects were blacks and poor whites- people on the margin of society with little ability to resist.

So Virginia had "hospitals for the mentally ill" covered, but were not yet addressing "another group that needed special care." What "group" was that?

There was not special care for epileptics.

And there was another center of support in Virginia. What was it and their message about the "differential fecundity" of the 'feebleminded'?

They reproduced at a dangerous rate, he advised in one report- "about twice as rapidly as a normal stock".

And then a new name, Arnold Gesell? To (have to offer)

To have found that about a quarter of the residents showed signs of feeblemindedness or insanity, and he caked for eugenic measures, including isolating the feebleminded, to uplift his beleaguered hometown.

And another "sector" particularly drawn to eugenics and what was did they argue for?

Virginia Medical Semi-Monthly. To argue "defectives" should be barred from marrying.

What did Madison Grant's the Passing of the Great Race argue?

Which argued in 1916 that the "Nordic" race was superior to other races- and responsible for all progress- but also in peril.

Did it appeal to women?

With its focus on reproductive issues, a proper realm for female guidance. Women were among the most active lobbyists for the eugenic laws of all kinds.

Although "epilepsy was little understood at the time" the medical profession was at least beginning to move away from "ancient prejudices" and toward "creating new institutions"; and even "discovering treatments to suppress seizures". There seemed to be maybe three reasons why there was a "move to institutionalize epileptics." What were they?

Without specific places they were being sent to hospitals or jails without needed to be at those places, the need to build them was also driven by fear "the myth of the dangerous epileptic", segregation if far-off institutions was an ideal solution. Ultimately, the state's first "hospital for epileptics" was built.