HIST 3320 - American Eugenics Movement

If scientific discoveries reveal how to genetically engineer populations that are less prone to age-old physical and mental illnesses, it is not immoral to ignore this new knowledge? This was the main question posed by the assortment of scientists, philosophers, politicians, and social activists who comprised the eugenics movement during its late-nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century heyday. This course examines the history of the American eugenics movement from its origins, in the ideas of Lamarck, Darwin, Galton, and Mendel, to its culmination in government policies and legislation affecting marriage, birth control, and immigration, among other things.

Credit(s): 4
Disciplinary Perspective(s):
Social
Interconnecting Perspective(s):
Intercultural, Writing Enhanced
University Graduation Requirement(s):
Honors Scholar