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Eugenics Past and Present.

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From: Social Education
Date: 20010901
Author:BERSON, MICHAEL J.; CRUZ, BARBARA

Remembering Buck v. Bell

"THREE GENERATIONS OF IMBECILES ARE ENOUGH." Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

AT THE END of the nineteenth century, as Charles Darwin's theories of evolution were making their way to all levels of society, scientists and the general public began to consider how selective breeding could improve a species's chance of survival. The theories were applied to the human species as well. A number of selective breeding enthusiasts asked: to eliminate undesirable characteristics in humans, should some people be considered so "defective" or "inferior" that ...

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