This curriculum unit examines the historical connection of eugenics with mathematics education, with a focus on New Haven and the institutional role of Yale University. It looks at statistical tools such as sampling, percentages, and data visualization, that were important in enabling eugenic ideologies in the early 20th century, both nationally and within Connecticut’s local context. Through legislative support, academic research, and public messaging, eugenicists used the coercive power of mathematics, especially statistics, to portray biased assumptions about heredity and intelligence as objective truths.
The unit calls on math educators to engage with this history as part of their professional responsibility. It includes a set of four anti-eugenics lesson plans for middle school students, certainly adaptable to a wider audience, designed to explore fairness, data ethics, and the misuse of statistics. These lessons help students to ask not just “Is the math correct?” but “Who does this math serve?” and “What assumptions are made in the data?”
By grounding mathematical literacy in historical awareness and ethical reflection, the unit advocates for a more anti-eugenics pedagogy. This approach helps counter past harms and helps students recognize the ongoing social consequences of statistical reasoning. The paper blends past scholarship in race science, statistics, and education to demonstrate why eugenics remains a relevant topic within a math classroom today.
(Developed for Pre-Algebra, grade 7; recommended for Mathematics, grade 6, and Pre-Algebra, Grade 8)
