Eugenics: The Science of Human Improvement by Better Breeding
by Charles Benedict Davenport
January 20, 2021 [5:30 PM — 6:02 PM]
Los Angeles, CA
The first time I heard “Eugenist” was at a campus protest, where students were demanding that the VKC building name be changed because Rufus B. von KleinSmid was a Eugenist. I came to think that this entire philosophy based on selective breeding and genetic engineering was absolutely racist. Then, I saw a Black man reading a book about Eugenics and I was utterly confused because of how controversial the philosophy and term has become. I thought maybe he’s reading it to understand “the other side” because that’s something I would do, reading about the philosophy and trying to understand the mentality of “the opposition.” I wanted to read about the topic, but not at length; I wanted to put a foot on the other side, not immerse myself in a topic that I’m not that too interested in. This book came up and it was written in 1910; perfect date, because I would’ve been reading the same publication that a Eugenist during VKC’s life would be reading.
It turns out, like many other ideologies that get influenced by specific philosophers or politics; Eugenics in its purest form isn’t racist, but it isn’t a light-hearted ideology either. Davenport is a biologist, the entire time I was reading I was waiting for him to say something about minorities, but he didn’t, it was only about diseases and defects. He was even analyzing traits that are physically stronger (based on his scientific background) at protecting the body, suggested that darker features would be more preferable. I actually found it interesting how he presented that some of our physical traits aren’t due to a different enzyme, but rather the absence of an enzyme, such as blue eyes is the result of a lack of pigmentation. Then the language got tougher when it started to discussing those with disabilities, especially if they’re intellectual. What Davenport is calling for is a regulation on marriage based on hereditary traits to decrease the population of people with disabilities, marriages that would lead to another generation are deemed “unfit.” He suggests this be done through segregation and sterilization because these “consanguineous” marriages should be considered a crime against humanity and a burden on the nation economically and socially.
All that being said, while there’s no mention of race, minorities, or different societies in this book by a biologist; I see how this ideology can go wrong when it’s infected by a political or social bug, especially in an era when civil rights, human rights, and social rights were on extremely low standards to non-existent.