HR0024 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0024 LRB102 03849 MST 13863 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, It is in the interest of the House of Representatives to make sure the dark chapters of the history of the United States are not forgotten, so we do not repeat them; one such chapter is the eugenics movement in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The term eugenics was first coined by Francis Galton in the late 1800s and comes from the Greek roots for "good" and "origin" or "good birth"; eugenics involves applying principles of genetics and heredity for the purpose of improving the human race; eugenics claimed the scientific ability to classify individuals and groups as "fit" or "unfit"; the "unfit" were defined by race, mental and physical disabilities, country of origin, and poverty; and

WHEREAS, The eugenics movement took root in the United States in the early 1900s and was led by Charles Davenport, a prominent biologist, and Harry Laughlin, a former teacher and principal interested in breeding; in 1910, Davenport founded the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island "to improve the natural, physical, mental, and temperamental qualities of the human family"; eugenics was widely accepted by academics, politicians, intellectuals, government, the U.S. Supreme Court and progressives; and

WHEREAS, While the English eugenics movement focused on selective breeding for positive traits, the eugenics movement in the U.S. focused on eliminating negative traits; these "undesirable" traits, such as poverty, mental disability, dwarfism, promiscuity, criminality, and others, were most often concentrated in poor, uneducated, and minority populations; and

WHEREAS, Along with being a scientific movement, eugenics also became a popular social movement that peaked in the 1920s and 30s; during this period, the American Eugenics Society was founded, in addition to many local societies and groups around the country; many movies and books promoting eugenic principles became popular; and

WHEREAS, Supporters of eugenics helped drive legislation for the forced sterilization of people deemed to have undesirable traits; the first state to enact a sterilization law was Indiana in 1907, quickly followed by California and 28 other states by 1931; these laws resulted in the forced sterilization of over 64,000 people in the United States; the eugenics movement even received support from the Supreme Court in 1927 when the Court ruled that the State of Virginia had the legal right to forcibly sterilize Carrie Buck for promiscuity (Buck vs Bell); and

WHEREAS, California's eugenics program was so robust that the Nazis turned to the state for advice on perfecting their own efforts; Hitler proudly admitted to following the laws of several American states that allowed for the prevention of reproduction of the "unfit"; the Nazis defense at the Nuremberg trials even cited Buck vs Bell as justification for Germany's sterilization program; and

WHEREAS, While Illinois did not pass any eugenics-related sterilization laws, the General Assembly did pass a law in 1915 which allowed for the indefinite institutionalization of any person deemed "feebleminded" by an expert; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. eugenics movement finally began to lose power in the 1940s and was completely discredited following the horrors of Nazi Germany; and

WHEREAS, While atrocities such as slavery and the treatment of Native Americas are well known, the U.S. eugenics movement is not as recognized and hardly appears in many high school U.S. history textbooks; this is despite the widespread impact of the eugenics movement, especially on national policy making and on our educational system, including the framework of school curriculum and standardized testing; and

WHEREAS, With the current political focus on discrimination and racism, the inclusion of information about the U.S. eugenics movement in the high school American history curriculum would help increase awareness about this horrific part of American history, would help prevent future generations from repeating the mistakes of the past, and would help in rectifying the impact of those mistakes; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the history of the eugenics movement in the United States be included in U.S. history classes; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage the people of Illinois to educate themselves on the history of eugenics in the United States; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the State Board of Education to be disseminated to all schools in Illinois, the Illinois Library Association to be disseminated to all libraries in the State, the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Governor of Illinois, the Mayor of Chicago, and all members of the General Assembly.