Earlier this year I was invited to speak at the annual MENSA that was going to be held in Indianapolis. I accepted the invitation and was asked to speak about eugenics in Indiana, a topic I know a little something about having been part of a group that worked on commemorating the enactment of the first eugenic sterilization law anywhere in the world (it happened right here in Indiana in 1907). The talk itself was before an audience of a round 50 people, who were treated with an overview of eugenics, the Indiana Plan, and the eventual repeal of the law in 1974 (thanks to Governor Otis "Doc" Bowen).
For me, it was nice to get to revisit the topic before a learned audience that asked very insightful questions. But in preparing for today I also got to have some academic nostalgia. It has been a decade since the project came to an end (over a decade, really, as most of our work was finished by 2007). In that time, all five of my books have been released (four of which were written in those years), I've traveled near and far, watched my kids grow from babies to tweens/teens, moved into a new house, spoken around the state (and even at some spots around the country), taught classes at several different universities, and found new research topics. But perhaps not surprisingly, I'm never far from the Progressive era.
And that is a good thing. The Progressives are a mixed bag of reformers and reforms. For good and bad, we live in a nation and world that they helped craft and create. Eugenics is a good example. We have not escaped the legacy of state sponsored sterilization, after all, things like the vasectomy are with us still. And like the negative branch, the positive arm of eugenics gave us pre-natal care and an emphasis on well child check ups.
Thank you, MENSA for the chance to speak today. It wasn't on Disney or the Civil War, but on something equally important historically, and maybe just as importantly, near and dear to my heart.
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