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Carrie Buck

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Illustration of Arthur Estabrook taking a photograph of Carrie and Emma Buck.

Finding Carrie Buck

Doctors who sterilized Carrie Buck said she was a “feeble-minded” woman whose future offspring posed a threat to society. Her life paints a different picture.
by Cori Brosnahan via PBS NewsHour on November 2, 2018
Carrie Buck with her mother Emma.

The Forgotten Lessons of the American Eugenics Movement

It's impossible to revisit the history of America's quest for racial purity without sometimes being reminded of the current public discourse.
by Andrea DenHoed via The New Yorker on April 27, 2016
A three panel image of Carrie Buck, Britney Spears, and Ann Cooper Hewitt.

Britney Spears, Carrie Buck and the Awful History of Controlling ‘Unfit’ Women

Behind Britney Spears's struggle to regain control of her fortune and her medical decisions is a long history of robbing women of basic freedoms.
by Gillian Brockell via Retropolis on September 30, 2021
A scientific instrument

How the Sinister Study of Eugenics Legitimized Forced Sterilization in the United States

Audrey Clare Farley on the scientists who weaponized biology.
by Audrey Clare Farley via Literary Hub on April 22, 2021
Carrie Buck and her mother, Emma, at the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, 1924

The Chilling Persistence of Eugenics

Elizabeth Catte’s new book traces a shameful history and its legacy today.
by Chris Lehmann via The New Republic on April 20, 2021
Justice Clarence Thomas arrives for the ceremonial swearing-in of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the East Room of the White House on Oct. 8, 2018.

Why Clarence Thomas Is Trying to Bring Eugenics Into the Abortion Debate

They really do not have anything to do with each other.
by Adam S. Cohen, Dahlia Lithwick via Slate on June 17, 2019
A hand made into a fist is camouflaged against the American flag.

The Dark Parallels Between 1920s America and Today’s Political Climate

The early 1920s in the US offers historical lessons on how current pessimism about the state of the country can manifest in dangerous, discriminatory ways.
by Alex Green via The Conversation on March 10, 2025
An old hospital room

“I Assumed It Was Urgent”: Helen Hurd’s Story

The story of medical sterilization, which in many cases was disguised as a routine appendectomy surgery.
by Caryn Radick via Nursing Clio on March 16, 2021
Elizabeth Catte and her book

'Pure America': Eugenics Past and Present

Historian Elizabeth Catte traces the history and influence of eugenics from her backyard across the country.
by Elizabeth Catte, Adam Willems via Scalawag on March 2, 2021

Clarence Thomas Used My Book to Argue Against Abortion

The justice used my book to tie abortion to eugenics. But his rendition of the history is incorrect.
by Adam S. Cohen via The Atlantic on May 29, 2019

By Retiring a Seal, Harvard Wages War on the Dead — but to What End?

Rather than censuring the legacies of our ancestors, we should work to make our descendants proud.
by Ted Gup via Washington Post on March 18, 2016
Woman who looks unhappy.

Unwanted Sterilization and Eugenics Programs in the United States

A shameful part of America’s history.
by Lisa Ko via PBS NewsHour on January 29, 2016
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