This unit curriculum will allow students to analyze the effects of eugenics on Hispanic communities and reflect on its continuing legacy. It is designed to align with the principles of critical pedagogy, encouraging students to question and analyze the societal structures that influence their lives. A focus on Hispanic communities is particularly important because their experiences with eugenic practices, especially in states like California and Texas, have been systematically underrepresented. As Erik L. Peterson illustrates in his book, The Shortest History of Eugenics, eugenics was not just a fringe ideology; it was embedded in mainstream institutions: universities, courts, and public health departments.¹⁰ Students will be encouraged to think critically about how this supposed science, which we now know is pseudoscience, was used to justify inequalities throughout history and make connections to current events.
These activities are meant to be completed in order. Some have been adapted from Facing History and Ourselves resources and modified to more explicitly fit this unit curriculum. Citations are included.
