Our Yale New Haven Teachers Institute seminar, titled “History, Science, and Racism: The Long Shadow of Eugenics” examined the complicated history and ongoing impact of eugenics on many disciplines and fields.
The word “eugenics” was coined in 1883 by Francis Galton in London and means roughly “good in birth.” Galton argued that the human “race” could be improved through selective breeding, much like livestock or plants. His vision was both degrading and dangerous, and the so-called science behind it was deeply flawed.
Still, eugenics spread widely in the United States in the early 20th century, including at elite universities like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. In fact, Yale faculty helped bring the American Eugenics Society headquarters to the New Haven Green in the 1920s. American eugenicists pushed for policies that allowed states to sterilize people they labeled “defective” or “dangerous,” leading to more than 60,000 involuntary sterilizations nationwide, including at least 500 in Connecticut.
They also shaped immigration laws, criminal justice policies, and whole fields of scientific and medical research. Even Nazi leaders in the 1930s credited U.S. eugenicists for influencing their ideas. While many people assume eugenics is a lurid and regrettably chapter in the past, its influence is still visible in our institutions and culture today, especially within our schools and universities.
The seminar included visits to Yale’s Sterling Library to view a collection of archival material related to role of Yale’s faculty and administrators in supporting the American eugenics movement. We also visited the Peabody Museum to examine objects in their collection, including an exhibition related to the history of intelligence testing and eugenics.
The 11 curriculum units produced by the Fellows demonstrate the ways in which educators can help students explore these legacies in meaningful and empowering ways.
Interdisciplinary scholar and educator Eve Galanis explores eugenics in photography, cultural production and music while also introducing critical traditions of resistance. A’Lexus Williams highlights Black women’s struggles for reproductive justice in an AP African American Studies course while also urging teachers to attend to the ways that eugenics logics are often built into the course design of such college prep courses.
Jaimee Mendillo’s unit engages middle schoolers about the eugenic roots of standardized testing, leading them to design more just approaches to assessment. Carmen Córdova-Rolón affirms the voices of immigrant students against eugenics-shaped narratives of inferiority. John Saksa connects eugenics to colonialism, capitalism, and white supremacy while exploring the anti-eugenic commitments of disability justice movements and other sites of resistance.
For her psychology class, high school educator Jessie Simpson examines the history of the American Eugenics Society in New Haven and the relationship between eugenics and psychology. Biology teacher Salvador Calatayud Ripoll unit uses eugenics to introduce students to the concept of “pseudoscience” and language arts teacher Nancy Bonilla reimagines reading instruction through anti-eugenic, project-based learning.
Spanish language instructor Hanna Marshall uses language and cultural study to help students reflect on identity and practice anti-eugenic thinking. Math educator John Kennedy shows how statistics were used to support eugenics ideas and develops anti-eugenics math lessons. Art teacher Stephanie Smelser guides students in a S.T.E.A.M. unit critiquing intelligence testing and brain science.
Together, these units demonstrate the creativity, care, and commitment of teachers who are giving students the tools to confront hard histories and imagine more inclusive futures.
