In the early twentieth century, most US states established eugenics programs to “improve” the human race through selective breeding. North Carolina ran one of the nation’s most aggressive programs; between 1927 and 1977, at least 5,700 people were sterilized and thousands more were committed to institutions. While sterilizations in the 1950s and 1960s disproportionately targeted Black women receiving public assistance, the program’s early focus was on poor white women. These policies were framed as scientific and progressive, yet they were deeply intertwined with racial and class biases, reflecting long-standing social hierarchies in the South.
Anna Krome-Lukens examines those early years and reveals how white reformers such as social workers, politicians, and activists promoted the principles of eugenics while shaping the emerging welfare state before and during the New Deal. By using claims about fitness and mental defects to justify unequal access to public benefits, they defined who was worthy of care. Tracing this history, Strong State, Weak Links illuminates how North Carolina’s eugenics programs influenced the modern welfare state and how their legacy continues to shape debates over social policy today.
- 329 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1. The Social Pulse of North Carolina: The Emergence of Progressive Reform Networks
- Chapter 2. Constant Care and Anxiety: Institutional Segregation and the Eugenics Debate in the 1910s
- Chapter 3. Save the Feeble-Minded Girl: The Limits of Institutions and the Logic of Sterilization
- Chapter 4. The Root of Social Problems: Eugenics and the Training of Social Workers
- Chapter 5. The Burden of the Socially Useless: Eugenics Research and the Campaign for Sterilization Laws in the 1920s
- Chapter 6. Brewer v. Valk: Legal Strategies in Addressing Female Delinquency and Feeblemindedness
- Chapter 7. The Human Element in the Modern Welfare State
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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Yes, you can access Strong State, Weak Links by Anna Krome-Lukens in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & North American History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.