Eugenics in America
Published: April 17, 2026
Duration: 1:22:49
This episode traces the full history of eugenics in America from its origins in Francis Galton's Victorian-era theories through the establishment of Charles Davenport's Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor and the rise of Harry Laughlin's model sterilization laws.
We cover the fraudulent family studies of the Jukes and the Kallikaks, the dangerously elastic diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, and the passage of compulsory sterilization laws beginning with Indiana in 1907.
The narrative follows Carrie Buck's story through the landmark 1927 Supreme Court decision in Buck v. Bell, where Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes declared that "three generations of imbeciles...
We cover the fraudulent family studies of the Jukes and the Kallikaks, the dangerously elastic diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, and the passage of compulsory sterilization laws beginning with Indiana in 1907.
The narrative follows Carrie Buck's story through the landmark 1927 Supreme Court decision in Buck v. Bell, where Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes declared that "three generations of imbeciles...