I am a high school social studies teacher, research historian, and artist based in New Haven, Connecticut. During graduate school, I completed a thesis focused on the history of the eugenics movement in Connecticut within the field of psychology, so I am very familiar with the topic. When I embarked on this unit, however, I wondered where else eugenics existed beyond medical and academic spaces. I wanted to understand how eugenics has influenced our culture, how we’ve internalized these eugenic ideas, and how we can untangle them from our creativity and ourselves.
I wrote this curriculum unit with my Digital Storytelling course in mind, but I intentionally kept it broad enough to apply to various course topics. This curriculum unit can be useful for high school-level U.S. history, Black and Latino studies, ethnic studies, genocidal studies, visual art, theater, or music courses.
This unit addresses the history of the American eugenics movement and how it took form in photography and musical talent. In addition, the unit identifies anti-eugenic art forms to challenge the idea that eugenics was simply a product of its time. It is crucial for those inquiring about the history of eugenics to recognize the groups and individuals who always pushed back against these ideas and offered another way of being. Anti-eugenics efforts coincided with the eugenics movement through grassroots efforts, social dissent, and cultural resistance. Anti-eugenics is an enduring tradition and is part of a longer ancestral legacy of resisting racial domination and labor exploitation.
Students will begin the unit by examining a general overview of the history of the eugenics movement and the lens through which they will develop their investigation. Combining direct instruction with collaborative learning, students will explore primary and secondary sources about the eugenics movement. As they conduct their preliminary research, there will be an emphasis on critical analysis, personal exploration, and an end-of-unit project of their choosing.
