“Eugenically Yours”: A History of the American Eugenics Society
This paper describes the history of the American Eugenics Society, a national organization founded in 1926 in New Haven, Connecticut just two blocks from Yale University. The activism and advocacy of the New Haven-based and Yale professor-led American Eugenics Society reflects the creative ways that university professors and powerful institutions were able to leverage their credibility to mobilize a popular eugenics movement in the United States. In this paper, Emme describes how the AES organized the public, conducted research, and advocated for conservative eugenic legislation immigration and sterilization.
Emme Magliato (she/her/hers) is a double major in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Poughkeepsie, NY. She is a member of the Class of 2023 and is interested in the local history of eugenics at Yale and in New Haven.