The Center for Civil Rights and BLSA present:
Charmaine Fuller Cooper
Executive Director, North Carolina Justice
for Sterilization Victims Foundation
North Carolina enacted its first sterilization law in 1929 and, under the state’s eugenics
program, began the forced sterilization of people deemed “undesirable,” such as those
convicted of crimes and the mentally handicapped. The practice of forced sterilizations
had been sanctioned by the U.S Supreme Court’s decision in Buck v. Bell, wherein
Justice Holmes notoriously wrote “three generations of imbeciles are enough.”
While most states decreased the number or ended forced of sterilizations in the second
half of the 20th century, North Carolina bucked the trend and increased sterilizations,
continuing the practice until 1974. Nearly 7,600 people, mostly women, were sterilized
from 1929 to 1974. The North Carolina program disproportionately targeted African
Americans, and some victims were as young as 10.
North Carolina issued an apology to victims of the sterilization program in 2002. The
N.C. Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation was established in 2010 to provide
justice and compensate those who were forcibly sterilized by the state.
Tuesday, February 14th Noon Room 5042