"Our Seeds Sprouted:" The Human Betterment League of North Carolina, 1947-1988
Abstract
Eugenics is largely remembered for coming into disrepute in the post-War period following
the Nazi regime and the Holocaust. However, 21st-century scholarship has begun to
assess the transformations and proliferations of “eugenics” in the latter 20th century.
This has prompted a reconceptualization of the complex relationships of reproductive
choice, genetic manipulability, and the progression of modern science and medicine
– as well as the historic foundations of these ideas and institutions. This thesis
centers on the Human Betterment League of North Carolina (the HBLNC or the League)
from 1947 to 1988 across their three periods of work promoting distinct causes: first,
sterilization; second, population control; and third, genetics. Drawing on a range
of internal documents and public-facing educational materials from the HBLNC archives,
this thesis reveals how each period of the League’s work represents a unique historical
project of eugenics bound by the overarching goal of “human betterment” via reproductive
control. The narrative of the League connects local and global histories, exemplifying
how reproduction has been tied to both small-scale and world-spanning projects of
development, as well as identifies the critical role that women had within eugenics
projects as members of HBLNC leadership. Rather than be completely abandoned at the
turn of the 20th century, eugenics aspiration for human “betterment” were reintegrated
into the landscapes of increasingly robust and sophisticated tools and ideas about
science, medicine, and reproduction.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
HistorySubject
eugenicsHuman Betterment League of North Carolina
population control
genetics counseling
history of biology
reproductive control
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25035Citation
Livingston, Cydney (2022). "Our Seeds Sprouted:" The Human Betterment League of North Carolina, 1947-1988. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25035.Collections
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