This unit was developed for Psychology 100, a dual enrollment class with Southern Connecticut State University where students in New Haven Public Schools earn both high school and college credit. This is an upperclassmen elective class. This unit looks at the American Eugenics Movement and the American Eugenics Society as a local New Haven organization. The eugenics movement and psychology as a scientific discipline both developed from the late 19th century desire to use science to explain human behavior and improve the human condition. As the field of psychology was founded from a primarily white, Western European, male perspective, deviations from that demographic were often seen as flawed and in need of correction and/or elimination. This, along with systemic racism and a colonizing mindset, helped foster eugenics, which in turn strengthened the theories of those same early psychologists. In this unit, students will explore the origins of the eugenics movement, its growth and influence on New Haven and the world throughout the 20th century, and its lasting effects to this day in the context of this psychology course. The final project is a short research project on one of the lasting legacies of eugenics through to the present day.
(Developed for Psychology, grades 10-12, and Constitutional Law, grade 11; recommended for Psychology and New Haven History, grades 10-12, and Constitutional Law, grade 11)
