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The Orphans of Davenport: Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the War over Children's Intelligence
The fascinating―and eerily timely―tale of the forgotten Depression-era psychologists who launched the modern science of childhood development. “Doomed from birth” was how psychologist Harold Skeels described two toddler girls at the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1934. Their IQ scores, added together, totaled just 81. Following prevailing eugenic beliefs of the times, Skeels and his colleague Marie Skodak assumed that the girls had inherited their parents’ low intelligence and were therefore unfit for adoption. The girls were sent to an institution for the “feebleminded” to be cared for by “moron” women. To Skeels and Skodak’s astonishment, under the women’s care, the children’s IQ scores became normal. Now considered one of the most important scientific findings of the twentieth century, the discovery that environment shapes children’s intelligence was also one of the most fiercely contested―and its origin story has never been told. In The Orphans of Davenport , psychologist and esteemed historian Marilyn Brookwood chronicles how a band of young psychologists in 1930s Iowa shattered the nature-versus-nurture debate and overthrew long-accepted racist and classist views of childhood development. Transporting readers to a rural Iowa devastated by dust storms and economic collapse, Brookwood reveals just how profoundly unlikely it was for this breakthrough to come from the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station. Funded by the University of Iowa and the Rockefeller Foundation, and modeled on America’s experimental agricultural stations, the Iowa Station was virtually unknown, a backwater compared to the renowned psychology faculties of Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton. Despite the challenges they faced, the Iowa psychologists replicated increased intelligence in thirteen more “retarded” children. When Skeels published their incredible work, America’s leading psychologists―eugenicists all―attacked and condemned his conclusions. The loudest critic was Lewis M. Terman, who advocated for forced sterilization of low-intelligence women and whose own widely accepted IQ test was threatened by the Iowa research. Terman and his opponents insisted that intelligence was hereditary, and their prestige ensured that the research would be ignored for decades. Remarkably, it was not until the 1960s that a new generation of psychologists accepted environment’s role in intelligence and helped launch the modern field of developmental neuroscience.. Drawing on prodigious archival research, Brookwood reclaims the Iowa researchers as intrepid heroes and movingly recounts the stories of the orphans themselves, many of whom later credited the psychologists with giving them the opportunity to forge successful lives. A radiant story of the power and promise of science to better the lives of us all, The Orphans of Davenport unearths an essential history at a moment when race science is dangerously resurgent. 16-page black-and-white insert
352 pages, Hardcover
First published July 27, 2021
381 people are currently reading
3491 people want to read
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June 20, 2024
Wydawałoby się, że zajmowanie się jakąkolwiek dziedziną nauki wymaga otwartej głowy i gotowości na nowe odkrycia. Niesamowite, jak ego niektórych naukowców jest dla nich od tego ważniejsze.
Taki mam wniosek po tej książce.
Bardzo ciekawy tytuł, choć miałam moment kryzysu i byłam bliska zrobienia DNF. Za dużo nazwisk, które zaczęły mi się zlepiać w jedno i przestałam rozumieć kto jest kim. Ale temat bardzo interesujący i cieszę się, że jednak książki nie odłożyłam.
Taki mam wniosek po tej książce.
Bardzo ciekawy tytuł, choć miałam moment kryzysu i byłam bliska zrobienia DNF. Za dużo nazwisk, które zaczęły mi się zlepiać w jedno i przestałam rozumieć kto jest kim. Ale temat bardzo interesujący i cieszę się, że jednak książki nie odłożyłam.
March 3, 2025
__________________________
"In Iowa, we grow people the same way we grow corn."
1. Imagine a dystopian society in which children are permanently taken away from their families and eventually sterilized because the government wants to eliminate undesirable characteristics from the nation’s genetic stock.
2. Imagine a dystopian society in which institutionalized infants are kept in their cribs 24 hours a day and in which their only interaction with other people is when bottles are propped up on pillows to feed them and when their diapers changed.
3. Imagine a dystopian society in which small children with low IQs have to spend nearly their entire day every day sitting in a chair next to the wall.
4. Imagine a dystopian society in which adult women are institutionalized and forcibly sterilized for being sexually promiscuous, having more children than they can support, having lower than average IQs or even having epilepsy.
This is book is not science fiction. It is about hellish real-life social policies that were in place during my lifetime. No, it does not take place in Nazi Germany. It is about horrors that occurred in a dystopian society in a land called IOWA.
"In 1929, the Iowa General Assembly created a Board of Eugenics* to investigate persons who were a 'menace to society,' so that such 'degenerates' could be sterilized." — Amy Vogel
*-The term Eugenics refers to a belief that was prevalent during much of the 20th century that traits such as criminality, morality, and intelligence are hereditary and that people who have relatives who were criminals, who engaged in prostitution, or had low IQs should not be allowed to swim in our gene pool.
No, Iowa was not the only place where this was happening in the 20th century. Similar policies were in place in all U.S. states and in most of Europe. It was in Iowa, though, that a glimmer of hope arose amidst this dark era.
Part of the credit for this glimmer of hope has to be given to an employee at the Davenport Orphans Home where large numbers of “feebleminded” children were incarcerated. The orphanage was overcrowded and short of money and didn’t have enough caretakers to take care of the warehoused “feebleminded” children described in the numbered list above, so it was suggested that these issues could be ameliorated by transferring some of these “throw-away” children to a home for institutionalized lower IQ women and letting those low-IQ women take care of them.
School psychologists from the University of Iowa thought this transfer would be great opportunity for some research. They tested the IQs of the children that were going to be transferred to the low-IQ women’s home and also of those who stayed behind. Then after two years, the psychologist tested all the children again. The changes in the children who moved to the feebleminded women’s home were startling. The children being taken care of by the low IQ women had made significant gains in their development—all but two them attained IQ scores in the normal range--while all children in the control group in old wards declined to “retarded levels.” This proved that IQs are not entirely determined by heredity and that eugenics is a pseudoscience based on erroneous assumptions.
🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stars. I have several reasons for liking this book:
1. I grew up less than 20 miles from the Davenport Orphan’s Home location, so its local history for me.
2. I used to work for a company that published a variety psychological testing materials, and we had a portrait of famous psychologist Lewis Terman in the lunchroom. Although I didn’t realize it at the time I worked there, Terman supported forced sterilizations and tried to destroy the careers of the Iowa psychologists who contradicted his beliefs.
"Eugenics aims to make better people. We must therefore restrict the reproduction of inferior types and increase that of superior types." — Lewis Terman
3. My daughter is a school psychologist whose job is to diagnose why individual students have learning problems and to work with special ed teachers, counselors and other specialists to improve those students’ learning skills.
4. The governor of the state where my daughter practices wants to eliminate all school psychologists, special ed teachers, counselors, and so on from the state’s school systems. Some people in the new regime are definitely slow learners.
Recommended for people interested in early childhood development, education, or how baseless belief systems can lead to the worst kind of tyranny. It is not exactly a page turner, but it provides a close look at a dismal period in U.S. history.
Postscript: The peak of forced sterilizations in the U.S. was 1940 to 1955, but there were states that allowed forced sterilizations of “inferior types” as late as 1970. Iowa sterilized 2000 people in 1963. Between 1920 and 1970, a total of 65,000 to 70,000 Americans were forcibly sterilized, most of them low-status women.
"In Iowa, we grow people the same way we grow corn."
1. Imagine a dystopian society in which children are permanently taken away from their families and eventually sterilized because the government wants to eliminate undesirable characteristics from the nation’s genetic stock.
2. Imagine a dystopian society in which institutionalized infants are kept in their cribs 24 hours a day and in which their only interaction with other people is when bottles are propped up on pillows to feed them and when their diapers changed.
3. Imagine a dystopian society in which small children with low IQs have to spend nearly their entire day every day sitting in a chair next to the wall.
4. Imagine a dystopian society in which adult women are institutionalized and forcibly sterilized for being sexually promiscuous, having more children than they can support, having lower than average IQs or even having epilepsy.
This is book is not science fiction. It is about hellish real-life social policies that were in place during my lifetime. No, it does not take place in Nazi Germany. It is about horrors that occurred in a dystopian society in a land called IOWA.
"In 1929, the Iowa General Assembly created a Board of Eugenics* to investigate persons who were a 'menace to society,' so that such 'degenerates' could be sterilized." — Amy Vogel
*-The term Eugenics refers to a belief that was prevalent during much of the 20th century that traits such as criminality, morality, and intelligence are hereditary and that people who have relatives who were criminals, who engaged in prostitution, or had low IQs should not be allowed to swim in our gene pool.
No, Iowa was not the only place where this was happening in the 20th century. Similar policies were in place in all U.S. states and in most of Europe. It was in Iowa, though, that a glimmer of hope arose amidst this dark era.
Part of the credit for this glimmer of hope has to be given to an employee at the Davenport Orphans Home where large numbers of “feebleminded” children were incarcerated. The orphanage was overcrowded and short of money and didn’t have enough caretakers to take care of the warehoused “feebleminded” children described in the numbered list above, so it was suggested that these issues could be ameliorated by transferring some of these “throw-away” children to a home for institutionalized lower IQ women and letting those low-IQ women take care of them.
School psychologists from the University of Iowa thought this transfer would be great opportunity for some research. They tested the IQs of the children that were going to be transferred to the low-IQ women’s home and also of those who stayed behind. Then after two years, the psychologist tested all the children again. The changes in the children who moved to the feebleminded women’s home were startling. The children being taken care of by the low IQ women had made significant gains in their development—all but two them attained IQ scores in the normal range--while all children in the control group in old wards declined to “retarded levels.” This proved that IQs are not entirely determined by heredity and that eugenics is a pseudoscience based on erroneous assumptions.
🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stars. I have several reasons for liking this book:
1. I grew up less than 20 miles from the Davenport Orphan’s Home location, so its local history for me.
2. I used to work for a company that published a variety psychological testing materials, and we had a portrait of famous psychologist Lewis Terman in the lunchroom. Although I didn’t realize it at the time I worked there, Terman supported forced sterilizations and tried to destroy the careers of the Iowa psychologists who contradicted his beliefs.
"Eugenics aims to make better people. We must therefore restrict the reproduction of inferior types and increase that of superior types." — Lewis Terman
3. My daughter is a school psychologist whose job is to diagnose why individual students have learning problems and to work with special ed teachers, counselors and other specialists to improve those students’ learning skills.
4. The governor of the state where my daughter practices wants to eliminate all school psychologists, special ed teachers, counselors, and so on from the state’s school systems. Some people in the new regime are definitely slow learners.
Recommended for people interested in early childhood development, education, or how baseless belief systems can lead to the worst kind of tyranny. It is not exactly a page turner, but it provides a close look at a dismal period in U.S. history.
Postscript: The peak of forced sterilizations in the U.S. was 1940 to 1955, but there were states that allowed forced sterilizations of “inferior types” as late as 1970. Iowa sterilized 2000 people in 1963. Between 1920 and 1970, a total of 65,000 to 70,000 Americans were forcibly sterilized, most of them low-status women.
February 26, 2022
This book is stellar and for anybody who cares about children--and the people they grow up to become--it is required reading. I had never heard about the ground breaking research that these two young psychologists did in Iowa and the battle to get their findings a hearing. Its an amazing and fascinating story, but more than that, the book explains why the U.S. as a country has always been behind in terms of providing the universal early childhood education that almost all other developed countries have been doing for decades. The misuse of the Stanford-Binet I.Q. test (and how it came to be developed in the first place), the fact that the psychological establishment was captured by the eugenicists, and the incredible influence they had on the public's belief that I.Q. was fixed and "nurture" didn't really matter -- meant that the establishment did everything they could to shoot down this research that showed children from impoverished backgrounds could thrive with love and attention. Because it took so long for the tide to turn, the U.S. never got on the early childhood bandwagon--and you have to wonder if that is why we have such a high population of damaged citizens today. Brookwood's research is amazing, the writing is lively and she even manages to interview one of the Iowa children as an adult who tells us his story and its happy ending.
July 25, 2021
The Orphans of Davenport: Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the War over Children's Intelligence by Marilyn Brookwood is a very highly recommended meticulously researched and thoughtfully presented examination of the early psychologists in Iowa during the Great Depression who studied and challenged the prevailing thoughts concerning early childhood development and the question whether intelligence is inherited or influenced by environment.
Brookwood does an excellent job setting the historical period of time, the context, and explaining how the research and actions of these young psychologists directly countered the predominate view and stance of the established academics of the time. Their research in the 1930s at the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station resulted in a direct challenge to the universally accepted notion that children inherited low intelligence from their parents and the environment children were raised in was immaterial. It was the nature-versus-nurture debate that resulted in eventually eradicating the accepted racist and classic views of childhood development. The action that began this major breakthrough is amazing.
Psychologist Harold Skeels and his colleague Marie Skodak had two toddler girls at the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1934 who both had their IQ's tested. Their IQ scores were so low they were found to be unfit for adoption. The radical choice they made to send the two girls to in institution for the "feeble minded" where the women there cared for the little girls. Much to their astonishment, the girls' IQ scores rose to normal levels, making them open for adoption. This breakthrough was repeated with thirteen other children. The individual attention and stimulating environment provided by their caregivers at the institution made the difference.
When Skeels and Skodak published their findings they were viciously attacked by America’s leading psychologists, who were also all eugenicists. Lewis M. Terman of Stanford University was the most vocal critic and he not only denounced their findings but also suppressed them. It wasn't until the 1960s that a new generation of psychologists accepted the original findings that environment influences intelligence. This helped start the field of developmental neuroscience and confirmed the benefits of early childhood education.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Liveright Publishing.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/0...
Brookwood does an excellent job setting the historical period of time, the context, and explaining how the research and actions of these young psychologists directly countered the predominate view and stance of the established academics of the time. Their research in the 1930s at the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station resulted in a direct challenge to the universally accepted notion that children inherited low intelligence from their parents and the environment children were raised in was immaterial. It was the nature-versus-nurture debate that resulted in eventually eradicating the accepted racist and classic views of childhood development. The action that began this major breakthrough is amazing.
Psychologist Harold Skeels and his colleague Marie Skodak had two toddler girls at the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1934 who both had their IQ's tested. Their IQ scores were so low they were found to be unfit for adoption. The radical choice they made to send the two girls to in institution for the "feeble minded" where the women there cared for the little girls. Much to their astonishment, the girls' IQ scores rose to normal levels, making them open for adoption. This breakthrough was repeated with thirteen other children. The individual attention and stimulating environment provided by their caregivers at the institution made the difference.
When Skeels and Skodak published their findings they were viciously attacked by America’s leading psychologists, who were also all eugenicists. Lewis M. Terman of Stanford University was the most vocal critic and he not only denounced their findings but also suppressed them. It wasn't until the 1960s that a new generation of psychologists accepted the original findings that environment influences intelligence. This helped start the field of developmental neuroscience and confirmed the benefits of early childhood education.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Liveright Publishing.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/0...
April 22, 2022
An excellent account of the studies done on how proper care and attention in early childhood can affect intelligence. The studies were carried out in Iowa in the 1930’s and documents the struggles the young phychologists had to get their results accepted.
December 27, 2024
po prawie 6 miesiącach skończona!
temat dosyć ciekawy ale że wszystko było takie mocno naukowe to potrzebowałam czystej głowy żeby to czytać i niestety, musiałam tekst dawkować.
jest to tak niszowy temat, że nie dziwię się jak mało osób to czyta, a momentmi szkoda.
temat dosyć ciekawy ale że wszystko było takie mocno naukowe to potrzebowałam czystej głowy żeby to czytać i niestety, musiałam tekst dawkować.
jest to tak niszowy temat, że nie dziwię się jak mało osób to czyta, a momentmi szkoda.
November 13, 2022
This is a fascinating book about the controversy between psychologists who believed that intelligence is fixed based on genetics (eugenicists) and those who believed that environment along with genetics influences intelligence. The book revolves around the cutting-edge (at the time) research of a group associated with the University of Iowa in the 1930’s that led to serious challenges to the leading psychologists of the day. The leading psychologists believed that genetics determined not only intelligence but also any deviant or or socially unacceptable behavior. The new, young researchers studied residents of the Davenport Children’s Home and unleashed the ire of established “experts” when they shared their results showing that environment does influence intelligence. It is an enthralling account of brave researchers who were eventually recognized for their work after years of abuse by eugenicists. The contributions of the Iowa researchers has had a positive impact on children and adults who have lived positive and productive lives as a result of changes in educational and public policy resulting from their work.
October 31, 2021
Picked this book up on a whim from the library. Wow, an incredible book that made me reflect on my own practices of using IQ tests and what their purpose is for. I never knew about Binet’s stance on the importance of nurture in cognitive development. Interesting how Terman edited it and developed the IQ score of Binet’s test when that was never the original intent of the Stanford Binet. I learned a lot about the rocky road that IQ tests have played in segregation and discrimination of individuals with disabilities.
Quotes that stuck out:
Intelligence tests proved useful in reinforcing a caste system in which many who lacked the means, connections, or skin color to become well educated and well employed might pay a steep price. (72)
Walter Lippmann
Eugenics is “racism disguised as science” -Franz Boas
Development, it turns out is a continual process of adjustment to environment. - Herbert Spencer Jennings
Intelligence is not a thing, it is a functional process that requires human interaction and that changes, depending on environment and experience.
Quotes that stuck out:
Intelligence tests proved useful in reinforcing a caste system in which many who lacked the means, connections, or skin color to become well educated and well employed might pay a steep price. (72)
Walter Lippmann
Eugenics is “racism disguised as science” -Franz Boas
Development, it turns out is a continual process of adjustment to environment. - Herbert Spencer Jennings
Intelligence is not a thing, it is a functional process that requires human interaction and that changes, depending on environment and experience.
February 22, 2025
What a fascinating topic!
The Pros-
The pervasiveness of Eugenics in the United States until the 1940s was eye opening. The heart wrenching repercussions of believing in inherited deficiencies (human evolution) was well delivered. Forced sterilization, racism, non-adoptable children, rigid educational and occupational choices, the support of Nazi ideals.
The same ideas exist today with more subjective terms to hide their dangers:
Abortion for the welfare recipients, potential Down’s Syndrome carriers, or minorities. Institutional style learning.
Standardized tests for proficiency.
Stanford-Binet intelligence tests (developed by Eugenic principles) are still used today.
Isn’t it amazing that the proponents of the idea of lesser classes always seem to come from the “talented” class?
The Cons-
Sometimes there were just too many people to keep track of. It was hard to keep everyone straight because events were not always chronological. Sometimes there were odd jumps from one event to another in the same paragraph.
Conversely, the same information about some individuals is repeated several times throughout the book.
It needed some serious editing.
However, there was a lot of gold in this book which made it well worth the read.
The Pros-
The pervasiveness of Eugenics in the United States until the 1940s was eye opening. The heart wrenching repercussions of believing in inherited deficiencies (human evolution) was well delivered. Forced sterilization, racism, non-adoptable children, rigid educational and occupational choices, the support of Nazi ideals.
The same ideas exist today with more subjective terms to hide their dangers:
Abortion for the welfare recipients, potential Down’s Syndrome carriers, or minorities. Institutional style learning.
Standardized tests for proficiency.
Stanford-Binet intelligence tests (developed by Eugenic principles) are still used today.
Isn’t it amazing that the proponents of the idea of lesser classes always seem to come from the “talented” class?
The Cons-
Sometimes there were just too many people to keep track of. It was hard to keep everyone straight because events were not always chronological. Sometimes there were odd jumps from one event to another in the same paragraph.
Conversely, the same information about some individuals is repeated several times throughout the book.
It needed some serious editing.
However, there was a lot of gold in this book which made it well worth the read.
September 1, 2021
Eye-opening story of a Depression-era understaffed, underfunded Iowa orphanage's discovery of the effects of simply providing stimulating environments where "low-IQ" children could interact with loving adults. In almost all cases, the children moved into such environments avoided lifetimes of near-certain institutional care, going on to be happy, productive adults. The second part of the story documents the hostile reaction the Iowa publications received from current authorities in psychology, in many cases attacks both personal and distorted. While some of the case studies were overly long and detailed, causing me to skip through them quickly after the first few, overall the book is an interesting and careful addition to the literature of how science develops. When we look at scientific history from the long perspective, we often see a continuous, reasoned flow towards consensus, but the real-time details are far more messy.
March 17, 2021
Vile and shameful time in not only our history, but the world's. Lobotomies were being performed at about the same time and, of course, there's the rise of Hitler (who was actually inspired by the US's treatment of Native Americans and later eugenicists to exterminate people.) In more recent times, there were the poor, neglected Romanian orphans. Nothing good comes of warehousing babies and young children. It was interesting reading more about Alfred Binet's work and how it influenced intelligence testing. The nature vs. nurture aspect was fascinating.. Home life related to parents income has also been shown to be a factor in how much children know at a young age. More wealth, more experiences, better vocabulary, etc... Poorer children have very limited experience, so less vocabulary. Doesn't make them less intelligent, but less educated. I have a limited back ground in the psychology discussed in the book, but I work with children of a variety of backgrounds and have found much in the book to still be true. Kid's benefit from preschool; it exposes them to ideas and knowledge they may not get at home. Breaks my heart to read books like this. Too often children were removed from lower income or or ill or single parents to give to better off people who wanted babies. That in it self caused some horrors... Much can be said about today's love/hate of babies and children. But that's another subject. So much sadness. At least it shows how we all got beyond those days (tho' these new ones aren't looking to good of late) There's still a lot of work to be done. What the future holds is anyone's guess... Good, well researched and readable book.
I received a Kindle arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
I received a Kindle arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
September 18, 2022
I wanted to enjoy this bit of history, but it was so poorly organized that in alternate turns I found it engaging and the next moment I was chronologically lost. The photograph plates in my copy were also sub-par with text either cut off or missing entirely. Meh.
August 17, 2021
A Who's Who of Psychology' Famous and Infamous
I have always been interested in adoption. I also have a PhD in psychology. I just recently read Before We Were Yours. This book is a history of the Nature vs. Nurture argument. When I first studied psychology as an undergrad that discussion was just beginning to be more explored. In grad school for my MA, the discussion had moved to nature and nurture. My PhD program included the neuroscience. Wow the benefits of getting degrees at 20 year intervals. Anyhow I was recognizing names all through this book. Binet Terman McNemar Robert Frost the Kennedy's Lewin Eysenck (FYI every time I tried to put commas between the names, the autocorrect kicked in and was changing the names). Most of the famous psychologists come out looking pretty bad...hence infamous in the title of this review. This book is a great history of where we were on IQ and where we are now and how far we still have to go. And after reading it, you will be able to tell students why they have to learn statistics!
I have always been interested in adoption. I also have a PhD in psychology. I just recently read Before We Were Yours. This book is a history of the Nature vs. Nurture argument. When I first studied psychology as an undergrad that discussion was just beginning to be more explored. In grad school for my MA, the discussion had moved to nature and nurture. My PhD program included the neuroscience. Wow the benefits of getting degrees at 20 year intervals. Anyhow I was recognizing names all through this book. Binet Terman McNemar Robert Frost the Kennedy's Lewin Eysenck (FYI every time I tried to put commas between the names, the autocorrect kicked in and was changing the names). Most of the famous psychologists come out looking pretty bad...hence infamous in the title of this review. This book is a great history of where we were on IQ and where we are now and how far we still have to go. And after reading it, you will be able to tell students why they have to learn statistics!
March 9, 2022
"The Orphans of Davenport" is an excellent history book. It is about a psychological study of nature v nurture that occurred during the eugenics movement. It is a story of what happens when science is politicized and practiced without ethics, how contradictory data can be made to 'disappear.'
Brookwood does not shy away from the human cost of the Davenport orphanages. The crimes committed against these children and families were terrible.
I was fascinated by the career of Harold Steels and Marie Skodak. The way they continued to push their findings while being denounced by the biggest names in psychology was admirable.
This is definitely a good read for anyone interested in history, science, child psychology, or just basic human rights.
Brookwood does not shy away from the human cost of the Davenport orphanages. The crimes committed against these children and families were terrible.
I was fascinated by the career of Harold Steels and Marie Skodak. The way they continued to push their findings while being denounced by the biggest names in psychology was admirable.
This is definitely a good read for anyone interested in history, science, child psychology, or just basic human rights.
July 11, 2023
It’s always nice when you have a brag- worthy story about your state, and The Orphans of Davenport gives myself and fellow Iowa residents that story. Brookwood does an excellent job not just explaining the social history of the Iowa Station, but also breaking down the many scientific and biological theories popular from the 1920s into the 2000s. While there are a ton of players in this history, she gives us an intimate history of the underdogs and a clear call to action regarding research and policy for today’s kids. I would recommend this book to anyone who works with children, and to any other Iowans.
September 25, 2021
Interesting History
Interesting but a little dry. Fascinating to see how the field evolved and continues to evolve. Glad Skeels and Skodek got the recognition they deserved in the end.
Interesting but a little dry. Fascinating to see how the field evolved and continues to evolve. Glad Skeels and Skodek got the recognition they deserved in the end.
May 5, 2024
"Niedaleko pada jabłko od jabłoni", "krew nie kłamie" - ile razy słyszeliśmy albo mówiliśmy te słowa? Bazują one na przekonaniu, że to, jacy jesteśmy, przejmujemy w genach, mogąc za swój charakter dziękować rodzicom lub mieć do nich pretensje.
Na takiej glebie wyrosła eugenika. Według niej alkoholizm, obłęd, rozwiązłość (lista długa), biorą się z niskiej inteligencji rodziców, matek przede wszystkim. Stąd krótka droga do przymusowej sterylizacji, bo na przykład "trzy pokolenia imbecyli wystarczą" (to cytat!). Dzieci takich matek odbierano i umieszczano w przytułkach, w których tak naprawdę z góry skazane były albo na straszny los, albo na szybką śmierć.
Tak płynęły lata, aż wreszcie znalazła się grupa psychologów, która postanowiła bliżej przyjrzeć się tym dzieciom i po serii eksperymentów odkryła, że jeśli takie dzieci otoczy się troską, ich IQ może wzrosnąć, a czynnik środowiskowy "naprawia" wiele kwestii.
Reportaż Marilyn Brookwood prezentuje żmudną pracę psychologów, to błądzenie czasem po omacku, niechęć świata, który lubi szufladkować. Trudno czyta się historie dzieci spisanych na straty, leżących samotnie w łóżeczkach, wokół których tacy sami nieszczęśnicy, a jeszcze dalej dorośli, dla których takie dzieci były tylko kłopotem. Dlatego szacunek należy się tym, którzy szukali odpowiedzi na pytania przemijające wcześniej bez echa.
Drobiazgowość faktograficzna i dbałość o szczegóły nie czynią z "Sierot z Davenport" łatwej lektury, ale warto się z nią zmierzyć.
Na takiej glebie wyrosła eugenika. Według niej alkoholizm, obłęd, rozwiązłość (lista długa), biorą się z niskiej inteligencji rodziców, matek przede wszystkim. Stąd krótka droga do przymusowej sterylizacji, bo na przykład "trzy pokolenia imbecyli wystarczą" (to cytat!). Dzieci takich matek odbierano i umieszczano w przytułkach, w których tak naprawdę z góry skazane były albo na straszny los, albo na szybką śmierć.
Tak płynęły lata, aż wreszcie znalazła się grupa psychologów, która postanowiła bliżej przyjrzeć się tym dzieciom i po serii eksperymentów odkryła, że jeśli takie dzieci otoczy się troską, ich IQ może wzrosnąć, a czynnik środowiskowy "naprawia" wiele kwestii.
Reportaż Marilyn Brookwood prezentuje żmudną pracę psychologów, to błądzenie czasem po omacku, niechęć świata, który lubi szufladkować. Trudno czyta się historie dzieci spisanych na straty, leżących samotnie w łóżeczkach, wokół których tacy sami nieszczęśnicy, a jeszcze dalej dorośli, dla których takie dzieci były tylko kłopotem. Dlatego szacunek należy się tym, którzy szukali odpowiedzi na pytania przemijające wcześniej bez echa.
Drobiazgowość faktograficzna i dbałość o szczegóły nie czynią z "Sierot z Davenport" łatwej lektury, ale warto się z nią zmierzyć.
February 18, 2025
Ta książka przypomina, że nauka czasem idzie pod prąd dominujących przekonań. W latach 30. XX wieku psychologowie w Iowa odkryli, że inteligencja nie jest dziedziczona, lecz kształtowana przez troskę i warunki, w jakich dorasta dziecko. Brzmiało to jak herezja w czasach, gdy "modne" były eugenika i przeświadczenie o wyższości rasy białej nad innymi, jednych nacji białych nad innymi nacjami białymi, mężczyzn nad kobietami. Kiedy sterylizowano ubogie, słabo wykształcone kobiety (zwykle kobiety), gdyż albowiem wierzono, że w ten sposób zapobiega się szerzeniu głupoty i regresji ludzkości.
Ciekawiły mnie szczególnie eksperymenty, które podważyły fundamenty ówczesnej nauki, za to sam konflikt między psychologicznymi frakcjami nie porywał mnie aż tak bardzo. więc miejscami walczyłam że sobą, żeby stron nie przerzucać bez czytania. Całe szczęście, że autorka ma dobry, wciągający styl i do tego przetłumaczona jest przez Kaję Gucio- inaczej bym oszukiwała.
P.S.
Dla zainteresowanych - przypisów i materiałów źródłowych jest mnóstwo i są pod tekstem.
Ciekawiły mnie szczególnie eksperymenty, które podważyły fundamenty ówczesnej nauki, za to sam konflikt między psychologicznymi frakcjami nie porywał mnie aż tak bardzo. więc miejscami walczyłam że sobą, żeby stron nie przerzucać bez czytania. Całe szczęście, że autorka ma dobry, wciągający styl i do tego przetłumaczona jest przez Kaję Gucio- inaczej bym oszukiwała.
P.S.
Dla zainteresowanych - przypisów i materiałów źródłowych jest mnóstwo i są pod tekstem.
January 14, 2024
This story is of particular interest to me given I have been employed at Hospital School, currently known as The Center for Disabilities and Development as a psychologist. One might suspect I would be familiar with this research or history but most of it was new to me. I do think IQ is generally stable. Qualitatively I have seen several children improve their IQ points after being removed from an impoverished environment. This I try to reassess IQ after kids start in preschool. I prefer to reassess IQ after they have been in a stimulating environment for at least a year. If there are still delays after this year, then I feel more comfortable diagnosing ID at that time.
April 24, 2024
Historia odkryć dotyczących wpływu środowiska, rozpoczęta w Iowa, zmieniła nie tylko życie sierot z Davenport. Iowianie jako jedni z pierwszych wyjaśnili, dlaczego interwencja w dzieciństwie ma ogromne znaczenie. Ich praca, potwierdzona w programie Head Start, w eksperymentach Perry oraz Abecedarian, a także w CPC i innych badaniach znalazła odzwierciedlenie w projekcie opieki zastępczej BEIP i dziś inspiruje niezliczone programy na całym świecie. Każde kolejne z tych ustaleń opiera się na poprzednim, a wszystkie razem dowodzą, że nawet po stresie spowodowanym przeciwnościami losu dzieci mogą powrócić do pełni sprawności, gdy interwencja uchroni je przed toksycznym stresem, zapewni stymulację i odpowiednią opiekę, a także zagwarantuje właściwą edukację.
May 26, 2024
A fascinating and eye-opening account of the history of early child development and the fight between the eugenics (nature) and environmental (nurture) ideologies on how intelligence is shaped in children. It is amazing how what we take for granted and common sense in child development today was still questioned in the 1980s. I have wondered why we don't have orphanages in America anymore - now I know.
April 8, 2024
Enjoyed learning about this process and development of IQ testing in this country. Although I found the book a bit tedious to read with all the jumping around chronologically and for me it could have been at least 100 pages shorter.
April 16, 2025
It was good, but a little dense with information
October 1, 2023
Fascinating and sad.
May 8, 2022
Brookwood's The Orphans of Davenport is an enlightening look back at the hard-fought origins of childhood development. Little did I know that those annual IQ tests I took throughout grade school in the 1960s were the vestiges of America's once strong stance on eugenics (or how to use human reproduction to build a master race). How strong? The Nazis used many American laws and writings in their own bid to build the perfect race of human beings, that's how strong.
By the 1930s and the Great Depression, most psychologists believed that childhood development was solely a matter of heredity. If your parents were stupid, you were going to be stupid, too. End of story. Brookwood shows how eugenics was really racism disguised as science. Merely reading the names of various institutions back then shows us how far we've come: the New York State Custodial Asylum for Un-Teachable Idiots, the Home for the Friendless... People classified as morons, idiots, involuntary sterilization (mostly of women), orphanages used as warehouses... As I read, I was sickened, angered, and as I realized how some of these things were still happening today, my blood ran cold.
How did this all change? Brookwood takes us to Davenport, Iowa, and a small group of psychologists who were intelligent enough and brave enough to realize that some of the things they were seeing were direct contradictions to what they'd been taught as hereditists (childhood development is solely due to heredity). Two toddler girls whose combined IQ was 81 were sent to an institution for the "feebleminded" to be cared for by "moron" women since they were considered unfit for adoption. The two should have languished there for the rest of their lives. However, Harold Skeels and Marie Skodak found out that, under the women's care, those two girls' IQ scores actually became normal. This provided the basis for their groundbreaking work in childhood development-- that it's not all about nature; that nurture plays a huge role in a child's growth and mental health.
How did Iowa become the location for such crucial work? Because it was considered such a backwater that it was ignored. However, once Skeels, Skodak, and others began publishing their findings, all the hereditists in the country panicked and used every trick in their arsenal in an attempt to obliterate the upstarts' research.
The Orphans of Davenport is the inspiring story of how the dirty tricks did not win. Children no longer take annual IQ tests. Orphanages (really just warehouses for children) are a thing of the past. Many states' laws-- but not all-- abolished. I am so glad that I read this eye-opening book.
By the 1930s and the Great Depression, most psychologists believed that childhood development was solely a matter of heredity. If your parents were stupid, you were going to be stupid, too. End of story. Brookwood shows how eugenics was really racism disguised as science. Merely reading the names of various institutions back then shows us how far we've come: the New York State Custodial Asylum for Un-Teachable Idiots, the Home for the Friendless... People classified as morons, idiots, involuntary sterilization (mostly of women), orphanages used as warehouses... As I read, I was sickened, angered, and as I realized how some of these things were still happening today, my blood ran cold.
How did this all change? Brookwood takes us to Davenport, Iowa, and a small group of psychologists who were intelligent enough and brave enough to realize that some of the things they were seeing were direct contradictions to what they'd been taught as hereditists (childhood development is solely due to heredity). Two toddler girls whose combined IQ was 81 were sent to an institution for the "feebleminded" to be cared for by "moron" women since they were considered unfit for adoption. The two should have languished there for the rest of their lives. However, Harold Skeels and Marie Skodak found out that, under the women's care, those two girls' IQ scores actually became normal. This provided the basis for their groundbreaking work in childhood development-- that it's not all about nature; that nurture plays a huge role in a child's growth and mental health.
How did Iowa become the location for such crucial work? Because it was considered such a backwater that it was ignored. However, once Skeels, Skodak, and others began publishing their findings, all the hereditists in the country panicked and used every trick in their arsenal in an attempt to obliterate the upstarts' research.
The Orphans of Davenport is the inspiring story of how the dirty tricks did not win. Children no longer take annual IQ tests. Orphanages (really just warehouses for children) are a thing of the past. Many states' laws-- but not all-- abolished. I am so glad that I read this eye-opening book.
February 24, 2022
The history of the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, IA, from 1865 to present day. Very detailed. Having lived in the area, I had no idea how important all the research done here on the intelligence of abandoned children. It was devastating to learn how the children had to live with virtually little food, no affection, no education, no hope, since the expert’s assumptions that genetics alone created the intelligence, or lack there of, of hundreds of children. But thanks to two psychologists, Skodak and Skeels, the first evidence came that genetics was not the driving factor in a child’s development. Stress, environment, stimulation and experience all contribute to the brain function. Seems hard to believe there was a time when people did not understand this.
I couldn’t stop thinking of all the orphans who died there, never having the affection and love that every human being deserves. I went to the cemetery where a monument has been placed and so many of these children are buried. My hope is that the lessons we learned through the years at their expense will never be forgotten or repeated. This has been an eye opening .
“…longer term adversity, exposure to violence, or the harsh, neglectful environments…can result in persistent stress…” that can have effects clear into adulthood.
I couldn’t stop thinking of all the orphans who died there, never having the affection and love that every human being deserves. I went to the cemetery where a monument has been placed and so many of these children are buried. My hope is that the lessons we learned through the years at their expense will never be forgotten or repeated. This has been an eye opening .
“…longer term adversity, exposure to violence, or the harsh, neglectful environments…can result in persistent stress…” that can have effects clear into adulthood.
March 1, 2022
In the early 20th century, the field of psychology was dominated by men who believed that intelligence is inherited, and that environment has no bearing on it. In the 1930s in Iowa, a group of young psychologists had the opportunity, due to the influx of children into institutional settings during the Depression, to test that theory. In a series of experiments and adoptions they were able to show that a child's mental ability is highly susceptible to both a stimulating environment and the chance to bond with a loving caretaker. The establishment refused to believe them and ridiculed their conclusions. Consequently, it was decades before they were shown to be correct. In addition to the tragedy of neglected children in orphanages, the belief in heredity was the justification for eugenic practices across the US. What astonished me the most in this book was the obstinate refusal of most psychologists to consider the data and revise their views, resulting in serious harm to many. Although given the refusal of many today to accept the data about the pandemic maybe I shouldn't have been surprised.
July 22, 2023
I learned so much about the history of IQ testing, as used in the United States. As a special education teacher I read reports about IQs and learning disabilities on a regular basis. We use the scores and information as guidelines to choose the best strategies to maximize students’ progress. We don’t use the scores to determine if someone should live out their life in an institution and never be considered for adoption. We don’t give up so easily because we know that environment, including safety, love, stimulation, and opportunities to learn are so important!
I didn’t realize how much eugenics shaped the thinking of psychologists and educators and for so long! In my thinking, eugenics went out of favor around the turn of the last century. Actually, these warped views on innate limitations were common until the 1970s. And are not 100% disproved now. Now we talk about ‘growth mindset’ and never limiting a student’s potential because of a label. We give support in the ‘least restrictive environment’. We keep moving the student forward into new learning, new skills, and new opportunities. I am so glad that this book is about the history and not the current reality.
I didn’t realize how much eugenics shaped the thinking of psychologists and educators and for so long! In my thinking, eugenics went out of favor around the turn of the last century. Actually, these warped views on innate limitations were common until the 1970s. And are not 100% disproved now. Now we talk about ‘growth mindset’ and never limiting a student’s potential because of a label. We give support in the ‘least restrictive environment’. We keep moving the student forward into new learning, new skills, and new opportunities. I am so glad that this book is about the history and not the current reality.
May 12, 2022
Great Read. Inspirational and Informative
Incredible book. Inspiring. Heart breaking. Enlightening about a time that no longer exists.
This is about when main stream psychology had an obsessively unshakable belief that IQ was determined genetically. That IQ at age 4 was your IQ at age 40. Where children were denied adoption based on low IQ. Where Eugenic laws existed in 27 states. Where 60,000 to 70,000 people, mostly women, were sterilized by the state for the common good. Where one of the main reason for sterilization was low IQ. This is the story of psychologist’s at Iowa’s Child Welfare Research Station creating ground breaking studies proving Children’s IQs could be changed with factors like nurturing and stimulation. This is the story of the scathing attack by main stream psychologist’s against the Research Stations visionary psychologist’s. Along the way, you find out about the over crowed, desolate and heart breaking conditions at the States orphanages and institutions for the mentally challenged.
Incredible book. Inspiring. Heart breaking. Enlightening about a time that no longer exists.
This is about when main stream psychology had an obsessively unshakable belief that IQ was determined genetically. That IQ at age 4 was your IQ at age 40. Where children were denied adoption based on low IQ. Where Eugenic laws existed in 27 states. Where 60,000 to 70,000 people, mostly women, were sterilized by the state for the common good. Where one of the main reason for sterilization was low IQ. This is the story of psychologist’s at Iowa’s Child Welfare Research Station creating ground breaking studies proving Children’s IQs could be changed with factors like nurturing and stimulation. This is the story of the scathing attack by main stream psychologist’s against the Research Stations visionary psychologist’s. Along the way, you find out about the over crowed, desolate and heart breaking conditions at the States orphanages and institutions for the mentally challenged.
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