Eugenics Board of North Carolina
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2008-07-01T18:12:22Z
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The '''Eugenics Board of North Carolina''' ('''EBNC''') was an agency of the [[United States|U.S.]] state of [[North Carolina]] created in [[1933]] after the [[North Carolina General Assembly|state legislature]] authorized the practice of [[eugenics]] by state officials four years earlier.
In [[1971]], an act of the legislature transferred the EBNC to the newly created Department of Human Resources (DHR), and the secretary of that department was given managerial and executive authority over the board. Under a [[1973]] law, the Eugenics Board was transformed into the Eugenics Commission. Members of the commission were appointed by the [[governors of North Carolina|governor]] and included the director of the Division of Social and Rehabilitative Services of the DHR, the director of Health Services, the chief medical officer of a state institution for the feeble-minded or insane, the chief medical officer of the DHR in the area of mental health services, and the state [[attorney general]]. In [[1974]] the legislature transferred to the [[judicial system]] the responsibility for any sterilization proceedings against persons suffering from mental illness or mental retardation.
The Eugenics Commission was formally abolished by the legislature in [[1977]].
The board [[compulsory sterilization|sterilized]] about 7,600 people, many of them against their will, between [[1929]] and [[1974]], in an attempt to remove [[mental illness]] and "social misbehaviour" from the [[gene pool]]. Among the victims were 2000 young people, some as young as ten years old.
==Victims==
*[[Elaine Riddick Jessie]]
==External links==
*[http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/dimp/digital/eugenics/index.html State Library's Project on Eugenics in North Carolina]
[[Category:Eugenics]]
[[Category:History of North Carolina]]