"A great blessing to defective humanity": Women and the eugenics movement in North Carolina, 1910--1940
by Krome-Lukens, Anna L., M.A., THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, 2009, 59 pages; 1463787

Abstract:

This thesis examines the various ways that white middle-class women in early twentieth-century North Carolina drew on eugenics ideology as part of broad social reform efforts. Several groups of women—clubwomen, female state welfare officials, and female social workers—had divergent goals in their appropriation of eugenics principles, but nevertheless cooperated to create state-run custodial institutions and a sterilization program. I analyze how female reformers’ individual circumstances and identities tinged their political stances and forays into eugenics and progressivism, emphasizing the diversity of viewpoints among women reformers in North Carolina. I argue that examining the way individuals interpreted and employed eugenics principles is critical to understanding the eugenics movement generally, as it provides a nuanced view of the impact of eugenics on the lives of both reformers and targets—their fellow citizens.
 
AdviserJacquelyn Dowd Hall
SchoolTHE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
SourceMAI/ 47-05, p. , Jun 2009
Source TypeThesis
SubjectsAmerican history
Publication Number1463787
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