View source for American Eugenics Society

{{Short description|Pro-eugenics organization (1922-2019)}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2022}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology
| image =
| size =
| caption = Current logo of the ''Society for the Study of Social Biology''
| formation = 1922
| dissolved = 2019
| location = [[United States]]
| language =
| leader_title = President
| leader_name =
| formerly = The Society for the Study of Social Biology;<ref name = "springer" /> The American Eugenics Society<ref name = "aes" />
}}{{Eugenics sidebar|organizations}}{{Eugenics in America|state=collapsed}}
The '''American Eugenics Society''' (AES) was a pro-[[eugenics]] organization dedicated to "furthering the discussion, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge about biological and sociocultural forces which affect the structure and composition of human populations". It endorsed the study and practice of [[eugenics in the United States]]. Its original name as the American Eugenics Society lasted from 1922 to 1973, but the group changed their name after open use of the term "eugenics" became disfavored; it was known as the '''Society for the Study of Social Biology''' from 1973–2008, and the '''Society for Biodemography and Social Biology''' from 2008&ndash;2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biodemog.org/|title=The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology|date=June 15, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414073645/http://www.biodemog.org/|archive-date=April 14, 2013|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref><ref name= "springer" >Eugenics, Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology, (2014, pp 619-626) {{ISBN|978-1-4614-5583-7}}</ref> The Society was disbanded in 2019.<ref name= "auto" >{{cite journal|last=Matsuura|first=H.|date=2023-04-16|title=Overcoming the history of Eugenics in demography call for contributions from historians, ethicists, and human rights scholars|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/19485565.2023.2203570|journal=Biodemography and Social Biology|volume=68|issue=1|pages=1–2|doi=10.1080/19485565.2023.2203570|pmid=37062056|s2cid=258171239|issn=1948-5573}}</ref>

==History==
Initially known as the American Eugenics Society, or AES, the Society formed after the success of the [[International Eugenics Conference|Second International Congress on Eugenics]] ([[New York City|New York]], 1921). AES founders included [[Madison Grant]], [[Harry H. Laughlin]], [[Irving Fisher]], [[Henry Fairfield Osborn]], [[Charles Davenport]] and [[Henry Crampton]]. The organization started by promoting racial betterment, eugenic health, and genetic education through public lectures, exhibits at county fairs, etc.

To gain popularity with the public, the eugenics movement adopted “two faces,” a positive and negative face. The ‘positive’ side of this movement focused on emphasizing the urge for the “genetically gifted” to reproduce. The ‘negative’ face of the eugenics campaign involved efforts to prevent the “defective” individuals from reproducing. This negative side of the eugenics movement catalyzed anti-immigration movements of the early twentieth centuries because of the idea that non-whites and immigrants were “inferior” to “native-born white Americans” in terms of intelligence, physical condition, and moral stature. <ref>{{Cite web |title=American Eugenics Society Scrapbook |url=https://www.amphilsoc.org/exhibits/treasures/aes.htm |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=www.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

The AES primarily used fitter family contests to help promote its mission. These fitter family contests took place in public festivals or fairs. Physical appearance, behavior, intelligence, and health were just a few of the qualities that the AES looked at while determining the fittest family. The AES would give out prizes, trophies, and medals to the winning families. Additionally, the AES would sponsor displays and exhibits that featured statistics on the births of "undesirable" or "desirable" children at the fairs and festivals.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kevles|first=Daniel J.|date=August 14, 1999|title=Eugenics and human rights|url=https://www.bmj.com/content/319/7207/435|journal=BMJ|language=en|volume=319|issue=7207|pages=435–438|doi=10.1136/bmj.319.7207.435|issn=0959-8138|pmid=10445929|pmc=1127045}}</ref> An example of such a display from the 1920s and 1930s statistics claimed as follows: Every sixteen seconds, a child is born in the United States. Out of those children, a capable, desirable child is born every seven and a half minutes, whereas an undesirable, feebleminded child is born every forty-eight seconds, and a future criminal is born every fifty seconds.<ref name= ":0" >{{cite web|last=Gur-Arie|first=Rachel|url=https://embryo.asu.edu/handle/10776/8241|title=American Eugenics Society (1926-1972)|website=The Embryo Project Encyclopedia|date=July 3, 2018|orig-date=Originally published November 22, 2012|language=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605161133/https://embryo.asu.edu/handle/10776/8241|archive-date=June 5, 2023|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref> To conclude, the display would argue that every fifteen seconds, a hundred dollars of taxpayers' money went towards supporting the mentally ill and undesirable.<ref name= ":0" />

These family contests also involved judgements. These “judgements” were taken from each participants’ medical records, occupation, education level, political affiliation, marital status, and religion. IQ tests were also taken to establish each participants intelligence level. Then, each family underwent “physical examinations” and “disease testing." <ref name= ":1" >{{Cite web |last=Magliato |first=Emme |title= "Eugenically Yours": A History of the American Eugenics Society |url=https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=sbg |website=digitalcommons.providence.edu}}</ref> Following all of these tests and examinations, each participant would receive a “score” and a “family level score." <ref name= ":1" /> The participants who scored highly received a medal that read ‘Yea, I have a goodly heritage.'<ref name= ":1" /> The demographic of these medal winners were predominantly white, married, wealthy, educated, and non-immigrant individuals which promoted the AES agenda of ideal and perfect traits for “positive eugenics." <ref name= ":1" />

There were numerous committees within the AES dedicated to different aspects of eugenic education. For example, there was a committee dedicated to crime prevention. These committees pressured local municipal and legal systems to push the AES beliefs and ideas. <ref>{{cite web|title=American Eugenics Society (1926-1972) {{!}} Embryo Project Encyclopedia|url=https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/american-eugenics-society-1926-1972|access-date=2024-04-23|website=embryo.asu.edu|language=en}}</ref>

The AES also sought to promote eugenic policies at the US state and federal level; in particular, [[Harry H. Laughlin]] promoted eugenic [[Sterilization (medicine)|sterilization]] in the early twentieth century. By the late 1920s, eugenic sterilization laws were being enforced in multiple states ([[Sterilization law in the United States]]). By 1933, California had enforced eugenically sterilization laws on more people than any of the other US states combined, mainly affecting people of color and foreign immigrants. These laws led to court cases and lawsuits, such as ''[[Buck v. Bell]]'' (1927) and ''[[Skinner v. Oklahoma]]'' (1942).

In 1926, the society published a ''Eugenics Catechism'', arguing that eugenics was supported by the Bible, and therefore ought to be promoted by Christians.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Baker|first=G. J.|date=April 8, 2014|title=Christianity and Eugenics: The Place of Religion in the British Eugenics Education Society and the American Eugenics Society, c.1907-1940|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hku008|journal=Social History of Medicine|volume=27|issue=2|pages=281–302|doi=10.1093/shm/hku008|issn=0951-631X|pmc=4001825|pmid=24778464}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jackson|first1=John P.|last2=Weidman |first2=Nadine M.|date=2005|title=The Origins of Scientific Racism|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25073379|journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education|issue=50|pages=66–79|jstor=25073379|issn=1077-3711}}</ref>

During the presidency of [[Henry Farnham Perkins]] from 1931 to 1933, the AES worked with the [[American Birth Control League]]. [[Margaret Sanger]], a birth control activist, "was a member of the AES in 1956 and established the [[American Birth Control League|Birth Control League]] in 1921".<ref name= ":0" /> Margaret Sanger, however, identified with broader issues of "health and fitness" during the 20th century eugenics movement, which were well-respected and popular amongst doctors, physicians, political leaders, and educators.<ref name= ":2" >{{Cite web |title=Opposition Claims About Margaret Sanger |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/URLs_Cited/OT2018/18-483/18-483-2.pdf |website=www.supremecourt.gov}}</ref> Sanger continued to believe in and push for women's reproductive rights and encouraged those in political power to steer away from racially-motivated ideas or tactics involving the eugenics movement. For example, Sanger "vocally opposed" racial stereotyping which lead to the passing of the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], "on the grounds that intelligence" and other characteristics vary by individual, not by group.<ref name= ":2" />

Under the direction of [[Frederick Osborn]] the Society began to place greater focus on issues of population control, genetics, and, later, medical genetics. In 1930, the Society included mostly prominent and wealthy individuals, and membership included many non-scientists. The demographics of the Society gradually changed, and by 1960, members of the Society were almost exclusively scientists and medical professionals. Consequentially, the Society focused more on genetics and less on [[Class discrimination|class]]-based [[eugenics]].<ref name= "aes" />

After the ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' decision was released in 1973, the Society was reorganized and renamed The Society for the Study of Social Biology.<ref name= "aes" >{{cite web|url=https://library.missouri.edu/exhibits/eugenics/aes.htm|title=American Eugenics Society|website=Controlling Heredity|publisher=Curators of the [[University of Missouri]]|date=March 16, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615092614/https://library.missouri.edu/exhibits/eugenics/aes.htm|archive-date=June 15, 2020|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref> Osborn said, "[t]he name was changed because it became evident that changes of a eugenic nature would be made for reasons other than eugenics, and that tying a eugenic label on them would more often hinder than help." <ref>{{cite journal|pmid=15856597|title=The Long Road of Eugenics: From Rockefeller to Roe v. Wade|author=Messall, Rebecca|journal=The Human Life Review|date=Fall 2004|volume=30|issue=4|pages=33–74, 67}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Organized eugenics: January 1931|author=American Eugenics Society, Inc.|year=1931|pages=3, 65}}</ref>

The name was most recently changed to Society for Biodemography and Social Biology in 2008.<ref name= "springer" /> The name inherited the name of two disciplines (biodemography and social biology) as a result of interactions between demography and biology throughout the last half of the twentieth century.<ref name= "auto" /> The Society was then disbanded in 2019. The disbandment of the Society was ultimately due to limits on funding, member engagement, internal tensions, and public interest, or lack thereof, in eugenics.<ref name= ":1" /> The Society initially began to struggle finding sufficient funding. The lack of funding issue began around 1937 but continued until its official disbandment. The moving of the AES head offices from New Haven to New York in the 1930s also incurred some financial difficulties.<ref name= ":1" /> The issue of lack of finding was never fully resolved but was not substantial enough to end the AES. As time persisted, the eugenics belief and the Society’s history became increasingly unpopular amongst individuals and the Society received lots of backlash, ultimately causing its disbandment.

==Journal==
The Society's official journal was ''[[Biodemography and Social Biology]]'', originally established in 1954 as ''Eugenics Quarterly''. It was renamed to ''Social Biology'' in 1969 and to ''Biodemography and Social Biology'' in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hsbi20|title=Biodemography and Social Biology - List of issues|website=Taylor & Francis Online|publisher=Informa UK Limited|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref> The Journal has continued to publish original research articles and short reports from [[Taylor and Francis]].

==List of Presidents==

===American Eugenics Society (1922–1973)===
* [[Irving Fisher]] 1922–1926 (Political Economy, Yale University)
* Roswell H. Johnson 1926–1927 (Cold Spring Harbor, Univ. of Pittsburgh)
* [[Harry H. Laughlin]] 1927–1929 (Eugenics Record Office)
* [[Clarence C. Little]] 1929 (Pres., University of Michigan)<ref>{{cite web|last=Williamson|first=Kevin D.|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/06/planned-parenthoods-brutal-century/|title=Planned Parenthood's Century of Brutality|website=[[National Review]]|date=June 19, 2017|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref>
* [[Henry Pratt Fairchild]] 1929–1931 (Sociology, New York University)
* [[Henry Farnham Perkins]] 1931–1934 (Zoology, University of Vermont)
* [[Ellsworth Huntington]] 1934–1938 (Geography, Yale University)
* [[Samuel Jackson Holmes]] 1938–1940 (Zoology, University of California)
* [[Maurice Bigelow]] 1940–1945 (Columbia University)
* [[Frederick Osborn]] 1946–1952 (Osborn-Dodge-Harriman RR connection){{Clarify|date=November 2023}}
* [[Harry L. Shapiro]] 1956–1963 (American Museum of Natural History)
* Clyde V. Kiser 1964–1968 (differential fertility, Milbank Memorial Fund){{Clarify|date=November 2023}}
* Dudley Kirk 1969–1972 (Demography, Stanford University)
* Bruce K. Eckland 1972–1975 (Sociology, University of North Carolina)

===The Society for the Study of Social Biology (1973–2008)===
* Bruce K. Eckland 1972–1975 (Sociology, University of North Carolina)
* [[Niki Erlenmeyer-Kimling|L. Erlenmeyer-Kimling]] 1976–1978 (Genetic Psychiatry)
* [[Gardner Lindzey]] 1979–1981 (Center for Advanced Study, Behavioral Sciences)
* [[John L. Fuller]] 1982–1983 (Behavioral genetics)
* [[Michael Teitelbaum]] 1985–1990 (US Congress staff; US population policy)
* [[Robert Retherford]] 1991–1994 (East-West Institute, Hawaii; funded by AID){{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
* [[Joseph Lee Rodgers]] 1994–1995 (Psychology, University of Oklahoma)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vanderbilt.edu/psychological_sciences/bio/joe-rodgers|title=Joe Rodgers|website=Psychological Sciences|publisher=[[Vanderbilt University]]|language=en|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref>

===Society for Biodemography and Social Biology (2008–2019)===
* [[Hans-Peter Kohler]], 2007–2012 (Demography, University of Pennsylvania)<ref>{{cite web|last=Kohler|first=Hans-Peter|url=https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~hpkohler/hpkohler-cv-web.pdf|title=Curriculum Vitae|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]]|date=August 26, 2020|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref>
* [[Jason Boardman]], 2012–2015 (University of Colorado Boulder)
* Andrew J. Noymer, 2015–2019 (University of California, Irvine)<ref>{{cite web|last=Noymer|first=Andrew|url=https://u.demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/noymer_cv.pdf|title=Curriculum Vitae|publisher=[[University of California]]|date=August 15, 2019|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
{{colbegin}}
* [[American Society of Human Genetics]]
* [[Behavior Genetics Association]]
* [[British Eugenics Society]]
* [[Human Betterment Foundation]]
{{colend}}

==References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.today/20130414073645/http://www.biodemog.org/ The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology]
* [http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hsbi20#.VHUw_ouJndl ''Biodemography and Social Biology''] The academic journal.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Biology organizations]]
[[Category:Eugenics in the United States]]
[[Category:Sociological organizations]]
[[Category:Scientific organizations established in 1922]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 2019]]
[[Category:Eugenics organizations]]