American Eugenics Society

Pro-eugenics organization (1922-2019)

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|

The Society for Biodemography and Social BiologyFormation| 1922

|

Dissolved| 2019
Location|

* United States

Formerly called

| The Society for the Study of Social Biology;[1] The American Eugenics Society[2]
This article is part of a series on

Eugenics

Historical trajectory

* Ancient
* Jus trium liberorum
* Lex Papia Poppaea
* Jewish views on incest
* Incest in the Bible
* British eugenics
* Malthusian League
* Eugenic feminism
* Nazi eugenics
* "Racial hygiene"
* Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring
* Hereditary Health Court
* Lebensborn
* Romani Holocaust
* Aktion T4
* Doctors' Trial
* US eugenics
* Slave breeding in the US
* Eugenics Survey of Vermont
* Oneida stirpiculture
* Immigration Act of 1924
* US birth control movement
* Sterilization law in the United States
* Buck v. Bell
* Doe ex. rel. Tarlow v. District of Columbia
* Madrigal v. Quilligan
* Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital
* Skinner v. Oklahoma
* Stump v. Sparkman
* Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924
* Canadian eugenics
* The Famous Five
* Sexual Sterilization Act
* French Eugenics
* Japanese eugenics
* Hispanic eugenics
* Mexican eugenics
* Swedish sterilization program (1906–1975)
* Peruvian sterilization program (1990–2000)
* Population planning in Singapore
* Neo-eugenics
* He Jiankui genome editing incident
* Human genetic enhancement
* Religious response to assisted
reproductive technology

Pre-war academic proponents

* Bell
* Brigham
* Burbank
* Carrell
* Davenport
* Darwin (Charles)
* Darwin (Leonhard)
* DeCourcy Ward
* von Ehrenfels
* Elderton
* Evang
* Fisher
* Galton
* Gates
* Goldscheid
* Grant
* Gruber
* Günther
* Guyer
* Haldane
* Herseni
* Holmes
* Hrdlička
* Jennings
* Jordan
* Kang
* Key
* Kraepelin
* Lenz
* Lewis
* London
* Magnussen
* Manuilă
* Mittmann
* Moreira
* Munro
* Nordau
* Osborn
* Pan
* Pearson (Karl)
* Perkins
* Pérez
* Ploetz
* Quetelet
* Rainer
* Relgis
* Ross
* Schallmayer
* Scharffenberg
* Serebrovsky
* Sergi
* Slater
* Southard
* Stoddard
* Taussig
* Terman
* Tesla
* Thorndike
* Vacher de Lapouge
* Verschuer
* Yerkes

Post-war academic remnants

* Agar
* Bell (Julia)
* Blacker
* Carl
* Carter
* Cattell
* Coleman
* Darlington
* Fleischman
* Garrett
* Glad
* Hardin
* Haldane
* Hanania
* Herndon
* Huxley
* Ingle
* Itzkoff
* José Figueredo
* Kallmann
* Kirkconnell
* Koch
* Laski
* Lederberg
* Lorenz
* Ludovici
* Lundman
* Lynn
* MacEachran
* Magnussen
* Miller
* Muller
* Murray
* Nijenhuis
* Nyborg
* Osborn
* Pearson (Roger)
* Pendell
* Pitt-Rivers
* Popenoe
* Rostand
* Savulescu
* Shapiro
* Shockley
* Verschuer
* Vining Jr.
* Weiss

Pamphlets and manifestos

* Hereditary Genius (1869)
* Degeneration (1892–1893)
* Gallia (1895)
* "The Blood of the Nation" (1901/1910)
* Anticipations (1901)
* The Training of the Human Plant (1907)
* Essays in Eugenics (1909)
* Heredity in Relation to Eugenics (1911)
* Mankind at the Crossroads (1923)
* Daedalus (1924)
* La raza cósmica (1925)
* Marriage and Morals (1929)
* The Genetical Theory of Natural
Selection (1930)
* "Charter for Rationalists" (1932)
* Man, the Unknown (1935)
* After Us (1936)
* "Eugenics manifesto" (1939)
* New Bottles for New Wine (1950)
* The Marching Morons (1951)
* The Dance with the Devil (1958)
* Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins (1973)
* Beyondism (1987)
* Dysgenics (1996)
* Eugenics: A Reassessment (2001)
* Jewish Eugenics (2011)
* Selective Breeding and the Birth of
Philosophy (2023)

Organizations

Without significant post-war activity

* ABCL
* Alberta Eugenics Board
* AASPIM
* AES
* Carnegie Institution for Science
* Carrel Foundation
* CSHL
* Co-operative Women's Guild
* EBNC
* ERO
* Fabian Society
* Galton Laboratory
* German Society for Racial Hygiene
* Heredity Commission
* HBF
* Human Betterment League
* Immigration Restriction League
* INED
* IAAEE
* International Eugenics Conference
* IFEO
* Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
* Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry
* PAA
* Progressive League
* Race Betterment Foundation
* RHA
* Rockefeller Foundation
* State Institute for Racial Biology

With significant post-war activity

* Annals of Eugenics (1954)
* CIS
* The Eugenics Review (1968)
* FREED
* HDF
* J. Soc. Political Econ. Stud.
* LCI
* Mankind Quarterly
* OpenPsych
* Project Prevention
* Repository for Germinal Choice
* Ulster Institute for Social Research

Related

* Demographic engineering
* Dysgenics
* Fujimorism
* Genetic discrimination
* History of eugenics
* Idiocracy
* Pedigree chart
* Political views of Bertrand Russell
* Political views of H. G. Wells
* Raymond Cattell bibliography
* Ronald Fisher bibliography
* Selective breeding

* History of Science portal

* v
* t
* e

Part of a series on

Eugenics in
the United States

States

|  States

* California
* Minnesota
* North Carolina
* Oregon

Law

|  Court cases

* Buck v. Bell
* Skinner v. Oklahoma
* Madrigal v. Quilligan
* Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital
* Stump v. Sparkman
* Doe ex. rel. Tarlow v. District of Columbia

History

|  Institutions

* American Birth Control League
* American Eugenics Society
* Eugenics Record Office
* Race Betterment Foundation
* Human Betterment Foundation
* Society for Biodemography and Social Biology
* Pioneer Fund
* Human Betterment League
* Heredity Commission
* AASPIM

General

* Jukes family
* Average Young American Male (1921)
* The Relf Sisters
* Oneida stirpiculture
* Selective Reproduction of Slaves

Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924

Literature

|  Books

* The Kallikak Family
* Eugenics manifesto
* The Bell Curve
* The Passing of the Great Race
* The Rising Tide of Color

Journals

* Annals of Eugenics

Proponents

|  Academics

* Harry H. Laughlin
* Joseph DeJarnette
* David Starr Jordan
* Edwin Katzen-Ellenbogen
* Charles Goethe
* Charles Benedict Davenport
* Gertrude Crotty Davenport
* Frederick Osborn
* Madison Grant

Politicians

* Guy W. Bailey
* Wallace H. Kuralt. Sr.

Related

* Scientific racism
* Social degeneration theory
* Social purity movement
* Feeble-minded
* Racial nationalism
* "Race suicide"
* Sterilization of Latinas
* Sterilization of Native American women

* United States portal
* Category
* Index

* v
* t
* e

The American Eugenics Society (AES) was a pro-eugenics organization dedicated to "furthering the discussion, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge about biological and sociocultural forces which affect the structure and composition of human populations". It endorsed the study and practice of eugenics in the United States. Its original name as the American Eugenics Society lasted from 1922 to 1973, but the group changed their name after open use of the term "eugenics" became disfavored; it was known as the Society for the Study of Social Biology from 1973–2008, and the Society for Biodemography and Social Biology from 2008-2019.[3][1] The Society was disbanded in 2019.[4]

## History

[edit]

Initially known as the American Eugenics Society, or AES, the Society formed after the success of the Second International Congress on Eugenics (New York, 1921). AES founders included Madison Grant, Harry H. Laughlin, Irving Fisher, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Charles Davenport and Henry Crampton. The organization started by promoting racial betterment, eugenic health, and genetic education through public lectures, exhibits at county fairs, etc.

To gain popularity with the public, the eugenics movement adopted "two faces," a positive and negative face. The 'positive' side of this movement focused on emphasizing the urge for the "genetically gifted" to reproduce. The 'negative' face of the eugenics campaign involved efforts to prevent the "defective" individuals from reproducing. This negative side of the eugenics movement catalyzed anti-immigration movements of the early twentieth centuries because of the idea that non-whites and immigrants were "inferior" to "native-born white Americans" in terms of intelligence, physical condition, and moral stature.[5]

The AES primarily used fitter family contests to help promote its mission. These fitter family contests took place in public festivals or fairs. Physical appearance, behavior, intelligence, and health were just a few of the qualities that the AES looked at while determining the fittest family. The AES would give out prizes, trophies, and medals to the winning families. Additionally, the AES would sponsor displays and exhibits that featured statistics on the births of "undesirable" or "desirable" children at the fairs and festivals.[6] An example of such a display from the 1920s and 1930s statistics claimed as follows: Every sixteen seconds, a child is born in the United States. Out of those children, a capable, desirable child is born every seven and a half minutes, whereas an undesirable, feebleminded child is born every forty-eight seconds, and a future criminal is born every fifty seconds.[7] To conclude, the display would argue that every fifteen seconds, a hundred dollars of taxpayers' money went towards supporting the mentally ill and undesirable.[7]

These family contests also involved judgements. These "judgements" were taken from each participants' medical records, occupation, education level, political affiliation, marital status, and religion. IQ tests were also taken to establish each participant's intelligence level. Then, each family underwent "physical examinations" and "disease testing."[8] Following all of these tests and examinations, each participant would receive a "score" and a "family level score."[8] The participants who scored highly received a medal that read 'Yea, I have a goodly heritage.'[8] The demographic of these medal winners were predominantly white, married, wealthy, educated, and non-immigrant individuals which promoted the AES agenda of ideal and perfect traits for "positive eugenics."[8]

There were numerous committees within the AES dedicated to different aspects of eugenic education. For example, there was a committee dedicated to crime prevention. These committees pressured local municipal and legal systems to push the AES beliefs and ideas.[9]

The AES also sought to promote eugenic policies at the US state and federal level; in particular, Harry H. Laughlin promoted eugenic sterilization in the early twentieth century. By the late 1920s, eugenic sterilization laws were being enforced in multiple states (Sterilization law in the United States). By 1933, California had enforced eugenically sterilization laws on more people than any of the other US states combined, mainly affecting people of color and foreign immigrants. These laws led to court cases and lawsuits, such as Buck v. Bell (1927) and Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942).

In 1926, the society published a Eugenics Catechism, arguing that eugenics was supported by the Bible, and therefore ought to be promoted by Christians.[10][11]

During the presidency of Henry Farnham Perkins from 1931 to 1933, the AES worked with the American Birth Control League. Margaret Sanger, a birth control activist, was a member of the AES in 1956 and established the American Birth Control League in 1921.[7] Margaret Sanger, however, identified with broader issues of "health and fitness" during the 20th century eugenics movement, which were well-respected and popular amongst doctors, physicians, political leaders, and educators.[12] Sanger continued to believe in and push for women's reproductive rights and encouraged those in political power to steer away from racially motivated ideas or tactics involving the eugenics movement. For example, Sanger "vocally opposed" racial stereotyping which lead to the passing of the Immigration Act of 1924, "on the grounds that intelligence" and other characteristics vary by individual, not by group.[12]

Under the direction of Frederick Osborn, the Society began to place greater focus on issues of population control, genetics, and, later, medical genetics. In 1930, the Society included mostly prominent and wealthy individuals, and membership included many non-scientists. The demographics of the Society gradually changed, and by 1960, members of the Society were almost exclusively scientists and medical professionals. Consequentially, the Society focused more on genetics and less on class-based eugenics.[2]

After the Roe v. Wade decision was released in 1973, the Society was reorganized and renamed The Society for the Study of Social Biology.[2] Osborn said, "[t]he name was changed because it became evident that changes of a eugenic nature would be made for reasons other than eugenics, and that tying a eugenic label on them would more often hinder than help."[13][14]

The name was most recently changed to Society for Biodemography and Social Biology in 2008.[1] The name inherited the name of two disciplines (biodemography and social biology) as a result of interactions between demography and biology throughout the last half of the twentieth century.[4] The Society was then disbanded in 2019. The disbandment of the Society was ultimately due to limits on funding, member engagement, internal tensions, and public interest, or lack thereof, in eugenics.[8] The Society initially began to struggle finding sufficient funding. The lack of funding issue began around 1937 but continued until its official disbandment. The moving of the AES head offices from New Haven to New York in the 1930s also incurred some financial difficulties.[8] The issue of lack of funding was never fully resolved but was not substantial enough to end the AES. As time persisted, the eugenics belief and the Society's history became increasingly unpopular amongst individuals and the Society received lots of backlash, ultimately causing its disbandment.

## Journal

[edit]

The Society's official journal was Biodemography and Social Biology, originally established in 1954 as Eugenics Quarterly. It was renamed to Social Biology in 1969 and to Biodemography and Social Biology in 2008.[15] The Journal has continued to publish original research articles and short reports from Taylor and Francis.

## List of Presidents

[edit]

### American Eugenics Society (1922–1973)

[edit]

* Irving Fisher 1922–1926 (Political Economy, Yale University)
* Roswell Hill Johnson 1926–1927 (Cold Spring Harbor, Univ. of Pittsburgh)
* Harry H. Laughlin 1927–1929 (Eugenics Record Office)
* Clarence C. Little 1929 (Pres., University of Michigan)[16]
* Henry Pratt Fairchild 1929–1931 (Sociology, New York University)
* Henry Farnham Perkins 1931–1934 (Zoology, University of Vermont)
* Ellsworth Huntington 1934–1938 (Geography, Yale University)
* Samuel Jackson Holmes 1938–1940 (Zoology, University of California)
* Maurice Bigelow 1940–1945 (Columbia University)
* Frederick Osborn 1946–1952 (Osborn-Dodge-Harriman RR connection)[clarification needed]
* Harry L. Shapiro 1956–1963 (American Museum of Natural History)
* Clyde V. Kiser 1964–1968 (differential fertility, Milbank Memorial Fund)[clarification needed]
* Dudley Kirk 1969–1972 (Demography, Stanford University)
* Bruce K. Eckland 1972–1975 (Sociology, University of North Carolina)

### The Society for the Study of Social Biology (1973–2008)

[edit]

* Bruce K. Eckland 1972–1975 (Sociology, University of North Carolina)
* L. Erlenmeyer-Kimling 1976–1978 (Genetic Psychiatry)
* Gardner Lindzey 1979–1981 (Center for Advanced Study, Behavioral Sciences)
* John L. Fuller 1982–1983 (Behavioral genetics)
* Michael Teitelbaum 1985–1990 (US Congress staff; US population policy)
* Robert Retherford 1991–1994 (East-West Institute, Hawaii; funded by AID)[citation needed]
* Joseph Lee Rodgers 1994–1995 (Psychology, University of Oklahoma)[17]

### Society for Biodemography and Social Biology (2008–2019)

[edit]

* Hans-Peter Kohler, 2007–2012 (Demography, University of Pennsylvania)[18]
* Jason Boardman, 2012–2015 (University of Colorado Boulder)
* Andrew J. Noymer, 2015–2019 (University of California, Irvine)[19]

## See also

[edit]

* American Society of Human Genetics
* Behavior Genetics Association
* British Eugenics Society
* Human Betterment Foundation

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Eugenics, Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology, (2014, pp 619-626) ISBN 978-1-4614-5583-7
2. ^ a b c "American Eugenics Society". Controlling Heredity. Curators of the University of Missouri. March 16, 2012. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
3. ^ "The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology". June 15, 2012. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
4. ^ a b Matsuura, H. (April 16, 2023). "Overcoming the history of Eugenics in demography call for contributions from historians, ethicists, and human rights scholars". Biodemography and Social Biology. 68 (1): 1–2\. doi:10.1080/19485565.2023.2203570. ISSN 1948-5573. PMID 37062056. S2CID 258171239.
5. ^ "American Eugenics Society Scrapbook". www.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
6. ^ Kevles, Daniel J. (August 14, 1999). "Eugenics and human rights". BMJ. 319 (7207): 435–438\. doi:10.1136/bmj.319.7207.435. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1127045. PMID 10445929.
7. ^ a b c Gur-Arie, Rachel (July 3, 2018) [Originally published November 22, 2012]. "American Eugenics Society (1926-1972)". The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
8. ^ a b c d e f Magliato, Emme. ""Eugenically Yours": A History of the American Eugenics Society". digitalcommons.providence.edu.
9. ^ "American Eugenics Society (1926-1972) | Embryo Project Encyclopedia". embryo.asu.edu. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
10. ^ Baker, G. J. (April 8, 2014). "Christianity and Eugenics: The Place of Religion in the British Eugenics Education Society and the American Eugenics Society, c.1907-1940". Social History of Medicine. 27 (2): 281–302\. doi:10.1093/shm/hku008. ISSN 0951-631X. PMC 4001825. PMID 24778464.
11. ^ Jackson, John P.; Weidman, Nadine M. (2005). "The Origins of Scientific Racism". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (50): 66–79\. ISSN 1077-3711. JSTOR 25073379.
12. ^ a b "Opposition Claims About Margaret Sanger" (PDF). www.supremecourt.gov.
13. ^ Messall, Rebecca (Fall 2004). "The Long Road of Eugenics: From Rockefeller to Roe v. Wade". The Human Life Review. 30 (4): 33–74, 67. PMID 15856597.
14. ^ American Eugenics Society, Inc. (1931). Organized eugenics: January 1931. pp. 3, 65.
15. ^ "Biodemography and Social Biology - List of issues". Taylor & Francis Online. Informa UK Limited. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
16. ^ Williamson, Kevin D. (June 19, 2017). "Planned Parenthood's Century of Brutality". National Review. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
17. ^ "Joe Rodgers". Psychological Sciences. Vanderbilt University. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
18. ^ Kohler, Hans-Peter (August 26, 2020). "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
19. ^ Noymer, Andrew (August 15, 2019). "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). University of California. Retrieved December 19, 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology
* Biodemography and Social Biology The academic journal.

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