Eugenics Board - Raleigh, North Carolina [Warning: Long, and possibly emotionally hard post]

Just south of the southwest corner of  West Jones and North McDowell streets in downtown Raleigh

This is definitely a more somber post. The Eugenics Board was a state-sponsored group that discussed the sterilization of thousands of North Carolinians, either by their choice or coercion. The sign also states that they met after 1939 one block east of the sign. Looking around there with a modern map, I don't have a lot of locations worthy of such a meeting...except that the State Legislative Building is located nearby. Most likely that's where they met, but I can't access maps of Raleigh circa 1939, so I can't confidently confirm that this was the case.

Reader, you're welcome to read no further, as I will elucidate on what policies instigated the Board's existence below. This is your warning; anything below the line may cause discomfort. But I personally believe that it must be said so people know and prevent such things from happening in the future (maybe even near future, depending on who's elected to the Oval Office).

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Before we touch on what happened in North Carolina, let's back up a bit and talk about eugenics, so there's some national context for what this sign is ultimately symbolizing.

Eugenics was a term first coined by Francis Galton in 1883, in his book Inquiries into the Human Faculty and its Development (page 198 if you follow the link). At some point, he argues that while natural selection has developed our human race this far on its own, one must be vigilant in helping the race be better than before. This includes the justification of sterilizing "inferior races" (quotes are mine, not his) in order to avoid the race from reverting to its more unhuman roots (this is what he's implying). This primarily applied to those with "mental defects" or the "intellectually disabled", as they were perceived to be "damaged goods" (quotes are mine). Numerous states since then passed some version of a eugenics law, including Indiana and Virginia. Part of the idea was to root out poverty, immorality, and other social ills, as people believed they were genetically inherited. Context: Darwin and his theory of "survival of the fittest" bled into social attitudes and thought, with eugenics being an example and America's attitude of "manifest destiny" being another example.

Francis Galton, father of eugenics (Source)

The North Carolina Eugenics Board was institutionalized by NC Law in 1933 (page 446 if you followed the link). However, the original incarnation of the NC sterilization law was first passed in 1919 as Chapter 281. This simple act stated that this is an act that would "benefit the moral, mental, and physical conditions of inmates of penal and charitable institutions". That is, this would benefit the prison inmates and those who have been institutionalized for mental illness. Despite the law, no such surgeries were conducted at this point, but more would happen later on. Keep in mind, dear reader, this was an age where political correctness did not exist as a concept, and mental health was sidelined to these "mental institutions" where quality of care varied extremely by hospital and was often poor. Such patients did not have a lot of freedom, or even a lot of visitors, as mental illnesses were strongly stigmatized if they were acknowledged at all.

The law was amended by a law passed in 1929. The 1929 law delegated the determination and provision to the county governments, nor were patients subjected to the sterilization allowed to sue (the law says that those conducting the surgery were not to be held liable either civilly or criminally). In addition, the original 1929 law states that no such procedures would be carried out without approval by 1) next of kin of patient in question; or, 2) the head of the institution where the patient is treated. The approval needed to be signed off by four reviewers: 1) Commissioner of Charities and Public Welfare; 2) Secretary of the State Board of Health; 3 and 4) the Chief Medical Officer from any two mental institutions.

Source

The 1929 law found constitutionality from the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell. In 1927, the Holmes Court upheld a Virginian statute that authorized state sterilization of those in mental institutions. Carrie Buck, the plaintiff, was admitted to the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded. Her foster parents at the time had her commited via court mandate, as she became pregnant due to a rape by their nephew, which they believed as evidence of promiscuity, and thus feeble-mindedness. She followed her mother to the mental colony (who was committed there for being promiscuous and a "low grade moron". While Carrie Buck was there, the superintendent put her on the list to be sterilized, but the superintendent, wanting to test the legality of the Virginian sterilization statute, had someone appeal her sterilization order. The Supreme Court found for the Virginian legislature 8-1, with Chief Justice Holmes saying that "[t]hree generations of imbeciles are enough" (Carrie's daughter, Vivian, was also considered feeble-minded at 7 months old, though died of the measles in 1932).

Remember, our morals and culture of 2016 do not necessarily apply to those of 1927. This is a different time, with different standards and perceptions. While this may cause outrage among many of you readers, they did not have the same understanding of autonomy, particularly for women, as a modern individual may understand.

Carrie Buck (L), and her mother Emma (Source)

The sign I found talks about a provision in the 1933 amendment, which institutionalized those four individuals as the Eugenics Board, modified the CMOs so that one would be leading a mental institution in Raleigh and the other leads an institution not in Raleigh, and added the Attorney General of NC as a fifth member. Even by this point, they got work done (by their standards). From 1929 to 1935, over 200 sterilizations had been conducted throughout the state. After the 1933 amendment, that number went up, resulting in nearly 7,600 sterilizations. The Board existed until 1977, when the state legislature repealed its existence.
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So that's the Board itself. But the repercussions of its authorizations stuck around to this day. Thousands of sterilization victims are still alive in the state. And a bill was passed in 2013 to allocate funds to compensate the victims. As of 2015, the state was still working on repaying many of the victims, mainly because of a technicality of delegation. The original eugenics statute stated the decision be made at the local level, not the state level. The Eugenics Board merely provided some form of authoritative approval. That means that the state ran into trouble in compensating many of the victims who applied for a share of the funds. However, the state passed another bill that's working to closing that loophole created by that local-level delegation technicality. At this point, hopefully more victims received their shares of the funds.