A Buck v. Bell Reading List
It's worth learning more about the notorious reproductive control case that shaped America
Ninety-nine years ago, the Supreme Court’s decision in Buck v. Bell threw open the doors for another shameful entry in American history.
Here are 5 reading opportunities about the rise of American eugenics, the court’s decision, and its damage on American society. There is something for everyone: a few great books, an essay, a legal analysis with ways to think about the case, and book of poems about the state facility where Carrie and Emma Buck were kept.
Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck V. Bell
by Paul Lombardo
Originally published in 2010, the 2022 update of Three Generations, No Imbeciles chronicles Carrie Bucks tragic life alongside the American foray into eugenics and the role of the legal system.
Lombardo also edited a 2011 academic collection, A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era.
Access via public library or on Bookshop.
In the Letters of an ‘Imbecile,’ the Sham, and Shame, of Eugenics
Essay by Paul Lombardo
“Carrie Buck was forcibly sterilized to keep an ‘idiot’ from breeding. Her letters underscore the depravity of eugenics.”
When I see letters like Carrie’s, I often think about how much we are losing in our digital landscape. Her letters give us a unique view into her life, her values, and her voice in her own history.
Read the essay about Carrie’s letters at Undark.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Buck v. Bell: Thoughts Occasioned by Paul Lombardo’s “Three Generations, No Imbeciles”
Paper by Michelle Oberman
For those of you who are interested in legal analysis, I like to share Michelle Oberman’s analysis. A Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law, Professor Oberman read Lombardo’s book out of personal interest, and ended up imagining a whole course that could be taught about the case.
Download the paper for free on Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. Citation: Michelle Oberman, Thirteen Ways of Looking at Buck v. Bell: Thoughts Occasioned by Paul Lombardo’s “Three Generations, No Imbeciles” , 59 Legal Educ. 357 (2010)
Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck
by Adam Cohen
Like Lombardo’s book, Imbeciles investigates the history of the American eugenics movement with special attention to the Supreme Court and the Buck v. Bell decision.
I’m not surprised the book was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction. It’s an engaging read - effortlessly moving us through complex law with the passion of a storyteller.
Find in your public library or on Bookshop.
The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded: Poems
by Molly McCully Brown
Published in 2017, Molly McCully Brown’s book of poems inspired by her youth in the shadow of the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded is as gutting as it is beautiful. After reading so much legal history about eugenics, Brown’s book helped me slow back down, re-centering the people most impacted by the abuse suffered by those secluded from society.
Below is an excerpt from the opening poem:
I am my own kind of damaged there, looking out the right hand window. Spastic, palsy and off-balance, I’m taking crooked notes about this place. It is the land where he is buried, the place she spent her whole life, the room where they made it impossible for her to have children. It is the colony where he did not learn to read, but did paint every single slat of fence you see that shade of yellow. The place she didn’t want to leave when she finally could, because she’d lived there fifty years, and couldn’t drive a car, or remember the outside, or trust anyone to touch her gently.
New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2017
Find it at your public library or on Bookshop.
I read Carrie Buck’s letters after reading your first post. What stayed with me is how ordinary her letters feel at first; the familiar, almost awkward closings reminded me of the way my sisters and I used to end letters home from camp. (Well, I have to go now, my hand is tired and it's dinner time. The weather is fine. Ok, say hi to the dog.) So, knowing the extraordinary and unjust circumstances she was living through, it’s painful to imagine her sitting down to write them, trying to sound like everything was fine.
Like you, I’m grateful to Paul Lombardo and others who’ve recognized the importance of preserving *every* person’s history.
I’m planning to read the law review article tonight!