The article discusses how during the progressive era, eugenics, an inhumane pseudoscience that aimed to improve the genetic quality of a human population, was adopted by academia, causing devastating effects worldwide. The influence of the Boston Brahmins, an elite and well-educated class of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, played a significant role in promoting eugenics. They believed that people should be divided into different castes, with themselves seen as the most distinguished in their area. Many academics, such as Richard T. Ely, who was mentored by Woodrow Wilson, promoted eugenic dogma. He favored regulating marriage through a test to determine whether a couple was fit to have children. His sentiments and racist beliefs were shared by other academics, including David Starr Jordan, Charles William Eliot, and Charles Van Hise. They believed in sterilization as a means to prevent the “unfit” from propagating the race.
One organization that supported the eugenics movement was the Human Betterment Foundation, founded by Ezra Gosney, which aimed to observe the potential benefits of forced sterilization in California. The organization’s book, co-authored by Gosney and Paul Popenoe, was recognized and cited by Nazi party officials to enact their own program in 1933. Charles Goethe, a fellow eugenicist, congratulated Gosney on his work being adopted by the Nazis. In 1934, the Los Angeles County Museum displayed Nazi exhibits to promote eugenics, with the southern California branch of the American Eugenics Society praising it.
Academics, including Davenport, collected data on students’ heredity, racial origin, and other characteristics. Davenport started the International Federation of Eugenics Organizations to bring together eugenic scientists from across the globe. In 1924, the Immigration Act was passed, which halted Asian immigration while setting quotas on southern and eastern Europeans. The act barred Anne Frank’s father from escaping to America. The elite and the state colluded to propagandize the “unfit,” giving Hitler fuel to continue his campaign. The article reminds readers to reject eugenics in all forms.
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