Bill Text: IL HR0024 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Encourages school curriculum to include the history of the eugenics movement in the United States.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2021-05-05 - Resolution Adopted [HR0024 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HR0024-Introduced.html

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HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, It is in the interest of the House of
Representatives to make sure the dark chapters of the history
of the United States are not forgotten, so we do not repeat
them; one such chapter is the eugenics movement in the United
States; and
WHEREAS, The term eugenics was first coined by Francis
Galton in the late 1800s and comes from the Greek roots for
"good" and "origin" or "good birth"; eugenics involves
applying principles of genetics and heredity for the purpose
of improving the human race; eugenics claimed the scientific
ability to classify individuals and groups as "fit" or
"unfit"; the "unfit" were defined by race, mental and physical
disabilities, country of origin, and poverty; and
WHEREAS, The eugenics movement took root in the United
States in the early 1900s and was led by Charles Davenport, a
prominent biologist, and Harry Laughlin, a former teacher and
principal interested in breeding; in 1910, Davenport founded
the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) at Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory on Long Island "to improve the natural, physical,
mental, and temperamental qualities of the human family";
eugenics was widely accepted by academics, politicians,
intellectuals, government, the U.S. Supreme Court and

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progressives; and
WHEREAS, While the English eugenics movement focused on
selective breeding for positive traits, the eugenics movement
in the U.S. focused on eliminating negative traits; these
"undesirable" traits, such as poverty, mental disability,
dwarfism, promiscuity, criminality, and others, were most
often concentrated in poor, uneducated, and minority
populations; and
WHEREAS, Along with being a scientific movement, eugenics
also became a popular social movement that peaked in the 1920s
and 30s; during this period, the American Eugenics Society was
founded, in addition to many local societies and groups around
the country; many movies and books promoting eugenic
principles became popular; and
WHEREAS, Supporters of eugenics helped drive legislation
for the forced sterilization of people deemed to have
undesirable traits; the first state to enact a sterilization
law was Indiana in 1907, quickly followed by California and 28
other states by 1931; these laws resulted in the forced
sterilization of over 64,000 people in the United States; the
eugenics movement even received support from the Supreme Court
in 1927 when the Court ruled that the State of Virginia had the
legal right to forcibly sterilize Carrie Buck for promiscuity

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(Buck vs Bell); and
WHEREAS, California's eugenics program was so robust that
the Nazis turned to the state for advice on perfecting their
own efforts; Hitler proudly admitted to following the laws of
several American states that allowed for the prevention of
reproduction of the "unfit"; the Nazis defense at the
Nuremberg trials even cited Buck vs Bell as justification for
Germany's sterilization program; and
WHEREAS, While Illinois did not pass any eugenics-related
sterilization laws, the General Assembly did pass a law in
1915 which allowed for the indefinite institutionalization of
any person deemed "feebleminded" by an expert; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. eugenics movement finally began to lose
power in the 1940s and was completely discredited following
the horrors of Nazi Germany; and
WHEREAS, While atrocities such as slavery and the
treatment of Native Americas are well known, the U.S. eugenics
movement is not as recognized and hardly appears in many high
school U.S. history textbooks; this is despite the widespread
impact of the eugenics movement, especially on national policy
making and on our educational system, including the framework
of school curriculum and standardized testing; and

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WHEREAS, With the current political focus on
discrimination and racism, the inclusion of information about
the U.S. eugenics movement in the high school American history
curriculum would help increase awareness about this horrific
part of American history, would help prevent future
generations from repeating the mistakes of the past, and would
help in rectifying the impact of those mistakes; therefore, be
it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we urge the history of the eugenics movement in the United
States be included in U.S. history classes; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage the people of Illinois to
educate themselves on the history of eugenics in the United
States; and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
delivered to the State Board of Education to be disseminated
to all schools in Illinois, the Illinois Library Association
to be disseminated to all libraries in the State, the Library
of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration,
the National Museum of African American History and Culture,
the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Governor

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of Illinois, the Mayor of Chicago, and all members of the
General Assembly.