Full Text of HR0896 101st General Assembly
HR0896 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | HR0896 | | LRB101 21955 ECR 72964 r |
|
| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, It is in the interest of the House of | 3 | | Representatives to make sure the dark chapters of the history | 4 | | of the United States are not forgotten, so we do not repeat | 5 | | them; one such chapter is the eugenics movement in the United | 6 | | States; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, The term eugenics was first coined by Francis | 8 | | Galton in the late 1800s and comes from the Greek roots for | 9 | | "good" and "origin" or "good birth"; eugenics involves applying | 10 | | principles of genetics and heredity for the purpose of | 11 | | improving the human race; eugenics claimed the scientific | 12 | | ability to classify individuals and groups as "fit" or "unfit"; | 13 | | the "unfit" were defined by race, mental and physical | 14 | | disabilities, country of origin, and poverty; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The eugenics movement took root in the United | 16 | | States in the early 1900s and was led by Charles Davenport, a | 17 | | prominent biologist, and Harry Laughlin, a former teacher and | 18 | | principal interested in breeding; in 1910, Davenport founded | 19 | | the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) at Cold Spring Harbor | 20 | | Laboratory on Long Island "to improve the natural, physical, | 21 | | mental, and temperamental qualities of the human family"; | 22 | | eugenics was widely accepted by academics, politicians, | 23 | | intellectuals, government, the U.S. Supreme Court and |
| | | HR0896 | - 2 - | LRB101 21955 ECR 72964 r |
|
| 1 | | progressives; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, While the English eugenics movement focused on | 3 | | selective breeding for positive traits, the eugenics movement | 4 | | in the U.S. focused on eliminating negative traits; these | 5 | | "undesirable" traits, such as poverty, mental disability, | 6 | | dwarfism, promiscuity, criminality, and others, were most | 7 | | often concentrated in poor, uneducated, and minority | 8 | | populations; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Along with being a scientific movement, eugenics | 10 | | also became a popular social movement that peaked in the 1920s | 11 | | and 30s; during this period, the American Eugenics Society was | 12 | | founded, in addition to many local societies and groups around | 13 | | the country; many movies and books promoting eugenic principles | 14 | | became popular; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Supporters of eugenics helped drive legislation | 16 | | for the forced sterilization of people deemed to have | 17 | | undesirable traits; the first state to enact a sterilization | 18 | | law was Indiana in 1907, quickly followed by California and 28 | 19 | | other states by 1931; these laws resulted in the forced | 20 | | sterilization of over 64,000 people in the United States; the | 21 | | eugenics movement even received support from the Supreme Court | 22 | | in 1927 when the Court ruled that the State of Virginia had the | 23 | | legal right to forcibly sterilize Carrie Buck for promiscuity |
| | | HR0896 | - 3 - | LRB101 21955 ECR 72964 r |
|
| 1 | | (Buck vs Bell); and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, California's eugenics program was so robust that | 3 | | the Nazis turned to the state for advice on perfecting their | 4 | | own efforts; Hitler proudly admitted to following the laws of | 5 | | several American states that allowed for the prevention of | 6 | | reproduction of the "unfit"; the Nazis defense at the Nuremberg | 7 | | trials even cited Buck vs Bell as justification for Germany's | 8 | | sterilization program; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, While Illinois did not pass any eugenics-related | 10 | | sterilization laws, the General Assembly did pass a law in 1915 | 11 | | which allowed for the indefinite institutionalization of any | 12 | | person deemed "feebleminded" by an expert; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. eugenics movement finally began to lose | 14 | | power in the 1940s and was completely discredited following the | 15 | | horrors of Nazi Germany; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, While atrocities such as slavery and the treatment | 17 | | of Native Americas are well known, the U.S. eugenics movement | 18 | | is not as recognized and hardly appears in many high school | 19 | | U.S. history textbooks; this is despite the widespread impact | 20 | | of the eugenics movement, especially on national policy making | 21 | | and on our educational system, including the framework of | 22 | | school curriculum and standardized testing; and
|
| | | HR0896 | - 4 - | LRB101 21955 ECR 72964 r |
|
| 1 | | WHEREAS, With the current political focus on | 2 | | discrimination and racism, the inclusion of information about | 3 | | the U.S. eugenics movement in the high school American history | 4 | | curriculum would help increase awareness about this horrific | 5 | | part of American history, would help prevent future generations | 6 | | from repeating the mistakes of the past, and would help in | 7 | | rectifying the impact of those mistakes; therefore, be it
| 8 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 9 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 10 | | we urge the history of the eugenics movement in the United | 11 | | States be included in U.S. history classes; and be it further
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That we encourage the people of Illinois to | 13 | | educate themselves on the history of eugenics in the United | 14 | | States; and be it further | 15 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 16 | | delivered to the State Board of Education to be disseminated to | 17 | | all schools in Illinois, the Illinois Library Association to be | 18 | | disseminated to all libraries in the State, The Library of | 19 | | Congress, The National Archives and Records Administration, | 20 | | The National Museum of African American History and Culture, | 21 | | The DuSable Museum of African American History, Governor JB | 22 | | Pritzker, Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot, and to all members |
| | | HR0896 | - 5 - | LRB101 21955 ECR 72964 r |
|
| 1 | | of the General Assembly.
|
|