Restitution For Victims Of North Carolina's Involuntary Sterilization Program Does Not Mark The End Of American Eugenics Laws

On Tuesday, a task force in North Carolina concluded that it would request restitution of $50,000 from the North Carolina legislature to each of the estimated 1,500-2,000 living victims of the state's formal 45-year experiment with eugenics. As recently as 1974, people deemed "undesirable" by North Carolina authorities (most often minorities, women, the mentally ill, and the impoverished) were subjected to involuntary sterilization.

This is unfortunately just the last page of one chapter in the history of America's experimenting with the practice of eugenics. Much like the fact that almost 150 years after the ratification of the 13th Amendment the United States still struggles to annihilate human trafficking and slavery within its borders, most Americans are unaware of the history of eugenics and forced...