Research Paper On North Carolina's Eugenics Movement
North Carolina Eugenics Settlement
In 1929 through 1974 the nation participated in an era called the Eugenics Movement. This was a social movement that called to improve the nations population by essentially removing the unfit and mentally unstable from the society or otherwise known as a way to conserve and increase the dominant population. Basically during the Eugenics Movement, the government sterilized those that they believed were undesirable, therefore being unable to reproduce, ultimately in hopes of making a better and stronger society. The decision of whether an individual should be sterilized was based on factors such as if a women was unmarried with children, African Americans, mentally ill, minorities, blind, deformed, victims …show more content…
An estimate of 7,600 men and women in North Carolina were sterilized during the era. North Carolina was not one of the states that had the largest number of population sterilized but it was the state that was the most aggressive and lasted the longest. In recent news, North Carolina is one of the first states to pay compensation to the victims of the eugenics program. Official are in the process of determining the number of victims in order to equally distribute the ten million dollar fund. As of right now, according to the North Carolina Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation, there are one hundred and seventy seven victims which entitles fifty thousand dollars to each individual. The settlement of North Carolina Eugenics helped end the acceptance of scientific racism because it exemplified the immorality of the previous Eugenic practices. It was the first settlement for the unlawful actions, thus displaying the remorse of the state. Even though the settlement might not be enough for the barbarity toward the victims, it acknowledges that the government and scientific racism is wrong.This issue demonstrates the fact that the government needs be be federal contrary to state. In this situation federal government opposed the movement and protested for equality. States at the time encourage such unlawful actions, which should have been regulated by the national government. Decisions about civil liberties should be made nationally rather than locally, I believe that better decisions can be made if it would be handled in that
In 1929 through 1974 the nation participated in an era called the Eugenics Movement. This was a social movement that called to improve the nations population by essentially removing the unfit and mentally unstable from the society or otherwise known as a way to conserve and increase the dominant population. Basically during the Eugenics Movement, the government sterilized those that they believed were undesirable, therefore being unable to reproduce, ultimately in hopes of making a better and stronger society. The decision of whether an individual should be sterilized was based on factors such as if a women was unmarried with children, African Americans, mentally ill, minorities, blind, deformed, victims …show more content…
An estimate of 7,600 men and women in North Carolina were sterilized during the era. North Carolina was not one of the states that had the largest number of population sterilized but it was the state that was the most aggressive and lasted the longest. In recent news, North Carolina is one of the first states to pay compensation to the victims of the eugenics program. Official are in the process of determining the number of victims in order to equally distribute the ten million dollar fund. As of right now, according to the North Carolina Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation, there are one hundred and seventy seven victims which entitles fifty thousand dollars to each individual. The settlement of North Carolina Eugenics helped end the acceptance of scientific racism because it exemplified the immorality of the previous Eugenic practices. It was the first settlement for the unlawful actions, thus displaying the remorse of the state. Even though the settlement might not be enough for the barbarity toward the victims, it acknowledges that the government and scientific racism is wrong.This issue demonstrates the fact that the government needs be be federal contrary to state. In this situation federal government opposed the movement and protested for equality. States at the time encourage such unlawful actions, which should have been regulated by the national government. Decisions about civil liberties should be made nationally rather than locally, I believe that better decisions can be made if it would be handled in that