1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. Several episodes 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: of our show have touched on the Progressive era in 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: the United States and the span from the late nineteenth 6 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: into the early twentieth centuries. The progressive era was really 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: focused on trying to make society better and to counteract 8 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:36,279 Speaker 1: the downsides of industrialization and urbanization and rapid growth. So 9 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: just as examples, we've talked about people like Jane Adams, 10 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: known as the Mother of social work, and we've talked 11 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: about movements for women's suffrage, temperance, and organized labor. And 12 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: the temperance movement did lead to prohibition, which was a 13 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: spectacular failure. But other than that, these episodes have generally 14 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: talked about overall positive reforms and education and public health 15 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: and workplace safety, human rights. But the progressive era also 16 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: had to focus on making humanity better through eugenics coined 17 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:15,040 Speaker 1: by English anthropologists Sir Francis Galton in three Eugenics began 18 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: with positive eugenics, and this was encouraging the people who 19 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: were considered the healthiest and the most intelligent to have 20 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: more children for the betterment of the species. But in 21 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: a few countries, including the United States, the focus turned 22 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: toward negative eugenics, or stopping people who were considered not 23 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: as good from reproducing. Spurred by the same fears and 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: prejudices and societal issues that were driving the progressive movement 25 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: in general, the eugenics movement in the United States focused 26 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: on identifying, sequestering, and even sterilizing people who were deemed 27 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,559 Speaker 1: to be unfit. So today we're going to talk about 28 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: a family who became a case study for the eugenics movement, 29 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: purportedly providing evidence for the idea that feeble mindedness was 30 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: an inherited trait and that it would be best to 31 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: keep people who had that trait from reproducing. This family 32 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: is known as the Calikas. And this is a note. 33 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: A lot of the language that was used to talk 34 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,799 Speaker 1: about disability at this time was insulting, and we're going 35 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,639 Speaker 1: to be reading from and referring to a bunch of material. 36 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: It's just offensive. So anytime we say feeble minded or 37 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: unfit or similar words like that's in air quotes. These 38 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: are not real things to describe people, right also heads up, 39 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: it's a little loggy, it's a little longer than normal. 40 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: This you're one of the runners who listens in your time, 41 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: your run to the episode. If you go the whole way, 42 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: you've gone too far. Probably so, and that's probably the 43 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: last jesty thing you'll hear in this episode. Yeah yeah. So. 44 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: In l the McMillan Company published a book by Henry 45 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,799 Speaker 1: Herbert Goddard, director of the Research Laboratory at the Vineland 46 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: Training School for Backward and Feeble Minded Children in Vineland, 47 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: New Jersey. It was called The Calakak Family, A Study 48 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: in the Heredity of Feeble Mindedness. It was just one 49 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: in a whole genre of literature called eugenic family studies. 50 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: The first book in this genre was The Jukes, A 51 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease and Heredity, and this book 52 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: was by Richard doug Dale. Doug Dale's study came about 53 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: after he visited the Ulster County Jail in New York 54 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: and learned that six people who were incarcerated there were 55 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: related to each other. Looking into it further, Dugdale found 56 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: more family members who had arrests and convictions on their records, 57 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: and he traced more of the lineage, all the way 58 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: back to a woman that he dubbed Margaret, the Mother 59 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: of Criminals. He found forty two connected families, with five 60 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: hundred forty of their seven hundred nine members blood relatives. 61 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: According to doug Dale's estimate, their combined criminal proceedings, social assistance, 62 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: and healthcare had cost a total of about one point 63 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: three million dollars. A second book by Arthur H. Estabrook 64 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: at the Eugenics Record Office came out in nineteen fifteen, 65 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: and this traced another two thousand, one hundred eleven family 66 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: members who he described as rife with quote feeble mindedness, indolence, licentiousness, 67 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 1: and dishonesty, and costing taxpayers about two million dollars. Goddard's 68 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:36,359 Speaker 1: study of the Calcas followed doug Dale's original book on 69 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: the Jukes, and like Jukes, Calicas was pseudonym was a 70 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: portmanteau of the Greek words callos for beauty and cacos 71 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: for bad. According to Goddard's account, Deborah Calicac had been 72 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 1: born in an almshouse and had arrived at the Violence 73 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: School at the age of eight. Her mother had been 74 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: through a convoluted series of relationships and marriages, and had 75 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,720 Speaker 1: given to several children, both in and out of wedlock, 76 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: and according to Goddard, no man in her life was 77 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: willing to support the young Deborah. Goddard maintained that from 78 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:15,719 Speaker 1: her admission at the school in October until nineteen eleven, 79 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 1: when he was compiling his study, Deborrah had never tested 80 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: above the age of nine on an intelligence scale. He 81 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 1: described her as quote a high grade feeble minded person, 82 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 1: the kind of wayward delinquent who quote fills our reformatories, 83 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: generally causing trouble and creating a burden on society. So 84 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: feeble minded was a catch all term used at the 85 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: time to describe people who were, in one way or 86 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: another behind their peers. It included everything from mental illnesses 87 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: to disabilities and disorders that were noticeable but not necessarily severe. 88 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: A person described as feeble minded might be able to 89 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: take care of their own day to day needs while 90 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,239 Speaker 1: struggling with social interaction their academic skills or physical skills. 91 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: Was considered to be a precise, medically and scientifically sound 92 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: description at the time, but it is definitely not one 93 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,600 Speaker 1: we would use today to describe a disability, disorder, or condition. 94 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: Goddard also coined a new word to describe people who 95 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: fit this definition. That word was moron, defined as one 96 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: who is lacking in intelligence, one who is deficient in 97 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 1: judgment or sense, and like feeble minded, moron was adopted 98 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: as an actual clinical term. Goddard claimed he had traced 99 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: Deborah's ancestry all the way back to her great great 100 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: great grandfather, who he dubbed Martin Calicak senior. Martin Senior 101 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: was described as having fathered a child with an unnamed 102 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: feeble minded barmaid, Deborah's great great great grandmother. This barmaid's 103 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: descendants were a family of quote an appalling amount of defectiveness. 104 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 1: But and Martin Senior turned his life around and married 105 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: a quote respectable girl of good family. His descendants from 106 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: this marriage were, in Goddard's words, quote respectable citizens, men 107 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: and women prominent in every phase of life. As printed 108 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: in the book, the Calacac lineage, with its beautiful half 109 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: and its bad half, was accompanied by family trees emblazoned 110 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: with ends and f's for normal and feeble minded, with 111 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: ends in white and f's in black, along with notations 112 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: of which ones were sexually immoral, insane, syphilitic, or criminalistic. 113 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: All of these are words that God had used, and 114 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 1: the results are striking. One half of the tree depicting 115 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: the descendants of Martin Senior's children with the upstanding Quaker 116 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: woman he married, is full of quote normal people flawlessly white, 117 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: and then the other half, depicting the descendants of Martin's 118 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: son with the unnamed barmaid, is dotted all over with 119 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: black f's with notations of undesirable traits all over the place. 120 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: There are also photographs both of Deborah in her day 121 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: to day life and of the bad Calikacs and their homes. 122 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: The photos of Deborah are clearly posed, and they show 123 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: an attractive young woman in a variety of day to 124 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: day scenarios. The photos of the other Calikacs look like 125 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: they could have inspired the X Files episode Home. The 126 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: buildings are all very ramshackle, the people's postures slouchy, and 127 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: the facial expressions and features are oddly atypical. And Goddard's 128 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:40,079 Speaker 1: words quote, how do we account for this kind of individual? 129 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: The answer is, in a word, heredity bad stock. We 130 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: must recognize that the human family shows varying stocks or 131 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:52,079 Speaker 1: strains that are marked, and that breed as true as 132 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: anything in plant or animal life. Citing Gregor Mendel's theories 133 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: on hereditary traits, Goddard goes on to advocate that normal, 134 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: healthy society keep the feeble minded from breeding and spreading 135 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: their inherited deficiencies. He suggests a combination of segregation into 136 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: institutions or colonies and sterilization. We will talk about the 137 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: colossal influence of this book. After a quick sponsor break, 138 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,079 Speaker 1: the Calikak Family, A Study in the Heredity of Feeble Mindedness, 139 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: became enormously influential. It was an immediate bestseller and was 140 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: reprinted more than ten times between nineteen twelve and nineteen 141 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: thirty nine. Although the book did have some critics, a 142 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: number of academic journals, including the American Journal of Psychology 143 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: and the Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law 144 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 1: and Criminology, gave it glowingly positive reviews. Both Calikak and 145 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: Juke became slang terms for people thought of as unintelligent, backward, 146 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: and inbread. The book's conclusion s were also widely accepted 147 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: as scientific truth, and this was in spite of this 148 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: admission printed in its introduction quote, it is true that 149 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: we have made rather dogmatic statements and have drawn conclusions 150 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: that do not seem scientifically warranted from the data. We 151 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 1: have done this because it seems necessary to make these 152 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: statements and conclusions for the benefit of the lay reader. Soon, 153 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: the Calicas are being cited in mainstream biology and psychology textbooks. 154 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: If you've heard our podcast on the Scopes trial, you 155 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: might recall that we read from a civic biology presented 156 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,439 Speaker 1: in Problems, and that was the widely used biology textbook 157 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,839 Speaker 1: that was part of that case. Chapter seventeen of the 158 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:46,200 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen edition, titled Heredity Variation, Plant and Animal Breeding, 159 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 1: explains the term eugenics before discussing both the Calicas and 160 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: the Jukes. It basically boils down the idea of eugenics 161 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 1: to the science of being well born. In its discussion 162 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: of the Jukes, the book mentions Margaret, mother of criminals, 163 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: the more than one million dollar tax costs to the 164 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: state of New York, and the large number of quote 165 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: feeble minded, alcoholic, immoral, or criminal persons that were purportedly 166 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: in the family. It then moves on to the Calikas quote. 167 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: This family has been traced back to the War of 168 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: the Revolution, when a young soldier named Martin Calikax seduced 169 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: a feeble minded girl. She had a feeble minded son, 170 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: from whom there have been to the present time four 171 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: hundred eighty descendants. Of these, thirty three were sexually immoral, 172 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:38,560 Speaker 1: twenty four confirmed drunkards, three epileptics, and one hundred forty 173 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 1: three feeble minded. The man who started this terrible line 174 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:46,079 Speaker 1: of immorality and feeble mindedness later married a normal Quaker girl. 175 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: From this couple, a line of four hundred ninety six 176 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: descendants have come with no cases of feeble mindedness. The 177 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: evidence and the moral speak for themselves. Pacific Biology goes 178 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: on to say that if people were animals, we would 179 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: probably just quote kill them off to prevent them from spreading. 180 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: It goes on to explain, quote humanity will not allow this, 181 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 1: but we do have the remedy of separating the sexes 182 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: and asylums or other places and in various ways preventing 183 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: intermarriage and the possibilities of perpetuating such a low and 184 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: generate race. Through the Calacac family and other books and propaganda, 185 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: the idea that defective people needed to be kept from 186 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,040 Speaker 1: breeding became common knowledge, and in the early decades of 187 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:38,079 Speaker 1: the twentieth century, more than thirty states past laws allowing 188 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 1: and regulating the involuntary sterilization of people who were deemed 189 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 1: to be feeble minded or otherwise unfit. Often, sterilization involved 190 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: a vasectomy or tubal ligation, but could also be as 191 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: involved as a total hysterectomy. Many of these laws were 192 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 1: patterned after a model law drafted by Harry H. Laughlin 193 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: of the Genics Record Office at cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 194 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: who was one of Goddard's colleagues within the eugenics movement. 195 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: Goddard himself consulted with states on their eugenics laws as well. Basically, 196 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: states kept passing laws that we're not being upheld in court, 197 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,560 Speaker 1: and so these guys got together to draft a law 198 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:24,079 Speaker 1: that would be upheld as constitutional. In One of these 199 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: laws made its way to the Supreme Court in Buck 200 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: versus Bell Carry Buck had been committed to the Virginia 201 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: Colony for epileptics and feeble minded, and she was sterilized there. Carry, 202 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: her mother, and her daughter were all described as feeble minded, 203 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:42,559 Speaker 1: and Carrie and her mother were both described as immoral 204 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: and promiscuous because they had had children. Out of wedlock. 205 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: The Calacac family was entered into evidence in this case. 206 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: Harry H. Laughlin provided expert testimony. Dr Estabrook, the one 207 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: who revised the study of the Jukes family, did as well. 208 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: The Supreme Court found Virginia's eugenics law to be constitutional 209 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: and upheld it with the opinion authored by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior, 210 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:13,200 Speaker 1: including the sentence quote, three generations of imbeciles are enough. 211 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: Involuntary sterilizations were also being performed on people convicted of crimes, 212 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: but this generally ended after the Supreme Court ruled in 213 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: Skinner versus Oklahoma in nine states had been sterilizing people 214 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: convicted of some felonies but not others, and the Court 215 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 1: ruled that this was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendments 216 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: Equal Protection claus But Buck versus Bell has never been overturned, 217 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: meaning that the Supreme Court never officially reversed its decision 218 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: on sterilization of people who were not convicted of a crime. 219 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: Involuntary sterilizations of supposedly unfit people continued into the in 220 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: the United States until the nineteen seventies, at which point 221 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: at least sixty thousand people had been involuntarily sterilized, predominantly women. 222 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 1: While there have been calls for reparations, North Carolina is 223 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: this only state so far to pass legislation to do so. 224 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: The idea of keeping bloodlines free from the taint of 225 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 1: feeble mindedness also went hand in hand with the idea 226 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 1: of keeping white bloodlines racially pure. Many of the same 227 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: people who helped states write eugenics laws relating to the 228 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: unfit also worked on legislation to protect white racial purity 229 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: at the state and national level. For example, Harry H. 230 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 1: Laughlin was a huge proponent of the Immigration Restriction Act 231 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: of nineteen twenty four, which set quotas on immigration based 232 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: on how many people already in the United States hailed 233 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: from a particular place, so it allowed the most immigration 234 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: from nations that were already the most similar to white Americans, 235 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: which was Northwest Europe, that allowed almost no immigration from 236 00:15:55,320 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: Africa and barred immigration from Asia entirely. The immigra Ration 237 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: Act was also influenced by Henry H. Goddard's work at 238 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: Ellis Island, where he had set up an intelligence testing 239 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: center to evaluate incoming immigrants and turn away the ones 240 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:15,520 Speaker 1: deemed insufficient. In the nineteen teens. In his work intelligence 241 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: classification of immigrants of different nationalities, he claimed that forty 242 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 1: percent of immigrants were feeble minded, including eighty three percent 243 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: of Jews, seventy nine percent of Italians, eight percent of Hungarians, 244 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: and eighty seven percent of Russians. These evaluations began with 245 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 1: one tester identifying probable cases by sight and then referring 246 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: the people she spotted to her colleague for an assessment. 247 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: Goddard employed women for this purpose because he thought their 248 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: intuition was better for it. As another example, Harry H. 249 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: Laughlin also helped draft Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of nineteen 250 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 1: twenty four, which defined race according to the one drop rule, 251 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: meaning that anyone who had one drop of African or 252 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: Native American blood was considered black or Native American by law. 253 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 1: The only exception was for people who were one sixteenth 254 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: or less Native American, and this exception was to allow 255 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: prominent Virginians purportedly descended from Pocahontas to still be considered 256 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: legally white. This act also prohibited interracial marriage, and there 257 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 1: is more on it in our two part podcast on 258 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:33,439 Speaker 1: Loving Versus Virginia from In addition to the sterilizations of 259 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 1: the unfit that were codified in state's eugenics laws. There 260 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:41,719 Speaker 1: were also involuntary and coerce sterilizations of poor people and 261 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: racial and ethnic minorities, including Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and 262 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:50,440 Speaker 1: African Americans, stretching all the way into the nineteen seventies. 263 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: Because these were not conducted under any particular law or 264 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:58,959 Speaker 1: official program, the exact numbers are harder to estimate. In 265 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: many cases, these terializations were performed in conjunction with other 266 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: procedures and without the patient's knowledge. This practice was so 267 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: prevalent in the South that it was nicknamed a Mississippi 268 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: appendectomy that was either coined or popularized by Fanny Lew Hamer, 269 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,200 Speaker 1: who is on the list for a future podcast episode. 270 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: As with Buck versus Bell and the forced sterilizations of 271 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: people considered unfit, cases regarding the forced or coerced sterializations 272 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 1: of minorities have also made their way through the courts. 273 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:37,639 Speaker 1: Two black teenagers, Mary Alison many Ralph, were sterilized without 274 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 1: their parents consent in nineteen seventy three. Their mother, who 275 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,439 Speaker 1: was not literate, had believed she was signing a consent 276 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: form for birth control shots, and when the case made headlines, 277 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 1: many more black and Native American women became coming began 278 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: coming forward with similar allegations. In his opinion on Ralph 279 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,880 Speaker 1: versus Weinberger, Judge Gerhardt Guestl of the U. S. Dish 280 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,120 Speaker 1: Strict Court for the District of Columbia wrote that federal 281 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,399 Speaker 1: programs had funded the sterilization of one hundred thousand to 282 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:10,400 Speaker 1: one hundred fifty thousand low income women during the previous 283 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: few years. He went on quote, although Congress has been 284 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: insistent that all family planning programs function on a purely 285 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: voluntary basis, there is uncontroverted evidence in the record that 286 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,640 Speaker 1: miners and other incompetence have been sterilized with federal funds, 287 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,439 Speaker 1: and that an indefinite number of poor people have been 288 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:34,159 Speaker 1: improperly coerced into accepting a sterilization operation under the threat 289 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: that various federally supported welfare benefits would be withdrawn unless 290 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:43,600 Speaker 1: they submitted to irreversible sterilization. In another case, Madrigal versus 291 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,120 Speaker 1: Quilligan was a class action lawsuit with ten plaintiffs who 292 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: alleged that Los Angeles County USC Medical Center had either 293 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 1: coerced or misled them into being sterilized during a caesarean section, 294 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 1: with the option being presented to them after hours of 295 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,560 Speaker 1: difficult labor. Nearly a hundred and fifties Spanish speaking women 296 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: had come forward with similar allegations. In nineteen seventy eight, 297 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,359 Speaker 1: Judge Jesse W. Curtis ruled in favor of the hospital, 298 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: calling it quote a breakdown in communications between the patients 299 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,119 Speaker 1: and the doctors, and although the plaintiffs didn't win in 300 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: this case, it did ultimately lead to laws requiring Spanish 301 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: speaking staff to explain procedures and obtain consent from Spanish 302 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: speaking patients. Coerced sterilizations have also continued well beyond the 303 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies. Buck versus Bell was cited as precedent in 304 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 1: the two thousand one case von versus Utz heard in 305 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: the Eighth Circuit Court, in which a social service worker 306 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:45,159 Speaker 1: at a hospital coerced a woman who had been diagnosed 307 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: with a mild intellectual disability into getting a tubal ligation 308 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: by telling her that it would help her regain custody 309 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: of her children. Report by the Center for Investigative Reporting 310 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:01,359 Speaker 1: detailed the sterilizations of it least a hundred forty eight 311 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: incarcerated women in California prisons, which had been performed without 312 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:11,200 Speaker 1: the required state approvals. Even though California banned forced sterilizations 313 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy nine, numerous women described being coerced and 314 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: pressured into the procedure while incarcerated, and in July, news 315 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: Channel five in Tennessee reported that General Sessions Judge Sam 316 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 1: Benningfield allowed incarcerated people who either got a vasectomy or 317 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: a contraceptive implant to get a thirty day credit towards 318 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 1: their jail time. Judge Benningfield rescinded this order on July 319 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: after it made headlines. While the story of the Calcax 320 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: was just one part of the eugenics movement, the studies 321 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: of the Calcax, the Jukes, and other families were widely 322 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: cited heavily used pieces of evidence of the eugenicists idea 323 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: that it was better to keep so called defectives from 324 00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: breeding and by extension, and that sterilization could be used 325 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:05,440 Speaker 1: to help guarantee white racial purity. And the same people 326 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 1: writing books about the Calikacs and the Jukes were actively 327 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: working with lawmakers to create policies to do exactly that. 328 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 1: The book's influence spread beyond the United States as well. 329 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,919 Speaker 1: A German language translation of the Calikak Family was printed 330 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,000 Speaker 1: in Germany in nineteen fourteen, and it was reprinted in 331 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three. Germany's own eugenics law, law for the 332 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: Prevention of hereditarily diseased Offspring, was passed in nineteen thirty 333 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,919 Speaker 1: three as well, and was also based on Harry H. 334 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,200 Speaker 1: Laughlin's model law that was being used as a template 335 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: in the United States. And it wasn't just a matter 336 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: of Nazi Germany picking up and repurposing Laughlin's work. Laughlin 337 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: actively corresponded with eugenicists in Germany, writing in one of 338 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: his letters how pleased he was that Hitler understood that 339 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: quote the central mission of all politics is race hygiene. 340 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: And Nazi Germany, more than a hundred and fifty thousand 341 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: Germans with disabilities were involuntarily sterilized under this eugenics law 342 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 1: between nineteen thirty four and nineteen thirty nine. In nineteen 343 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,640 Speaker 1: thirty nine, the focus shifted from sterilization to extermination. An 344 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,920 Speaker 1: eighty thousand disabled Germans were murdered in a little less 345 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,919 Speaker 1: than two years. It was only in the face of 346 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:24,159 Speaker 1: this atrocity that the eugenics movement in the United States 347 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,439 Speaker 1: started to fall out of favor, although the sterilizations that 348 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: the movement had advocated have continued for decades, on top 349 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: of being used to support policies that led to involuntary 350 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 1: sterilizations and in Nazi Germany murders. Much of the story 351 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: of the Calcas wasn't even true, and we're going to 352 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:51,719 Speaker 1: talk more about that. After a sponsor break, Henry H. 353 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 1: Goddard began publicly refuting his previous opinions about the quote 354 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,960 Speaker 1: feeble minded and eugenics, beginning in the late nineteen twenty 355 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 1: season into the nineteen thirties. He made a number of 356 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: public statements that his intelligence testing had been incorrect and 357 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,119 Speaker 1: that he had been wrong to believe that feeble minded 358 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 1: people could not be educated, and that feeble minded people 359 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: should be allowed to have children if they chose, and 360 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 1: should not be segregated from the rest of society. But 361 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,479 Speaker 1: this reversal came too late to stop the eugenics movement 362 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: or even to change the life of the star of 363 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:31,240 Speaker 1: his most famous work, Deborah Calikak, was really Emma Wolvertone, 364 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: and she really did arrive at the Vinolent School in 365 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,920 Speaker 1: eight at the age of eight, and it's not clear 366 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,160 Speaker 1: if there was a specific reason for her to be institutionalized. 367 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,199 Speaker 1: Although the book does seem to have embellished her mother's 368 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: life and relationships, it's very likely that it boiled down 369 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: to poverty. Even the wording in the book is really 370 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 1: cag here quote on the plea that the child did 371 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: not get along at school and might possibly be feeble minded. 372 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,159 Speaker 1: She gained admission to the training school, but by the 373 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:04,040 Speaker 1: time Goddard published The Calikak Family, the Violent School and 374 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: Goddard himself were using Emma as an example of a 375 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: success story for the school. In addition to being in 376 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: the book, her picture and that pseudonym appear in the 377 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,639 Speaker 1: school's reports and fundraising materials as a shining example of 378 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,040 Speaker 1: their work. When she was transferred to a facility for 379 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: adults across the street at the age of twenty five, 380 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:29,200 Speaker 1: her quote acquisition was viewed as a success for them. 381 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 1: A social worker described it this way. Quote Deborah at 382 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: this time was a handsome young woman twenty five years old, 383 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 1: with many accomplishments, though her academic progress had remained stationary, 384 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,199 Speaker 1: just beyond second grade. For our part. We knew we 385 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: had acquired distinction in acquiring Deborah Calakak, for by this 386 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: time the story of her pedigree was becoming well known, 387 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: and such a capable, well trained, and good looking girl 388 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:59,320 Speaker 1: must be an asset In terms of well trained, Emma 389 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: Wolverton was excellent at embroidery, woodworking, basketry, and gardening. She 390 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,239 Speaker 1: made and repaired costumes for the school plays, was in 391 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:11,119 Speaker 1: charge of the Violent School's kindergarten, and worked as a 392 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: nurse's aid in the school's hospital. She also played the 393 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:18,440 Speaker 1: coronet beautifully. Was an avid reader and a devoted correspondent, 394 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: and bred Persian cats and her adulthood. Visitors to her 395 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: institution often mistook her for a staff member. She distinguished 396 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: herself to the point that she was allowed to work 397 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,639 Speaker 1: for the family of violence superintendent along with others in 398 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,119 Speaker 1: the community. And to be clear, although working for the 399 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: superintendent's family was was framed as a privilege and a reward, 400 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: all of this work was actually compulsory. It's difficult to 401 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: diagnose historical figures who aren't alive to be examined, and 402 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,160 Speaker 1: this is even more difficult in Emma Wolverton's case, since 403 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:55,160 Speaker 1: her school records are often contradictory, and the institution's caring 404 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: for her had a vested self interest in people, simultaneously 405 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: believing that she needed to be institutionalized while also demonstrating 406 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:07,400 Speaker 1: a success story in terms of what the institution could accomplish. 407 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,480 Speaker 1: But by cross referencing school records with witness accounts, modern 408 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 1: research suggests that she probably had a learning disability. Whether 409 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: she had a disability or what that disability was, has 410 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 1: no bearing on her worth as a human being. But 411 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,120 Speaker 1: it's clear that the institutions housing her were using her 412 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 1: for their own ends, and that her portrayal in the 413 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:30,439 Speaker 1: book that made her famous was far from the truth. 414 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,959 Speaker 1: The photos of Emma Wolverton in the Calikak family clearly 415 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,680 Speaker 1: served to show her as both a success and a warning. 416 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,720 Speaker 1: She's neatly dressed, either shown in association with something productive 417 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: like sewing or serving a meal, or with something considered intelligent, 418 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: like reading a book. These are in contrast with the 419 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,400 Speaker 1: photos of the Calikas in their homes, which are clearly 420 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: meant to suggest something nefarious. The pictures of the other 421 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: Calikacs have definitely been retouched, and there's some debate eight 422 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:04,640 Speaker 1: about whether that retouching served to deliberately exaggerate them or 423 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,480 Speaker 1: just to prepare them for publication. Regardless, the book is 424 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,639 Speaker 1: making a very clear implication and a very clear value 425 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: judgment on all the Calikacs based on their physical appearance 426 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 1: and their surroundings. It's that without the constant care, supervision 427 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: and custody in an institution, Emma Wolverton would have been 428 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: just another degenerate living in a hovel, and without keeping 429 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: her segregated from society, she would have just made more 430 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 1: of them. However, that dichotomy between Emma Wolverton and the 431 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: rest of the family, or between the families quote good 432 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: and bad branches, just doesn't add up. The bad line 433 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: of Martin Calikak Senior's descendants purportedly begins with Martin Jr. 434 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: Was really John Wolverton. John Wolverton was the son of 435 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 1: Gabriel Wolverton and Catherine Murray, but the Calikax study presents 436 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: his father as a different John Wolverton, just thus the 437 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:06,040 Speaker 1: Martin Senior and Martin Jr. But according to a genealogy 438 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: of the family that was published in the nineteen eighties, 439 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: the second John Wolverton was not his father. They were 440 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,480 Speaker 1: second cousins, so the book's entire premise is not correct. 441 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: In addition to the two John Wolverton's not being father 442 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: and son, both parts of the family really had their 443 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 1: share of troubles, as every family does. But Goddard and 444 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: field worker Elizabeth S. Kite had set out to compile 445 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: their study with the goal of finding a hereditary thread 446 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:39,719 Speaker 1: for feeble mindedness. So consciously or unconsciously, when piecing together 447 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 1: the history of the family members, some of whom had 448 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,960 Speaker 1: long since died, they ignored evidence of people in the 449 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: good line who they might have described as feeble minded, 450 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: and they flagged people in the bad line based on 451 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,640 Speaker 1: just the thinnest of evidence. A lot of this was 452 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 1: based on stuff like family gossip. It was very scientific. 453 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: They would interview elderly family members about people on the 454 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: other side of the family, and folks would be like, oh, yeah, 455 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:10,040 Speaker 1: he was totally a drunk, so that person would be 456 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,960 Speaker 1: marked down as feeble minded, even though if you looked 457 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:16,200 Speaker 1: at things like tax records and property man records, that 458 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 1: seemed as though this person was like a landowner, not 459 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: fothering anyone, perfectly living their life just fine. So in reality, 460 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: going back to the eighteenth century, the Wolverton's were overall 461 00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 1: not particularly affluent, but mostly self sufficient farmers living in 462 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:38,320 Speaker 1: rural New Jersey. In the late nineteenth century, industrialization and 463 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: urbanization led several of them to move from the country 464 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,720 Speaker 1: to Trenton and other cities. As with so many other 465 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,160 Speaker 1: people who moved from the country to the city during 466 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: this time, they found themselves in an unfamiliar environment, with 467 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: a totally different social structure and economy, and without a 468 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: lot of resources or education. So when they lost jobs, 469 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,360 Speaker 1: as Emma's mother, for example, did, they no longer had 470 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 1: an extended family network nearby to turn to for support, 471 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: instead often winding up in jail or in a poorhouse. 472 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,600 Speaker 1: So this is definitely not something that could be explained 473 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:17,120 Speaker 1: by some kind of hereditary taint. Similarly, some of Arthur H. 474 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: Esterbrook's papers containing the Jukes family's real names were found 475 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: in the early twenty first century, and it turned out 476 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: that many of them were respected citizens of Ulster County, 477 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 1: New York. Their existence had conveniently been ignored in esterbrook study. 478 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: Emma Wilverton died at the age of eighty nine. In 479 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:39,840 Speaker 1: nine she knew that she had been written about as 480 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,280 Speaker 1: Deborah calcac and that she had been used as a 481 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: widely read and even famous example of a quote high 482 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: grade feeble minded person. It's not really clear whether she 483 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 1: knew that that that depiction had been at the heart 484 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,760 Speaker 1: of the eugenics movement or what that had ultimately meant. 485 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: She was offered the chance to leave the institution toward 486 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: the end of her life, but she didn't feel that 487 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: she could because at that point she developed severe arthritis 488 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 1: and she really needed a lot of medical care. She 489 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,120 Speaker 1: spent the last year of her life in a hospital, 490 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: and at the time of her death, she had been 491 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 1: institutionalized for eighty one years. I normally say something to 492 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: wrap up here, uh, but mostly this whole episode makes 493 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: me incredibly angry. Yeah, Like it's the it's the magical 494 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 1: combination right of like uh, poorly executed biased science and 495 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: I'm using the air quotes there used to uh one 496 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: work this whole like superiority angle as well as really 497 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:56,320 Speaker 1: damaged the lives of people without their consent, and most 498 00:32:56,360 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 1: of those people were women. Yeah, and like even the 499 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,760 Speaker 1: more the positive eugenics angle that we referenced very briefly 500 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,959 Speaker 1: at the beginning of the show, like even that is 501 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: founded on the idea that some people are better than others, 502 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 1: and that the better people should have the most babies, 503 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 1: which like that might sound okkay at a surface level, 504 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 1: but pretty quickly falls apart when you think about like 505 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:28,640 Speaker 1: who's deciding who is worthy of having more babies. Um 506 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,640 Speaker 1: My mom worked with people with a range of disabilities 507 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: for a lot of her career, and it's like, there 508 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: are definitely complicated moral and ethical questions when people are 509 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: capable of having a child but genuinely not necessarily capable 510 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 1: of taking care of a child. These conversations do not 511 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: include things like telling a woman if she has her 512 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 1: tubes tied she can get her kids back that nothing 513 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:11,600 Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, I have some listener mailing. Yeah, so 514 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,239 Speaker 1: we got this email. It was actually, um more than 515 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:17,280 Speaker 1: a month ago at this point, and it's a throwback 516 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 1: to an episode from quite quite a while before that. 517 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,319 Speaker 1: But it's one of these emails that when I saw 518 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: the subject line, I had a moment that was like, 519 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:28,759 Speaker 1: am I gonna read this? Because the subject line of 520 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: the email is my experience with Robert the doll um, 521 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:38,399 Speaker 1: And like I had a moment of I'm not I'm 522 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,840 Speaker 1: not a very like a superstitious person. Really in a 523 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: lot I mean, in some ways, I definitely am. I 524 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:45,319 Speaker 1: think a lot of people are. But I tend to 525 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:50,279 Speaker 1: be skeptical about paranormal things. But when I read the 526 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:52,840 Speaker 1: subject line of my experience with Robert the Doll, I 527 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:58,319 Speaker 1: had a moment of just visceral terror. This is this 528 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,799 Speaker 1: is Rich, and Rich says hello, try seeing Holly. I'm 529 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: a relatively new listener to your podcast, and I've been 530 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,400 Speaker 1: listening to the backlog of your shows. I recently listened 531 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,480 Speaker 1: to you one of your Impossible episodes, which included the 532 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 1: portion about Robert the haunted doll in Key West had 533 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,279 Speaker 1: to run in with Robert Back in two thousand one. 534 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,239 Speaker 1: A friend of mine who lived and Key West, was 535 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 1: telling me about this doll in a museum down there. 536 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,239 Speaker 1: He told me the basic story behind it, which more 537 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,839 Speaker 1: or less matched what you mentioned to your podcast. After 538 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,240 Speaker 1: speaking to him, I looked up Robert on the Internet 539 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: to see photos of the doll, certainly very creepy. As 540 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 1: a joke, I downloaded a photo of Robert and photo 541 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: shopped it with a word bubble that read I see you. 542 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,360 Speaker 1: My emailed this photo to my friend and Key West. Meanwhile, 543 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,120 Speaker 1: a coworker of mine who was in on this conversation, 544 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:43,719 Speaker 1: went out to lunch, and again as a joke, I 545 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:47,480 Speaker 1: made this photo of Robert as the wallpaper on his computer. 546 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,320 Speaker 1: When he returned from lunch, he turned on his computer 547 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,919 Speaker 1: to see this photo, and he was a bit freaked out. 548 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:56,240 Speaker 1: But here's where he gets interesting. His computer was completely 549 00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:59,360 Speaker 1: frozen and would not respond the screen loaded with the 550 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,160 Speaker 1: photo of Robert, but it was otherwise non functional. He 551 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: restarted his computer several times the same result. Eventually, I 552 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:10,080 Speaker 1: t had to come wipe the hard drive and reinstall everything. 553 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:13,120 Speaker 1: Back to my friend and Key West. About an hour later, 554 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: he called me and asked what I had emailed to him. 555 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,000 Speaker 1: He said he clicked on the attachment and it immediately 556 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,320 Speaker 1: crashed his computer and it would not turn on again. 557 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,759 Speaker 1: That computer never worked again. I'm generally a skeptic and 558 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,280 Speaker 1: I'm not superstitious. In your show, when you mentioned cameras 559 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,360 Speaker 1: and other electronics often failed when around Robert, I immediately 560 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 1: got excited remembering what had happened to me. I'm telling 561 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:38,160 Speaker 1: you this from firsthand experience with Robert. Maybe it's a coincidence, 562 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:40,400 Speaker 1: but it seems very odd. To me that it crashed 563 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 1: two computers within an hour. Hopefully reading this email has 564 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,759 Speaker 1: no ill effects on your computer. Thanks for all you do, 565 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:50,600 Speaker 1: Rich Rich. It did not have any ill effects on 566 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:53,719 Speaker 1: our computer, and I hope reading this email does not 567 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:58,960 Speaker 1: cause any ill effects in our listeners uh smartphones or 568 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,520 Speaker 1: m P three players or other devices. I did feel 569 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:07,120 Speaker 1: like we needed a moment of levity after talking about 570 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:13,239 Speaker 1: Usnix for forty five minutes. Robert be cool, It'd be cool, 571 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:19,840 Speaker 1: Robert's electronic. We just we needed to think about something 572 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:23,920 Speaker 1: else for just a minute. This was I think the 573 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 1: hardest episode I've ever worked on for the show. If 574 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:30,000 Speaker 1: you would like to write to us about this or 575 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,960 Speaker 1: any other podcast, We're at History Podcast at how stuff 576 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,719 Speaker 1: Works dot com. We're also on Facebook at facebook dot 577 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:38,279 Speaker 1: com slash miss in history and on Twitter at miss 578 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,160 Speaker 1: in History. Our tumbler is it miss in history dot 579 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,879 Speaker 1: tumbler dot com. We're on Pinterest and Instagram, both at 580 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:47,319 Speaker 1: miss in history. If you would like to come to 581 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,080 Speaker 1: our parent company's website, which is how stuff Works dot com, 582 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:53,120 Speaker 1: you can find information about anything your heart desires. And 583 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:55,080 Speaker 1: if you want to come to our website, which is 584 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: missing History dot com. You'll find show notes of every 585 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:01,520 Speaker 1: episode Holly and I have ever done. The page for 586 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,520 Speaker 1: this episode will have one of those family trees we 587 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:09,640 Speaker 1: talked about. Uh. You can also find an archive of 588 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,200 Speaker 1: every episode ever, so you can do all that in 589 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:14,560 Speaker 1: a whole lot more at house to works dot com 590 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:21,480 Speaker 1: or Missed than History dot com for more on this 591 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:24,160 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff Works 592 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:32,960 Speaker 1: dot com.