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From Public Good To Public Disgrace: Eugenics In North Carolina, Meghan M. Mcguirk
From Public Good To Public Disgrace: Eugenics In North Carolina, Meghan M. Mcguirk
Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
This CE/T project explores the sterilization program in North Carolina in the twentieth century. From 1929 to 1974, over 7,600 men, women, and children were sterilized by the Eugenics Board of North Carolina, a department of the state government of North Carolina. The North Carolina legislature enacted legislation that allowed for the forced sterilization of persons considered “feeble-minded” or a threat to the public good of society. The perceived threat to society changed over the course of the program from patients in mental institutions to low socio-economic women seen as a burden to the public. The mechanism for selection and …