麻豆影院

CU 麻豆影院 undergraduate finds documents indicating eugenics sympathy by museum founder T.D.A. Cockerell

Theodore Dru Alison 鈥淭heo鈥� was one of the early 20th-century鈥檚 best-known entomologists. Widely considered the foremost expert on bees, he was a prolific writer and researcher, and professor at the 麻豆影院, where he co-founded the Museum of Natural History.

He was crucial to introducing Charles Darwin鈥檚 theories of evolution to the United States, was known as a supporter of women鈥檚 rights, and collected nearly all of the museum鈥檚 specimens from the Florissant fossil beds in southern Colorado.

鈥淗is many contributions to this campus in both science and the art of teaching are commemorated by the name of a men鈥檚 dormitory, Cockerell Hall,鈥� notes a brief archived on the museum website.

He was also, as CU 麻豆影院 Sociology undergraduate Ciara O鈥橬eil wrote in a recent paper, Environmental Justice: Environmental Racism and Science, drawn to the American eugenics鈥� movement and a member of the national Eugenics Committee who gave lectures on the topic. For her research, she examined a box of Cockerell鈥檚 documents held in the CU Rare and Distinctive Collections at Norlin Library.

鈥淕oing into it, I was expecting it to be easier than it was,鈥� O鈥橬eil says of her archival research. 鈥淏ut I had never done this before, and there were lots and lots of documents to sift through.鈥�

The term eugenics was coined by Darwin鈥檚 cousin Francis Galton in 1883 to describe the practice of using genetics to 鈥渋mprove鈥� the human population by discouraging or preventing 鈥渦nfit鈥� people from procreating and encouraging 鈥渇it鈥� people to have more children.听

In practice, eugenics was often racist or targeted vulnerable groups. The architects of Nazi Germany cited eugenics to justify some of the horrors of the Holocaust, and countless thousands of 鈥渦nfit鈥� Americans were forcibly sterilized, all under the banner of 鈥減rogress.鈥�

鈥淭he overall framing of eugenics was a core part of the early environmental movement,鈥� particularly ideas about overpopulation, says Denise Fernandes, a PhD candidate in environmental studies and O鈥橬eil鈥檚 instructor in the writing and rhetoric program.

鈥淐ockerell was teaching within the larger eugenics movement in the U.S.鈥�

It鈥檚 not clear from lecture notes, a letter from the Eugenics Committee and other documents examined by O鈥橬eil that Cockerell directly advocated for the movement, but they reveal a sympathy toward many its tenets, sometimes in language considered offensive by many today. Additionally, the records of the American Eugenics Society, which are preserved in the American Philosophical Library in Philadelphia, has a box of documents related to Cockerell. O鈥橬eil could not travel to examine them, however.

鈥淗e may have had misgivings. But based on lecture notes we found, he was promoting eugenics, saying it wasn鈥檛 a new idea and comparing it to different vaccines, saying 鈥榳e want to promote well-being and health,鈥欌�� O鈥橬eil says.

Three examples:

鈥淭he word Eugenics (sic), proposed by Francis Galton of England, is used to designate the science and art of human breeding, whereby it is supposed that the race may be improved, or prevented from deteriorating,鈥� he wrote in hand-written lecture notes transcribed by O鈥橬eil. 鈥淭his idea arouses strong prejudice in the minds of many people, because they associate it with animal (and plant) breeding, in which practical ends are sought without reference to the desires of the animals themselves.鈥�

鈥淪exual selection must be considered an important eugenic force. It has been objected that sexual selection is of small avail in men, because there is nothing to prevent the marriage of all grades of inferior people,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭his is not a valid objection, since the union of good qualities conserves them, and in this way the race is provided with a larger number of highly efficient persons, who become very valuable even to the less efficient when engaged in socialized work.鈥�

鈥淚ndeed, those of us who are most prejudiced against 鈥榚ugenics鈥� would nevertheless consider it exceedingly reprehensible to marry without any regard to the ability of the parents to take care of their offspring,鈥� Cockerell wrote. 鈥淲e should, as a matter of course, consider health and income now even sordid financial considerations, in so far as they carry with them ability to make a living, may serve eugenic ends.鈥�

These sections of text also appear in Cockerell鈥檚 1920 textbook, Zoology: A Textbook for Colleges and Universities, which includes a chapter on eugenics. In that chapter, Cockerell suggests that a prudent society would strive to reduce the number of those with inherited 鈥減hysical or mental defects.鈥�

鈥淭hus, two persons having a certain type of feeble-mindedness will certainly have only feeble-minded or mentally defective children. It does not appear very radical or extreme to postulate that no one has the right deliberately to bring feeble-minded offspring into the world. To be sure, those doing this are not capable of judging of their actions; but society is capable, and society may well put forth a restraining hand.鈥�

鈥淭his kind of thinking is also what led the Nazis picking this up and having an entire world war,鈥� Fernandes says.

For O鈥橬eil, the fact that Cockerell was teaching dangerous ideas a century ago is less relevant today than the fact that she learned nothing about the widespread and powerful American eugenics movement in her education.

鈥淲e heard about World War II and the Nazi era, but nothing about this stuff in the U.S. Thirty-some states had sterilization laws that came out of the eugenics movement, but I didn鈥檛 learn anything about that,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think that shows a big flaw in our education system.鈥�

鈥淧eople in positions of high power, such as 鈥� Cockerell, were able to share their beliefs and the eugenic agenda to malleable minds of eager to learn students,鈥� O鈥橬eil writes in her conclusion. 鈥淭he U.S. history and role that it played in eugenics is important to recognize and understand in order to take proper action to correct our mistakes and prevent history from repeating itself.鈥�

Fernandes says it鈥檚 more important than ever to remember the country鈥檚 past, including episodes such as the eugenics movement.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really relevant for us to reflect on this moment in history, especially with the rise of fascism and the racial rhetoric going on all around the globe and how ideas like 鈥榚ugenics鈥� have influenced the political, social and cultural processes and disadvantage certain groups more than others,鈥� she says.

鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely important to bring a historical understanding to such pseudo-scientific ideas.鈥�

听