Full Text of HR0024 102nd General Assembly
HR0024 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 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 | 10 | | applying principles of genetics and heredity for the purpose | 11 | | of improving the human race; eugenics claimed the scientific | 12 | | ability to classify individuals and groups as "fit" or | 13 | | "unfit"; 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 |
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| 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 | 14 | | principles 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 |
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| 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 | 7 | | Nuremberg trials even cited Buck vs Bell as justification for | 8 | | Germany's sterilization program; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, While Illinois did not pass any eugenics-related | 10 | | sterilization laws, the General Assembly did pass a law in | 11 | | 1915 which allowed for the indefinite institutionalization of | 12 | | any 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 | 15 | | the horrors of Nazi Germany; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, While atrocities such as slavery and the | 17 | | treatment of Native Americas are well known, the U.S. eugenics | 18 | | movement is not as recognized and hardly appears in many high | 19 | | school U.S. history textbooks; this is despite the widespread | 20 | | impact of the eugenics movement, especially on national policy | 21 | | making and on our educational system, including the framework | 22 | | of school curriculum and standardized testing; and
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| 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 | 6 | | generations from repeating the mistakes of the past, and would | 7 | | help in rectifying the impact of those mistakes; therefore, be | 8 | | it
| 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 10 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 11 | | we urge the history of the eugenics movement in the United | 12 | | States be included in U.S. history classes; and be it further
| 13 | | RESOLVED, That we encourage the people of Illinois to | 14 | | educate themselves on the history of eugenics in the United | 15 | | States; and be it further | 16 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 17 | | delivered to the State Board of Education to be disseminated | 18 | | to all schools in Illinois, the Illinois Library Association | 19 | | to be disseminated to all libraries in the State, the Library | 20 | | of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, | 21 | | the National Museum of African American History and Culture, | 22 | | the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Governor |
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| 1 | | of Illinois, the Mayor of Chicago, and all members of the | 2 | | General Assembly.
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