Charles Fremont Dight

Charles Fremont Dight(1856–1938) was an American medical professor and promoter of the humaneugenicsmovement in theU.S. stateofMinnesota.Dight Avenue, a street inMinneapolis,was named for him until the city re-designated it asCheatham Avenuein 2022.

Biography

In 1856, Dight was born inMercer, Pennsylvania,to parents ofScotchGermanheritage. He grew up on a farm.Dight married Dr.Mary A. Crawfordin 1892, but they divorced in 1899. Dight had no children or heirs.Dight resided in atree househome dwelling at 4818 39th Avenue in Minneapolis, which has since been demolished.

Dight graduated from theUniversity of Michigan Medical Schoolin 1879. He was a health officer inHolton, Michiganfrom 1879 to 1881. He then worked at the university under professor Alonzo B. Palmer. Dight taught at theAmerican University of Beirutfrom 1883 to 1889.Upon returning to the United States, he was the resident physician and teacher of physiology and hygiene at theShattuck SchoolinFaribault, Minnesota.He later taught at the medical school atHamline University;the medical school was absorbed into theUniversity of Minnesotain 1907. Dight was a member of theSocialist Party of Minnesota,and was an alderman from the 12th district ofMinneapolisfrom 1914 to 1918.During his time in office, Dight was instrumental in passing an ordinance requiring the pasteurization of milk.He left the Socialist Party in 1917, prior to beginning his eugenics efforts.

Dight became a proponent of eugenics during the 1920s. He founded theMinnesota Eugenics Societyin 1923 and persuaded the Minnesota legislature to pass asterilizationlaw in 1925.Dight actively pursued the same type of eugenics asNazimedicine.In 1933, Dight wrote a letter toAdolf Hitlerpraising his efforts to "stamp out mental inferiority".When he died in 1938, Dight gave his estate to theUniversity of Minnesotato create the Dight Institute for Eugenics Research.The institute was renamed the Dight Institute for the Promotion of Human Genetics and was in operation until the late 1960s when it was divested, and it later closed in the 1990s.

In 1918, the Minneapolis city council named a nine-block long street in theLongfellow community"Dight Avenue" for him in recognition of his efforts to promote food safety.The street name drew periodic criticism from the public and byeditorial boardsof newspapers, such as by theMinnPostin 2016.The legacy of Dight Avenue became part of a wave of statute removals and official re-designations in theaftermathofprotestsfollowingGeorge Floyd's murder in 2020.In light of his views on eugenics, in 2021 apetitiondrive led by disability activistNoah McCourtrequested that the City of Minneapolis rename the street, which received support from residents and city officials.In 2022, Dight Avenue was renamed afterJohn Cheatham,one of the firstBlackfirefighters in Minneapolis.

Publications

• 1935:History of the Early Stages of the Organized Eugenics Movement for Human Betterment in Minnesota
• 1936:Call for a New Social Order

See also

• 2020–2022 Minneapolis–Saint Paul racial unrest
• List of name changes due to the George Floyd protests
• Nazi eugenics
• Eugenics in Minnesota

External links

• Personal Papers of Charles F. Dight, Minnesota Historical Society
• Charles Fremont Dight’s treehouse residence,Minnesota Historic Society