A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era

Editor

Paul A. Lombardo

Authors

Paul A. Lombardo, Georgia State University College of LawFollow

Document Type

Book

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Abstract

n 1907, Indiana passed the world’s first involuntary sterilization law based on the theory of eugenics. In time, more than 30 states and a dozen foreign countries followed suit. Although the Indiana statute was later declared unconstitutional, other laws restricting immigration and regulating marriage on “eugenic” grounds were still in effect in the U.S. as late as the 1970s. A Century of Eugenics in America assesses the history of eugenics in the United States and its status in the age of the Human Genome Project. The essays explore the early support of compulsory sterilization by doctors and legislators; the implementation of eugenic schemes in Indiana, Georgia, California, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Alabama; the legal and social challenges to sterilization; and the prospects for a eugenics movement basing its claims on modern genetic science.

Recommended Citation

Paul A. Lombardo, A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era (Paul A. Lombardo ed., Ind. Univ. Press 2011).

Institutional Repository Citation

Paul A. Lombardo, A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era, Faculty Publications By Year 55 (2011)
https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/faculty_pub/55

ISBN

9780253222695