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One of the earliest modern advocates of eugenic ideas (before they were labeled as such) was [[Alexander Graham Bell]]. In 1881 Bell investigated the rate of [[deaf]]ness on [[Martha's Vineyard]], Massachusetts. From this he concluded that deafness was hereditary in nature and recommended a marriage prohibition against the deaf ("Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human Race") even though he was married to a deaf woman. Like many other early eugenicists, he proposed controlling immigration for the purpose of eugenics and warned that boarding schools for the deaf could possibly be considered as breeding places of a deaf human race.

One of the earliest modern advocates of eugenic ideas (before they were labeled as such) was [[Alexander Graham Bell]]. In 1881 Bell investigated the rate of [[deaf]]ness on [[Martha's Vineyard]], Massachusetts. From this he concluded that deafness was hereditary in nature and recommended a marriage prohibition against the deaf ("Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human Race") even though he was married to a deaf woman. Like many other early eugenicists, he proposed controlling immigration for the purpose of eugenics and warned that boarding schools for the deaf could possibly be considered as breeding places of a deaf human race.

In [[1907]], [[Indiana]] became the first of more than thirty states to adopt legislation aimed at compulsory sterilization of certain  

In 1907, [[Indiana]] became the first of more than thirty states to adopt legislation aimed at compulsory sterilization of certain  

individuals.<ref>Indiana Supreme Court Legal History Lecture Series,  

individuals.<ref>Indiana Supreme Court Legal History Lecture Series,  

"Three Generations of Imbeciles are Enough:"  

"Three Generations of Imbeciles are Enough:"  

Reflections on 100 Years of Eugenics in Indiana, at [http://www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/special/eugenics/index.html]</ref> Although the law was overturned by the [[Indiana Supreme Court]] in [[1921]],<ref>''Williams v. Smith'', 131 NE 2 (Ind.), 1921, text at [http://www.bioethics.iupui.edu/Eugenics/SMith%20vs%20Williams.pdf] </ref> the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] upheld the constitutionality of a Virginia Law allowing for the [[Buck v. Bell|compulsory sterilization]] of patients of state mental institutions in [[1927]]; it was in writing this opinion that Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]] Jr. coined the phrase "three generations of imbeciles are enough."<ref>{{harvnb|Larson|2004|p=194-195}} Citing [[Buck v. Bell]] 274 U.S. 200, 205 (1927).</ref>

Reflections on 100 Years of Eugenics in Indiana, at [http://www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/special/eugenics/index.html]</ref> Although the law was overturned by the [[Indiana Supreme Court]] in 1921,<ref>''Williams v. Smith'', 131 NE 2 (Ind.), 1921, text at [http://www.bioethics.iupui.edu/Eugenics/SMith%20vs%20Williams.pdf] </ref> the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] upheld the constitutionality of a Virginia Law allowing for the [[Buck v. Bell|compulsory sterilization]] of patients of state mental institutions in 1927; it was in writing this opinion that Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]] Jr. coined the phrase "three generations of imbeciles are enough."<ref>{{harvnb|Larson|2004|p=194-195}} Citing [[Buck v. Bell]] 274 U.S. 200, 205 (1927).</ref>

[[Nazi Germany]] under [[Adolf Hitler]] was infamous for eugenics programs which attempted to maintain a "pure" German race through a series of programs that ran under the banner of "[[racial hygiene]]". Among other activities, the Nazis performed extensive experimentation on live human beings to test their genetic theories, ranging from simple measurement of physical characteristics to the horrific experiments carried out by [[Josef Mengele]] for [[Otmar von Verschuer]] on twins in the concentration camps. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazi regime forcibly sterilized hundreds of thousands of people whom they viewed as mentally and physically "unfit", an estimated 400,000 between 1934 and 1937. The scale of the Nazi program prompted American eugenics advocates to seek an expansion of their program, with one complaining that "the Germans are beating us at our own game".<ref>Quoted in Selgelid, Michael J. 2000. Neugenics? ''Monash Bioethics Review'' 19 (4):9-33</ref> The Nazis went further, however, killing tens of thousands of the institutionalized disabled through compulsory "[[euthanasia]]" programs.<ref>The Nazi eugenics policies are discussed in a number of sources. A few of the more definitive ones are Robert Proctor, ''Racial hygiene: Medicine under the Nazis'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988) and Dieter Kuntz, ed., ''Deadly medicine: creating the master race'' (Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2004) ([http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/deadlymedicine/ online exhibit]). On the development of the [[racial hygiene]] movement before National Socialism, see Paul Weindling, ''Health, race and German politics between national unification and Nazism, 1870-1945'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989).</ref>

[[Nazi Germany]] under [[Adolf Hitler]] was infamous for eugenics programs which attempted to maintain a "pure" German race through a series of programs that ran under the banner of "[[racial hygiene]]". Among other activities, the Nazis performed extensive experimentation on live human beings to test their genetic theories, ranging from simple measurement of physical characteristics to the horrific experiments carried out by [[Josef Mengele]] for [[Otmar von Verschuer]] on twins in the concentration camps. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazi regime forcibly sterilized hundreds of thousands of people whom they viewed as mentally and physically "unfit", an estimated 400,000 between 1934 and 1937. The scale of the Nazi program prompted American eugenics advocates to seek an expansion of their program, with one complaining that "the Germans are beating us at our own game".<ref>Quoted in Selgelid, Michael J. 2000. Neugenics? ''Monash Bioethics Review'' 19 (4):9-33</ref> The Nazis went further, however, killing tens of thousands of the institutionalized disabled through compulsory "[[euthanasia]]" programs.<ref>The Nazi eugenics policies are discussed in a number of sources. A few of the more definitive ones are Robert Proctor, ''Racial hygiene: Medicine under the Nazis'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988) and Dieter Kuntz, ed., ''Deadly medicine: creating the master race'' (Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2004) ([http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/deadlymedicine/ online exhibit]). On the development of the [[racial hygiene]] movement before National Socialism, see Paul Weindling, ''Health, race and German politics between national unification and Nazism, 1870-1945'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989).</ref>

With the passage of the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], eugenicists for the first time played a central role in the Congressional debate as expert advisers on the threat of "inferior stock" from eastern and southern Europe. This reduced the number of immigrants from abroad to 15 percent from previous years, to control the number of "unfit" individuals entering the country. The new act strengthened existing laws prohibiting race mixing in an attempt to maintain the gene pool.<ref>Paul Lombardo, "Eugenics Laws Restricting Immigration," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay9text.html.</ref> Eugenic considerations also lay behind the adoption of incest laws in much of the U.S. and were used to justify many [[miscegenation|antimiscegenation]] laws.<ref>Paul Lombardo, "Eugenic Laws Against Race-Mixing," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay7text.html.</ref>

With the passage of the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], eugenicists for the first time played a central role in the Congressional debate as expert advisers on the threat of "inferior stock" from eastern and southern Europe. This reduced the number of immigrants from abroad to 15 percent from previous years, to control the number of "unfit" individuals entering the country. The new act strengthened existing laws prohibiting race mixing in an attempt to maintain the gene pool.<ref>Paul Lombardo, "Eugenics Laws Restricting Immigration," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay9text.html.</ref> Eugenic considerations also lay behind the adoption of incest laws in much of the U.S. and were used to justify many [[miscegenation|antimiscegenation]] laws.<ref>Paul Lombardo, "Eugenic Laws Against Race-Mixing," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay7text.html.</ref>

Some states sterilized "imbeciles" for much of the 20th century. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled in the [[1927]] ''[[Buck v. Bell]]'' case that the state of [[Virginia]] could sterilize those it thought unfit. The most significant era of [[Eugenics and sterilization|eugenic sterilization]] was between 1907 and 1963, when over 64,000 individuals were forcibly sterilized under eugenic legislation in the United States.<ref>Paul Lombardo, "Eugenic Sterilization Laws," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay8text.html.</ref> A favorable report on the results of sterilization in [[California]], by far the state with the most sterilizations, was published in book form by the biologist [[Paul Popenoe]] and was widely cited by the Nazi government as evidence that wide-reaching sterilization programs were feasible and humane. When Nazi administrators went on trial for [[war crimes]] in [[Nuremberg]] after [[World War II]], they justified the mass sterilizations (over 450,000 in less than a decade) by citing the United States as their inspiration.<ref>The connections between U.S. and Nazi eugenicists is discussed in Edwin Black, "[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/09/ING9C2QSKB1.DTL Eugenics and the Nazis -- the California connection]", ''San Francisco Chronicle'' ([[9 November]] [[2003]]), as well as Black's ''War Against the Weak'' (New York: Four Wars Eight Windows, 2003). Stefan Kühl's work, ''The Nazi connection: Eugenics, American racism, and German National Socialism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), is considered the standard scholarly work on the subject.</ref>

Some states sterilized "imbeciles" for much of the 20th century. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled in the 1927 ''[[Buck v. Bell]]'' case that the state of [[Virginia]] could sterilize those it thought unfit. The most significant era of [[Eugenics and sterilization|eugenic sterilization]] was between 1907 and 1963, when over 64,000 individuals were forcibly sterilized under eugenic legislation in the United States.<ref>Paul Lombardo, "Eugenic Sterilization Laws," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay8text.html.</ref> A favorable report on the results of sterilization in [[California]], by far the state with the most sterilizations, was published in book form by the biologist [[Paul Popenoe]] and was widely cited by the Nazi government as evidence that wide-reaching sterilization programs were feasible and humane. When Nazi administrators went on trial for [[war crimes]] in [[Nuremberg]] after [[World War II]], they justified the mass sterilizations (over 450,000 in less than a decade) by citing the United States as their inspiration.<ref>The connections between U.S. and Nazi eugenicists is discussed in Edwin Black, "[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/09/ING9C2QSKB1.DTL Eugenics and the Nazis -- the California connection]", ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (9 November 2003), as well as Black's ''War Against the Weak'' (New York: Four Wars Eight Windows, 2003). Stefan Kühl's work, ''The Nazi connection: Eugenics, American racism, and German National Socialism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), is considered the standard scholarly work on the subject.</ref>

==Eugenics in fiction==

==Eugenics in fiction==