U.S. Maps showing the States having Sterilization Laws in 1910 – 1920 – 1930 – 1940

Discrediting eugenics in a postwar era.

This uncommon but effective circular was distributed by Birthright, Inc. of New Jersey around 1945. It was designed to inform the American public of the apparently growing scourge of sterilization legislation being passed across the United States.

The centerfold image presents four black-and-white maps representing the U.S. at 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940. Striking white outlines of states that passed laws regarding forced sterilization are noted, with obvious growth across the decades. By 1940, a majority of states have implemented such policies.

A table of statistics on the verso shows that over 40,000 Americans had been sterilized by the time the pamphlet was published. A quote from a proponent of sterilization laws has haunting contemporary connotations. “How can a nation be strong if it is saturated with weaklings who are a burden to the strong?”

America’s eugenics policies were so robust and effective that elements of the enacted legislation were adopted by the Nazi party in the 1930s and 1940s. According to the University of Michigan;

“More than 60,000 people were sterilized in 32 states during the 20th century based on the bogus “science” of eugenics, a term coined by Francis Galton in 1883.

Eugenicists applied emerging theories of biology and genetics to human breeding. White elites with strong biases about who was “fit” and “unfit” embraced eugenics, believing American society would be improved by increased breeding of Anglo Saxons and Nordics, whom they assumed had high IQs. Anyone who did not fit this mold of racial perfection, which included most immigrants, Blacks, Indigenous people, poor whites and people with disabilities, became targets of eugenics programs.

Sources: University of Michigan; New York Times; National Library of Medicine;