Against Their Will: North Carolina's Sterilization Program

by Kevin Begos, Danielle Deaver, John Railey

They were wives and daughters. Unwed mothers. Children. Even a 10-year-old boy. Some were blind or mentally retarded. Toward the end they were mostly black and poor, and it all took place not in the distant past, but up until the 1970s.
For more than 40 years North Carolina ran one of the nation’s largest and most aggressive sterilization programs. It expanded after World War II, even as most other states pulled back in light of the horrors of Hitler’s Germany.
This spring, North Carolina is poised to become the first state to pay reparations to victims of eugenics, or involuntary sterilization.
North Carolina’s historic debate over its eugenic past was launched by Against Their Will, a series in the Winston- Salem Journal. A team of reporters exposed the scientific flaws and racial bais of the eugenics program through interviews with victims, the doctors who operated on them, the bureaucrats who ran the program, and long-hidden documents that historian Johanna Schoen shared with a reporter.
The series led directly to an apology from the governor and the first efforts in the nation seeking to compensate victims of eugenics. Against Their Will has drawn praise from civil rights groups, historians, and the general public.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Eugenics, Womens, Cultural

244 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2012

About the author

I write about wine, energy, science, the environment, and everyday people.
I’ve been a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and was a Correspondent for The Associated Press.
My work has been published in A Field Guide for Science Writers, Scientific American, The New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC, The Christian Science Monitor, Tablet, and many newspapers.
I have won awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors, Washington Monthly, The Newspaper Guild of America, Associated Press Managing Editors, and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read mostly fiction but every once in a while a non-fiction book comes along that I can’t resist, and Against their will is just such a one. I knew nothing of North Carolina’s sterilization program as I started to read, and I want to tell myself these things could never happen now, but I’m not sure I can. “Experts” argue the case for sterilization of individuals in these historically accurate documents. Their words are transliterated by non-experts, analyzed by committee, and turned into judicial pronouncements leaving human lives torn apart. I find myself wondering what experts are saying now and how the rights of individuals are so easily lost in the application of laws.

That the sterilization program was still in effect so very recently astounds me. That individuals could be denied reparation in the courts over long years of arguing their case, that science could have been twisted and co-opted this way, that World War II’s evil eugenics had so amazingly little impact... But the articles collected in this book have a deeper purpose. They show a country where journalists are willing to ask the tough questions, find the victims and give them voice, and where people are willing to read and willing to change. And that gives me hope.

“We Americans tend to ignore our past,” the editor quotes from filmmaker Ken Burns in his introduction, reminding readers of the dangers of repeating what we do not examine. The book contains a pleasing mix of articles written at different dates, where genuine victims of the program come forward and reappear like old friends asking us to listen and listen again, where clear statistics and honest investigation reveal how common belief unquestioningly denies uncommon truth, and where the greater good is neither great nor good, whatever the words may say. Each article stands on its own, but the inevitable touches of repetition serve only to emphasize. Read together, the articles pull the reader in to wanting more for the victims, hoping to hear more, wishing things had been different. From the horrors of a 1947 poem, to churches so carefully choosing which topics will appall them, to the tragedies of Lumbee Indians, and ancient arguments about purity, this book amazes and saddens while engaging and enthralling me. Economics, medical experiment, social uniformity… Behind it all are real human beings, wounded by real human beings. And all of us are vulnerable, either to being hurt or to hurting others. All of us should care and be vigilant.

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book with a request for my honest review.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 3 out of 5]

When most Americans think of eugenics, many probably think of some of the insidious activities that the Nazis engaged in during World War II. Not many people realize that many states in America had eugenics programs. States sterilized people they felt were "feeble minded" or suffered from mental illnesses. Many of the people who were sterilized got absolutely no say in whether or not they wanted to be sterilized. It definitely called into question biomedical ethics! Some of these programs, like the one in North Carolina discussed in this book went on until the 1970s. This is a dark, secretive part of history to say the very least.

This book is a collection of articles that ran as part of a series on the North Carolina eugenics program and the possible reparitions to be made to those affected by the program. These ugly programs are definitely worth a discussion but with this book just being a collection of news stories does not venture very deeply into the issue. The articles are very good for newspaper articles but there is a huge difference between a collection of newspaper articles and a real exploration of the issue. That exploration was definitely missing for me. I was looking for more of a connection between all of the articles. I wanted to see the bigger picture. You really don't get much of that in this book.

Bottom line: I still think this is an important subject that more people need to know about but this book is not an all inclusive guide to the subject at hand; it's more just an appetizer.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is actually a compilation of newspaper articles published in The Winston-Salem Journal over a number of years. The reporters investigated the sterilization program in North Carolina that spanned 40 years, which was much longer and put into much more use than similar programs in other states. It was a very eye-opening look into a part of North Carolina's history I really knew nothing about despite having gone to school in Winston-Salem at Wake Forest University whose medical school is prominently featured in the book. As the book is actually a series of articles there is a lot of repetition with the reporters providing background on the sterilization program and/or the legislation that was long-considered for reparations to the victims of the program at the beginning of each article. If you are interested in finding out more about this historic issue I would definitely suggest reading this book though.

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Power & prejudice are inextricably linked. The power to use sterilization for the public good of improving the people of NC by preventing the unfit & feebleminded from reproducing seemed like a good, noble idea, but slowly it turned into another tool to control & restrict the choices of, predominately, Black & poor girls in the state. In NC, 7600 were sterilized under this state-operated eugenics program, while 65000 were conducted nation-wide, largely through the advocacy of the eugenicist doctors, social scientists & social workers. Many of the operations were done against the will of the victim. Several never knew they had the procedure until years later when they were trying to start their own families. It's also a story of the public good that quality investigative journalism can do. This tragic episode in our history would still be hidden without the investigative series by the Winston-Salem Journal. Without that, the decades of under the radar activity by the shadowy eugenics committee, & later, judges, the suffering & mental anguish of victims, the apologies from the Governor, Wake Forest University & other agencies involved & the ultimately the restitution of victims (NC is the only of over 30 states to provide some reparations to victims) would never have happened. This really is a tragic case study of how racial, gender & class bias creeped into a wrong minded policy initiative & made it sinister.

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first heard about this story on an episode of Rock Center with Brian Williams and was intrigued and curious. There were state laws on the books from the 1920's through the mid-60's that allowed states to sterilize their citizens. The laws were designed mainly for institutionalized mental patients, but that was not always adhered to. After the world became aware of the atrocities that occurred under the Nazis in Germany, most states either reduced the number of sterilizations performed or overturned their laws altogether. However, the procedures done in North Carolina increased.

Against Their Will is a collection of stories first published as an award winning series in the Winston-Salem Journal. These journalists give an all-encompassing look into the history and creation of the program and the long lasting effects. Their are interviews with victims who were overwhelmingly sterilized without their consent along with the doctors and social workers who administered the program. Because this is a collection of newspaper articles, I found the subject easier to grasp than if it had been published solely as a history book. I recommend it to anyone interested in American history as well as issues pertaining to race and class.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book was nicely written and put together with all the different contributors. This book shares the history behind North Carolina's sterilization program and introduces the reader to some of the victims. This book is one that is hard to finish. Not because it is not good but because it is sad. It will make you upset as well and sick to your stomach reading about the things that all the young women and some men had to endure with the inhumane practices of North Carolina's government. It is very sad that in some parts of the world there is racisim and illegal sterilization taking place still. Most of the instances that caused these people like Jesse and others to be sterlized was due to rape or other situations that were beyond their control. The way that the government used their powers to strong arm the guardians of this young women and men was horrible.

The government might as well have killed these people and gotten it over with versus doing what they did and these people have to enduring the pain and suffering. I can not imagine not having a choice about what happens to your own body. This is one book that will have you talking about it long after you have finished it. It is thought provoking.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Against Their Will

Freedom of choice, the right to decide for yourself what you want to do to your body, the right to live your life as you please are some of the violations and injustices done to over 7600 people living in North Carolina and many in other states too. If you are not smart, considered feebleminded, retarded, promiscuous, unfit to care for yourself or anyone else, you fit into the mold, picture frame or criteria to be part of a program that would literally neuter as they do pets, young people that a panel of five played God over because they could. Many stated as the decisions were part of a panel consisting of five people and an executive secretary would look over cases or just their summaries, not really care about the person, the facts or the end result and decide that this poor, young, ignorant child needed to be sterilized as some state: For their own good. Who is to decide what is right for another person? How can you justify threatening someone with institutionalization on a permanent basis if they did not agree to what the eugenics book deemed their fate or what some would say their decision that would change the lives of so many would state as Hitler did: not part of what he thought deemed to live or part of his Master Race. Extermination of the Jews was his plan as he justified his actions as did many other countries and leaders during the WWII. Against Their Will is a compelling book that reveals the truths behind what the Eugenics Board did to so many, the documents that some were finally allowed to read, the cases where those that were victims allowed their names and what happened to them brought to light and the many that still bear the horrific scars on only on their body but within their minds and hearts too. How do you justify taking away someone’s right to have a child and claim that it is for the Public Good? How do you justify that just because one person might have an IQ that borders being retarded or slow that their offspring will be slow too? How do you justify and live with what you did?

Apologies are too late even though some doctors and board members seem to have found a bit of a conscience. Some state that they did not realize what they were doing while others felt the decisions made would benefit society in the long run. Parents that pleaded for their child’s right to bear children were often denied. Many did not understand the process and some were threatened with not being released from the institutions that housed them if they did not agree to the surgery. Others had their welfare benefits threatened and their children sent to orphanages if they did not agree to the terms of the board. In a country that is democratic and in a society that is supposed to protect its young this is nothing short of abuse.

The involuntary sterilization program was part of North Carolina’s board passing judgment over 76oo people by forcing their consent to perform surgery on them that they knew was wrong. You are the wife, daughter, sister or child of someone and your body is about to be violated but in a different way. You have been labeled, described, stamped and practically tattooed feebleminded or mentally retarded. You are poor, illiterate or black and not deserve to reproduce because your offspring might be just like you. For 40 years the Eugenics Board loomed over people that could not fight back and decided in a matter fact manner that short of what Hitler did to so many in his mass extermination program of those he deemed not fit to live, made sure that these defenseless people would no longer bear children.

Elaine Riddick Jessie tells her story in this book. You hear her voice, understand her pain and learn her outcome as he loses her battle with the board and winds up another victim. When parents cannot read or just know how to mark an X on a dotted line and no one bothers to read or explain what is written on the papers they are signing lives are changes and rights are violated. Some state officials did not think consent of parents who were functionally limited or they considered mentally retarded should be necessary.

This book incorporates newspaper articles by Journal Reporters that researched the information dealing with the Eugenics Board, the many victims, the doctors that preformed the surgeries and the operations that were illegally done in Forsyth County. Wake Forest University played a major role in this as a patron engineer funded the research. This person was tied to science and had a racial agenda dating back to the Nazis.

Reporter Danielle Deaver explains Tubal Ligation as performed by the doctors to sterilize many of the young girls. Followed by one doctor who questioned the veracity of the board when stating that offspring of a mentally retarded mother or sibling would be born the same way. What is to say that they child would not be a genius? Flawed assessments, flawed IQ’s and narrow- minded individuals with their own agendas loomed over these innocent people. The personal stories were many. Nial Cox Ramirez tells what happened to her in 1965 at the age of 18. Read Sign this or Else to learn just how far they would go to threaten a young girl if she did not sign for the operation. What would you do if the lives of the rest of your family were in question? Read pages 47-53 and learn more.
Imagine a wealthy recluse as reported by the Wake Forest University stated that a New York philanthropist with an interest in population genetics made a one hundred thousand dollar gift of stock to the Department of Medical Genetics in 1953. To learn more read Benefactor with a Racist Bent. There is so much more to learn and so many people involved in allowing this to happened included Dr. William Allan who supported the program when he questioned family trees, wanted to know which member were feebleminded and more. His research became the basis for much of the science and he and many others did at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Read pages 61-63.

Wake Forest President William Louis Poteat supported this program, and embraced the movement. Followed by Castration: Files Suggest that punishment was often the aim as described by journal reporter Kevin Begos. Imagine reading as I did on page 69 that these operations were experimental and the rest is bone chilling.

Part three focuses on Selling a solution, It Ain’t Fair and putting kids to the test in 48. As the reporters continue to tell how so many thought this was great, how they sold the solution to the problem of you might say population control, allowing this to go on, even giving the eugenics board new legitimacy and political clout when they needed it. Bertha Dale Midgett Hymes comes from “ a place where generations of locals spilled blood and sweat just surviving.” Bertha was white and forced to undergo sterilization and wants you the reader to hear her voice and read her story. Social workers make rash decisions, her story not much different than others the outcome the same but the end result lies, and deceit and harassment and a mother signed away her daughter’s rights because she was told a lie.

As you read part four and Wicked Silence, Detour In 48 state singled out delinquent boys, Just carrying out Orders which focuses on how some doctors just performed the surgery as a matter of course, because they were carrying out the orders of others and really not caring about the outcome. Some, even now do not look back while others have some reservations about their actions. Church Silent Scarce Catholic no threat to North Carolina drive to sterilize using it as a way out. “Bad Girls” Indians posted a race problem for the state.

Human Betterment League was founded by James G. Hanes of Hanes Hosiery in Winston Salem to promote and foster the eugenics. Improving races by controlling hereditary factors was their goals. The end result would give power to a few that would yield what they felt were results for the good. You decide after reading it. On December 12, 2002 the article and installment was released and the end result would change things for some. The Winston Salem Journal’s Against Their Will documentary was released on 2002 based in part on the research sited in this book by Joanna Schoen. This five part series and five part book allows the reader to learn first hand about the extensive background of this board, the statistics, the stories of the victims and the historical information linking back to Post WWII.

This last part or Epilogue stars with an apology from Governor Mike Easley to victims of the policy in 2002. North Carolina was the third state to officially apologize to the victims. He also set up as the book related how to handle helping the survivors. The recommendations of the committee remained dormant or not acted upon until 2008. Not all of the victims survived the surgery. Some died. This is elaborated on in the chapter titled High Hopes pages 163-176. The remaining articles focus on Repeal of the existing Law and the unintended consequences, followed by California’s apologies and a task force formed to compensate the victims. April 25, 2012, 132 people in 51 countries have been matched to the North Carolina Eugenic program records. March 19the 2003: Panel accepts change to the law. A committee finally and unanimously approved a till to repeal a state law that allowed this happen for so many years and finally no more involuntary sterilizations for the mentally ill. What took them so long? A guardian of the mentally ill would be able to decide and petition the clerk for this operation providing a sworn statement by a doctor that the sole purpose was nor for sterilization. Read pages 187-193 to learn more.

Finally a panel was called for in order to compensate the victims. The foundation recommended that compensation be raised to 50 thousand dollars per victim. They also voted for funds to be allocated for mental health services, historical displays and exhibits documenting the history of what happened in this state. April 25th 2012: The Governor announced she would put 10.3 million dollars in per budget proposal allocated to sterilization issues. What happened cannot be changed. The victims will deal with this for the rest of their lives. The compensation will not bring back what they lost but hopefully this will never happen again. Responsibility for what happened must be taken and admitted by everyone not just Wake Forest but everyone else involved too. The research is extensive, the stories are heartfelt and compelling and the final outcomes will bring tears to your eyes. No one has the right to decide your life because of your race or economic background. This is an important issue that still needs to be addressed, looked into in other states and watched over so that it does not happen again. Public Good: Depends on whose definition.

Fran Lewis: reviewer
Let’s dedicate this review to the authors of this great book the victims and to my grandmother Katie Goldberg who lived in Poland.

[Leomii · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very good

[Della S.white · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this book was nicely written and put together with all the different contributors. This book shares the history behind North Carolina's sterilization program and introduces the reader to some of the victims. This book is one that is hard to finish. Not because it is not good but because it is sad. It will make you upset as well and sick to your stomach reading about the things that all the young women and some men had to endure with the inhumane practices of North Carolina's government. It is very sad that in some parts of the world there is racism and illegal sterilization taking place still. Most of the instances that caused these people like Jesse and others to be sterilized were due to rape or other situations that were beyond their control. The way that the government used their powers to strong arm the guardians of this young women and men was horrible.
This book is actually a compilation of newspaper articles published in The Winston-Salem Journal over a number of years. The reporters investigated the sterilization program in North Carolina that spanned 40 years, which was much longer and put into much more use than similar programs in other states.
It was a very eye-opening look into a part of North Carolina's history I really knew nothing about despite having gone to school in Winston-Salem at Wake Forest University whose medical school is prominently featured in the book. As the book is actually a series of articles there is a lot of repetition with the reporters providing background on the sterilization program and/or the legislation that was long-considered for reparations to the victims of the program at the beginning of each article.
The government might as well have killed these people and gotten it over with versus doing what they did and these people have to enduring the pain and suffering. I cannot imagine not having a choice about what happens to your own body. This is one book that will have you talking about it long after you have finished it. It is thought provoking. If you are interested in finding out more about this historic issue I would definitely suggest reading this book.

[Janastasia Whydra · Rating 4 out of 5]

America: The Land of the Free! Or, is it?

The United States is a country with many controversies. Is Christopher Columbus an explorer or a thief? If all men are created equal, why was there slavery and genocide? Why do fetuses have more rights than a woman who has already taken her first breath? There are many subjects of controversy discussed daily (and especially during an election year), but why is it we don't discuss eugenics?

Probably because we think eugenics the same way we think of internment and concentration camps, these are things that were done by Adolf Hilter to the Jews in Germany during World War II. We know this is not true, but we don't want to face the reality that our parent's and grandparent's and even great-grandparent's are capable of committing the same atrocities as the former leader of the Third Reich.

Some of those who are still living do not want to believe they have committed any crimes. Many believe they were doing the right thing by sterilizing men and women (although the overwhelming majority of victims are female) because they would not be able to reproduce and pass along "undesirable" genes. In the end, it would have all been for the betterment of civilization.

So, here's the controversy: If you knew sterilizing a person with an undesirable gene would prevent the gene from being passed along to the next generation. If you believed civilization would be stronger and your country would be stronger if we eradicated this gene, would you sacrifice individual freedom for the whole of society? Or would you state every individual has a right to their own body and allow them to pass along their genetic material, even if it might mean weakening the population with each successive generation?

Personally , I would choose individual rights, but I can understand how others may take the opposite view. By this point (if you are still reading my review), I would hope you realize I am merely trying to get the conversation started so more people can accept their history and legacy and answer these questions before it's too late.

[Yaaresse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of the prize-winning articles that broke the NC eugenics story wide open. As a collection of newspaper articles printed over a span of months, it can sometimes be repetitive, but the writing is crisp and has depth. It doesn't stoop to the sensationalism or melodrama that today's newspapers call reporting.

Eugenics laws were on the books far later than most people realize. In NC, especially, social workers were given much power about who was "fit" and "unfit" to procreate. Thousands of people (men and women) were sterilized, often as a condition of release from state asylums or as a condition for their families to continue receiving aid. Many were teenagers who had no clue what was being done to them or why.

If there is a fault with this series, it's that there is a heavy focus on this being a race issue, particularly that black women were targets. That is misleading. While true in the later years of the program, the NC Eugenics board targets in the early years included whites and men. (ALthough men were definitely in the minority, I have first hand knowledge of at least two white men who became wards of the state before the age of 5 and were sterilized in the 1950s.)

For companion reading, I would suggest Choice and Coercion by Johanna Schoen, who was very involved with the NC story, and by Paul Lambardo, a detailed look at the Virginia eugenics law and Buck v Bell Supreme court case that allowed this travesty to continue.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative and interesting book for anyone who had never heard of this program. It's hard to believe that a program like this could happen in this country.

I won this book on Good Reads and highly recommend it's purchase.

[Cindi-jonathan]

Autumn

[Nicole Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and well-written.