Coined by Francis Galton, cousin of the renowned Charles
Darwin, the term "eugenics" means "well-born" and theorizes that humanity could
be improved by encouraging the fittest members of society to have more
children. In the United States, the eugenics movement hit its stride in the
early 1900s, when increased interest in the genetics of animal breeding
coincided with the rediscovery of Mendel's 1865 work demonstrating the
inheritance patterns of certain characteristics in pea plants. Made popular in
the early twentieth century by American biologist, Charles Davenport, America's
eugenics movement helped Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in their rise to
power, popular acceptance of Autocracy and Fascism as constructive political
movements, and the undoing of many of the world's democracies in the 1920s and
1930s. Widely accepted as valid science by many, including famous people such
as Theodore Roosevelt, Hellen Keller, HG Wells, and Winston Churchill among
others, eventually eugenics was largely dismissed as a scientific field of
study after World War II. Remarkably, however, there are still U.S. states with
eugenics laws on their books today.
Purpose: Learn how the "science" of American eugenics was at
the root of the greatest conflict the world has ever known
Facilitator: Steve Vesce (Guest Presenter – Georgia) |
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