RALEIGH – The word eugenics is from the Greek for “well born” but became synonymous with a dark chapter in North Carolina and American history. From 1933 through 1973, the state of North Carolina mandated sterilizations of more than 7,600 people, by choice or coercion. On Monday, June 22, at 5 p.m., a N. C. Highway Historical marker will be dedicated at the N.C. Community Colleges building, 200 W. Jones Street, Raleigh, to acknowledge that practice.
In his 1883 publication of “Inquiries of Human Faculty,” Sir Francis Galton envisioned improving natural selection and “the inborn qualities of a race” by influencing intelligence. Beginning with Indiana in 1907, sterilization laws were passed in 32 states. The North Carolina legislature authorized sterilizations of patients or inmates of public institutions in 1929 “for the public good,” and authorized county commissioners to order sterilizations at the public expense of “any mentally defective or feeble-minded resident.” In 1933 the Eugenics Board was created to review all sterilization requests.
The science behind eugenics was discredited by the 1940s, but North Carolina policymakers held to the position that sterilization protected the poor and helped break the cycle of poverty. After 1945, the numbers of non-institutional sterilizations increased, many of whom were considered “uncontrollable” teenaged girls.
In 1972 the Eugenics Board became the Eugenics Commission, and the next year the legislature transferred to the judicial system the responsibility for sterilization procedures due to mental retardation or mental illness. The Eugenics Commission was abolished in 1977.
To view works from the Eugenics Board visit the State Library of North Carolina’s Eugenics digital collection.
For additional information on the N.C. Highway Historical Marker program, call Mike Hill, (919) 807-7290. The Highway Marker program is administered by the Office of Archives and History in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Now podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources, all available at www.ncculture.com.