An Image of God

The Catholic Struggle with Eugenics

Sharon M. Leon

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780226039039
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

During the first half of the twentieth century, supporters of the eugenics movement offered an image of a racially transformed America by curtailing the reproduction of "unfit" members of society. Through institutionalization, compulsory sterilization, the restriction of immigration and marriages, and other methods, eugenicists promised to improve the population—a policy agenda that was embraced by many leading intellectuals and public figures. But Catholic activists and thinkers across the United States opposed many of these measures, asserting that "every man, even a lunatic, is an image of God, not a mere animal."
In An Image of God, Sharon Leon examines the efforts of American Catholics to thwart eugenic policies, illuminating the ways in which Catholic thought transformed the public conversation about individual rights, the role of the state, and the intersections of race, community, and family. Through an examination of the broader questions raised in this debate, Leon casts new light on major issues that remain central in American political life today: the institution of marriage, the role of government, and the separation of church and state. This is essential reading in the history of religion, science, politics, and human rights.

INDEX

abortion, 94, 95, 104, 167

Ackeman, Joseph N., 117

Addams, Jane, 28

Aeterni Patris, 21, 22

African Americans, 150, 152, 178–79n33; Catholic, 28, 48. See also miscegenation

Alabama, 132–37, 138, 166, 184n3

Alfonso of Liguori, 91

America, 20, 105, 111, 123, 124–25; on Buck v. Bell, 2–3, 4, 80–81, 168; on German sterilization laws, 105, 106; on state marriage regulations, 149–50, 159–60

American Breeders’ Association, 19

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 44, 133, 154

American Ecclesiastical Review (AER), 97, 107–8, 160, 195n4; debate in, over sterilization, 13, 14–17, 23, 59, 61, 92

American Eugenics Society (AES), 6–7, 37–38, 40, 41, 68, 144; Catholic participation in, 36, 38–46, 49–52, 55–65; changes in, 140–44, 146; committees of, 40, 68 (see also Committee on Cooperation with Clergymen); and immigration restriction, 8, 37–38, 48–49, 50, 51; and marriage regulations, 149, 152; periodicals of (see Eugenical News; Eugenics); and “positive eugenics,” 37, 54, 140, 146; racial views of, 46–53; selective pronatalism of, 39, 53–59; “Ultimate Program” of, 6–7, 37–38

American Institute of Family Relations (AIFR), 148

American Museum of Natural History, 36, 101, 142

American Neurological Association, 125

American Social Hygiene Association, 42

Anglican Church, 95

Annat, W. H., 121

antimiscegenation statutes, 47, 150–51, 152–53, 159–61, 169; in California, 153–59, 160–61, 169; in Virginia, 46, 47, 152, 184n3

Aquinas, St. Thomas, 21–22, 91

Arizona, 138

Associated Press, 98, 108

Atlanta Constitution, 98

“baby boom,” 142, 146–47, 161

Baker, J. N., 133

Baptists, 133, 13...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Contents
• A Note on Sources
• An Image of God, Not a Mere Animal: An Introduction
• One. For the Welfare of the Race: The Early Clash over Reproduction and Community
• Two. Cooperative Clergy? Catholics in the American Eugenics Society
• Three. Practical Means: Catholic Strategies for Protesting Sterilization Statutes
• Four. Supreme Authorities: Catholicism and Eugenics beyond the Borders
• Five. The Greatest Obstacle: The Growth of a Confident Opposition
• Six. A Great, Popular, Noncontroversial, and Effective Movement: Struggling with the “New Eugenics”
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index