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Timeline of Forced Sterilization
Introductory Section:
The implementation of scientific research in the 19th century poorly constructed and scrutinized certain types of bodies in an effort to locate genetic differences that could be used to justify social inequalities and patriarchal norms within society. This practice of manipulating the perceptions of the human body continued into the 20th century with the emergence of new scientific developments in heredity and genetics, culminating in the racialized, biological concept known as the eugenics movement. The work of Gregor Mendel, notably his experimentation with peas, stipulated that the inheritance of physical and personal traits was predetermined by one's ancestral, genetic make-up. This implied that inheritance was an immediate process, and by selecting the fittest and most productive members of society to reproduce, a higher stock of humans could be possible for the future. Although this idea was not upheld through further empirical research, its social implications continued to influence rhetoric held by the burgeoning eugenics movement (McCann 103). Francis Galton, the forerunner and founder of eugenics, claimed that social characteristics such as poverty and illiteracy were directly linked to inheritance and thus could be eradicated by controlling the means of reproduction. Although the eugenics movement was infamous for its blatant inhumane and racist ideologies, it was seen as a logical solution to "better civilization" and thus mankind. The most notable advocate of the practice of eugenics as well as birth control was Margaret Sanger, an acclaimed women's rights activist and the founder of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood, although viewed as an institution that rallied for female reproductive freedoms, held a very racialized, social ideology that attempted to achieve genetic homogeneity through the advocacy of birth control within disadvantaged neighborhoods. This practice was extended to the point of allowing for the compulsory sterilization of those deemed "unfit and inferior" by White, societal norms. In the monumental Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell in 1927, Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes asserted that the state had the right to enforce sterilization based on the stipulation of police power. The guidelines to enforce coercive birth control were often vague and rarely dissented by medical physicians and practitioners. For instance, in the guise of obtaining consent from a patient, physicians would provide inaccurate information to gain the necessary “x” from an illiterate patient or parent such as in the case of the Minne Lee Relf. In the rise of conservative, anti-welfare movements, young women of color were forced to “volunteer” for sterilization procedures by being threatened with the removal of government assistance and benefits. Many of these victims of compulsory sterilization reported feeling less than complete as a woman because of their inability to reproduce. Because child rearing was seen as one of the most important, social expectations for women, those from underprivileged groups felt further disconnected and alienated by such family-societal norms. The specific way in which the African American female body was constructed and sexualized by eugenicists was largely used to justify and reinforce their inferior social status. By implementing compulsory sterilization on those deemed "genetically inferior," society asserted control over the means of reproduction of African American women, who suffered the most from social and racially demeaning stereotypes. The continued dehumanization of African American women, which predated back to slavery and arguably to the present day, was held by the imposition of negative social assumptions of such individuals as being unfit mothers and overly promiscuous sub-humans
