Investigation: How and Why Have People Misused Darwin's Ideas?

TEACHING MATERIALS

BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 5 INVESTIGATION 1

Framing problem/ question How and why have people misused Darwin’s ideas?

Why do historians, scientists, and others care about this question?

In his 1981 book The Mismeasure of Man, Stephen Jay Gould writes, “The concept of evolution transformed human thought during the nineteenth century. Nearly every question in the life sciences was reformulated in its light. No idea was ever more widely used, or misused.” A prominent example of the misuse of Darwin’s theory is social Darwinism, which applies the idea of “survival of the fittest” to human societies. Social Darwinist ideas have far-reaching and devastating consequences for individuals deemed “unfit.” Hitler and the Nazi party, for example, used social Darwinist ideas to justify the murder of Jews, Roma, the handicapped, and others deemed “undesirable.” This investigation looks at how the eugenics movement spun out of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, and focuses on the application of social Darwinist ideas in the United States in the early 20th century.

Why should teachers and students of big history care about this question?

While Unit 5 asks students to consider the impact of Darwin’s theory of evolution on our understanding of genetics and inheritance, this investigation asks students to con-sider how and why people in the eugenics movement misused Darwin’s ideas. Students first investigate how people have applied ideas like “artificial selection” and “survival of the fittest” to human societies and then look at how this practice evolved into the eugenics movement. Students consider the social and political context in which these ideas were applied and the dire consequences for individuals deemed “unfit.” Because the authors, purposes, and contexts of these documents are critical to understanding them, we provide guidance to help students in analyzing them.

What texts are in the Investigation Library?

Primary Sources

• Charles Darwin on variability and artificial selection• Herbert Spencer and the “survival of the fittest”• Francis Galton introduces the concept of eugenics• David Ward’s map of immigration to the United States• Harry H. Laughlin’s House testimony on the

“biological aspects of immigrants”• Buck v. Bell opinion• Sterilization laws in the United States as of January 1, 1935

What is the students’ project or prewriting task?

Document analysis: Have students fill out the document-analysis worksheet as an aid in closely analyzing the texts. It will be helpful to walk through one or two texts together or to model close analysis.

What is the students’ writing task?

Create an explanation: Have students use their document-analysis sheets to write a five- to six-paragraph essay explaining how and why scientific ideas sometimes get misused in society. They should write a thesis statement and support it with examples and illustrations from the Investigation Library. Students should cite documents within their paper, referring to author, date, and context as appropriate.

UNIT 5

TEACHING THIS INVESTIGATION

TEACHING MATERIALS


1 Lexile measure indicates the reading demand of the text in terms of its semantic difficulty and syntactic complexity. The Lexile scale generally ranges from 200L to 1700L. The Common Core emphasizes the role of text complexity in evaluating student readiness for college and careers.

2 We are using the Common Core “stretch” grade bands. The Common Core Standards advocate a “staircase” of increasing text complexity so that students “stretch” to read a certain proportion of texts from the next higher text complexity band.

3 In the Flesch Reading Ease test, higher scores indicate that the material is relatively easy to read while lower scores indicate greater difficulty. Scores in the 50–70 range should be easily understood by 13- to 15-year-olds, while those in the 0–30 range are appropriate for university graduates.

Analysis of texts in this investigation

Text Name Lexile Measure1

Common Core Stretch Grade Band2

Mean Sentence Length

Flesch Ease3

Introduction 1120 6–8 17.9 45.6

Steps in this Investigation 1100 6–8 17.89 55.9

TEXT 01 Darwin on variability and artificial selection

1310 9–10 20.75 34.3

TEXT 02 Spencer and the “survival of the fittest”

1290 9–10 19.95 39

TEXT 03 Galton and eugenics

1330 9–10 22.08 33

TEXT 04 Immigration to the United States

1280 9–10 22 27.4

TEXT 05 Laughlin testimony on the “biological aspects of immigrants”

1300 9–10 21.32 30.5

TEXT 06 Buck v. Bell opinion

1320 9–10 23.35 37.2

TEXT 07 Sterilization laws in the United States

1100 6–8 15.25 29.4


5INVESTIGATION

How and why have people misused Darwin’s ideas?

Have you ever had a good idea that others have misinterpreted? Or have you ever heard a good idea that others were using or applying in the wrong way? Have you ever heard scientists argue that the public has misunderstood and misapplied a scientific idea?

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection provides an interesting case of how scientific ideas can get misapplied in society. Darwin’s theory, which he first explained in On the Origin of Species in 1859, is one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of science. It transformed the way people saw the natural world, and provided a new point of view to guide scientific inquiry, research, and interpretation. Darwin published On the Origin of Species at a time when many scientists agreed that life evolved but had not reached consen-sus on the mechanisms for evolution. When Darwin presented natural selection as the logical mechanism for evolution that scientists were seeking, they readily accepted his theory and applied it in their own work.

In his 1981 book The Mismeasure of Man, biologist Stephen Jay Gould writes, “The concept of evolution transformed human thought during the nineteenth century. Nearly every question in the life sciences was reformulated in its light.” However, Gould notes, “No idea was ever more widely…misused.”

How and why did people misuse Darwin’s ideas?

In this investigation, you’ll consider how people applied Darwin’s ideas to human societies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, despite the fact that On the Origin of Species was about the natural world. Some of Darwin’s contemporaries were not only struggling with questions about evolution and other natural phenomena; they were also struggling to understand a number of social issues. New and expanding industry, rapid urbanization, migration and immigration, and increasing social and economic inequalities left people seeking answers to make sense of the world around them. The need to make sense of the social world as well as the natural world led some people to apply Darwin’s ideas in ways they were not intended for.

What factors influenced people’s interpretations of Darwin? How did people misapply his ideas? What were the consequences of these misapplications?

All of the documents in this investigation are primary source documents. Because considering the source and context of these documents is so important for this investigation, you will practice closely analyzing the texts in the Investigation Library. At the end of the investigation, you will be asked to write an essay, using your sources as support.


THE STEPS IN THIS INVESTIGATION

How and why have people misused Darwin’s ideas?

EXPLORE Begin by gathering your initial conjectures — your best guesses — about why and how scientific ideas get misused.

• Have you ever had a good idea that others have misinterpreted? Or have you ever heard a good idea that you see others using or applying in the wrong way?

• Think of scientific ideas you read or hear about today. Do these ever get misapplied in society? How so?

RESEARCH Read the materials in the Investigation Library to learn about the time when Darwin published On the Origin of Species and the decades following its publication, as well as the way people applied the theory of natural selection in society. Pay close attention to when the text was writ-ten, who wrote it, and why it was written. Consider what you know about the time periods in which these documents were written, and about the authors, and how each document helps you answer the investigation question.

SHOW YOUR THINKING

We have provided a document-analysis sheet for you to use with the texts in the Investigation Library. Write as much as you know about the author, the time period, and what the text is telling you. Write a brief summary of how each text helps you answer the investigation question, and how it adds to what the other texts have already told you. Note patterns you see developing, or questions you think need answering.

Using the documents, write a five- to six-paragraph essay explaining how and why people have misused Darwin’s ideas. You should remember to use the information from the texts, big history concepts and themes, and evidence to support your claims. Remember to specifically reference the texts, noting author and time period.

Investigations do not end with your answer. Share your essay with your classmates, read their essays, and describe in your journal how your explanation compares with theirs, and the extent to which their ideas support, extend, or refute your initial conjectures.


RESEARCHING THE INVESTIGATION LIBRARY

Make a research card for each text that you study.

Author and name of text Type of document (article, letter, chart, map, etc.)

Date

Primary Secondary

What do you know about this author/source? Do you trust this author/source?

What was the original purpose of this document? What’s the main idea of this document?

How does this document help you answer the investigation question?


TEXT 01 CHARLES DARWIN ON VARIABILITY AND ARTIFICIAL SELECTION 5

TEXT 02 HERBERT SPENCER AND THE “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST” 6

TEXT 03 FRANCIS GALTON INTRODUCES THE CONCEPT OF EUGENICS 7

TEXT 04 IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 8

TEXT 05 HARRY H. LAUGHLIN’S HOUSE TESTIMONY ON THE 9 “BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF IMMIGRANTS”

TEXT 06 BUCK V. BELL OPINION 11

TEXT 07 STERILIZATION LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES 12 AS OF JANUARY 1, 1935

5INVESTIGATION LIBRARY

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT


How did observations of artificial selection lead Darwin to the idea of natural selection? How do you think people could misinterpret these ideas when thinking about human societies?

TEXT 01

CHARLES DARWIN ON VARIABILITY AND ARTIFICIAL SELECTIONIn 1859, naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) introduced the world to the theory of natural selection in his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. In the excerpt below, Darwin discusses the process of artificial selection in domesticated plants and animals. He first observes that variations sometimes occur in species re- gardless of external conditions. He then describes artificial selection as the process by which humans consciously or unconsciously select and breed plants or animals with desirable traits in order to increase the number of individuals with those desirable traits. Darwin used his observations of artificial selection to propose the idea of “natural selection.”

Under domestication we see much variability, caused, or at least excited, by changed conditions of life. As long as the conditions of life remain the same, we have reason to believe that a modification, which many generations have inherited, may continue to be inherited. On the other hand we have evidence that variability, once it has come into play, does not cease under domestication for a very long period. We do not know that it ever ceases, for our oldest domesticated productions still occasionally produce new varieties.

Variability is not actually caused by man. He only unintentionally exposes organic beings to new conditions of life. Then nature acts on the organization and causes it to vary. But man can and does select the variations given to him by nature, and thus accumu-lates them in any desired manner. He thus adapts animals and plants for his own benefit or pleasure. He may do this methodically, or he may do it unconsciously by preserving the individuals most useful or pleasing to him without any intention of altering the breed. It is certain that he can largely influence the character of a breed by selecting, in each successive generation, individual differences so slight as to be inappreciable, except by an educated eye. This unconscious process of selection has been the great agency in the formation of the most distinct and useful domestic breeds.

Source Modified from Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), 6th edition, Kindle edition.



How is Spencer using the term “fitness”? Do you think he uses it in the same way Darwin did in his theory of natural selection? At this point, how do you think you would answer the investi-gation question, How and why have people misused Darwin’s ideas?

TEXT 02

HERBERT SPENCER AND THE “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST”Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) was one of the most famous philosophers, biologists, sociologists, and political theorists in the late 19th century. Living in England during the Victorian Era, Spencer witnessed a doubling of the British population, as well as intense urbanization accompanied by a growth in poverty. Spencer reportedly began thinking about evolutionary theory even before Darwin published On the Origin of Species. It was he who coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” — often attributed to Darwin — in his 1864 book Principles of Biology. Spencer applied evolutionary principles to philosophy, psychology, and the study of society. He used the notion of the “fittest” in discussions of rich and poor in capitalist society. Spencer’s melding of evolutionary and social theory made him synonymous with an ideology known as social Darwinism. This ideology asserts that sociocultural advancement is the result of “natural” competition in which those who possess biological superiority win. The following text is an excerpt from Spencer’s 1851 book Social Statics, which asserted that men and society were subject to the laws of science and nature.

Nature just as much insists on fitness between mental character and circumstances, as between physical character and circumstances. Radical defects are as much causes of death in the one case as in the other. He on whom his own stupidity, vice, or idleness entails loss of life must be classed with the victims of weak organs or malformed limbs. In his case, as in the others, there exists a fatal non-adaptation. It matters not in the abstract whether it be a moral, an intellectual, or a bodily one. Beings thus imperfect are nature’s failures, and are recalled by her laws when found to be such. Along with the rest they are put upon trial. If they are sufficiently complete to live, they do live, and it is well they should live. If they are not sufficiently complete to live, they die, and it is best they should die. Whether the incompleteness be in strength, agility, perception, foresight, or self-control is not heeded. But if any faculty is unusually deficient, the probabilities are that, in the long run, some disas-trous, or fatal result will follow. And, however irregular the action of this law may appear, due consideration must satisfy every one that the average effect is to purify society from those who are, in some respect or other, essentially faulty.

Source Modified from Herbert Spencer, Social Statics (London: John Chapman, 1851). Google eBook.



What is eugenics? Why might Galton find Darwin’s discussion of artificial selection particularly inter-esting?

TEXT 03

FRANCIS GALTON INTRODUCES THE CONCEPT OF EUGENICSEnglish scientist Francis Galton (1822–1911) grew up in a wealthy family that included several notable individuals, including Charles Darwin. Galton was a man of diverse interests, studying anthropology, geography, meteorology, biology, and statistics, among other things. Building off of his cousin’s work in On the Origin of Species, Galton began to speculate on how humans inherited traits. Through studying the family histories of notable British individuals, and measuring and comparing statistics from different popu-lation groups, Galton developed a theory that humans inherited what he called “noble” human traits, like superior intelligence or abilities. In the latter part of his career, Galton developed the concept of eugenics as a way to encourage the development of “noble” traits in humans. The following excerpt is from his 1883 book Inquiries into Human Facul-ty and Its Development, in which he introduced his ideas.

This book’s intention is to touch on various topics more or less connected with the cultivation of race, or, as we might call it, with “eugenic” questions.

Whenever a low race is preserved under conditions of life that exact a high level of efficiency, it must be subjected to rigorous selection. The few best specimens of that race can alone be allowed to become parents, and not many of their descendants can be allowed to live. On the other hand, if a higher race is substituted for the low one, all this terrible misery disappears. The most merciful form of “eugenics” would consist in watching for the indications of superior strains or races. In so favoring them their progeny shall outnumber and gradually replace that of the old one.

Source Modified from Francis Galton, Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development (New York: Macmillan, 1883). Project Gutenberg eBook.


TEXT 04

IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATESThese maps, by University of Wisconsin professor David Ward, show the surging num-bers and changing demographics of immigrant populations to the United States from the 19th to the 20th centuries. From 1820 through 1879, the numbers of new immigrants gradually increased but never exceeded 3 million per decade, with most arriving from northwestern Europe. From 1880 through 1919, about 6 million arrived each decade, the great majority from southern, central, and eastern Europe. These changes were a major factor in sparking the eugenics movement in the U.S.

Source David Ward, “Population Growth, Migration, and Urbanization, 1860–1920,” in North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent, eds. Thomas F. McIlwraith and Edward K. Muller (Lanham, MD: Row-man and Littlefield, 2001), 285-306.



What factors are influenc-ing Laughlin’s ideas? Do you think the policymakers he’s speaking to would be influenced by the same ideas? Why would policy-makers believe Laughlin?

TEXT 05

HARRY H. LAUGHLIN’S HOUSE TESTIMONY ON THE “BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF IMMIGRANTS” At the beginning of the 20th century, the United States experienced a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants entering the country. While 3.5 million people had immigrat-ed to the country between 1890 and 1900, the number jumped to 9 million people in the first decade of the 20th century. Also, by 1910, most immigrants were from southern and eastern Europe, instead of northern and western Europe like earlier groups. Eugeni-cists, most of whom were of northern and western European heritage, worried that the new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe weakened America biologically. They lobbied for federal legislation to restrict immigration from “undesirable” countries. One of the leading eugenicists in the United States was Harry H. Laughlin (1880–1943), who was the superintendent of the Eugenics Records Office, a center for eugenics and heredity research located in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. He became the anti-immi-gration movement’s most persuasive lobbyist, testifying several times before the House of Representatives Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. In his testimonies, Laughlin used flawed data to show that new immigrants had high levels of “social inade-quacy,” including feeblemindedness, insanity, criminality, and dependency. Laughlin’s testimonies played a key role in passing the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924, which, among other things, restricted immigration from southern and eastern Europe countries to only 9 percent of the total. The following excerpt is from his 1920 testimony before Congress.

Statement of Mr. H.H. Laughlin, of the Eugenics Research Association, of Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, N.Y.

Mr. Chairman, I want to present the biological and eugenical aspect of immigration. Some of my remarks will be of a general nature, but I will support them by special data.

The character of the nation is determined primarily by its racial qualities; that is, by the hereditary physical, mental, and moral or temperamental traits of its people. We have trained field workers who visit insane hospitals, prisons, and other institu-tions for the socially inadequate. They get in touch with the inmates or patients, find out whether they are of native or foreign stock, and then go to their home territo-ries and determine what kind of hereditary material they are made of. We are trying to solve the problem of the relative influences of heredity and environment in making these degenerate Americans.

Since coming under national control our immigration policy has been determined largely upon an economic basis.


However, it is now high time that the eugenical element — that is, the factor of natural hereditary qualities which will determine our future characteristics and safety —receive due consideration. Permit me to set forth a plan which our investigators thought we should enforce in testing the worth of immigrants. First, we think that an examination of the immigrants should be made in their home towns. That is the only place where one can get eugenical facts. If the investigator goes to an institution, a prison, a school for the feebleminded, or a poorhouse and finds an individual inmate, not much can be told about the inborn quality of the subject unless the investi-gator can secure the family history in the inmate’s home territory. Then he can find out what sort of material the individual subject is made of — for example, whether he comes from an industrious or a shiftless family. If the prospective immigrant is a potential parent, then his or her admission to the United States should be dependent not merely upon present illiteracy, social qualifications, and economic status. It should also be dependent upon the possession of such physical, mental, and moral qualities as the American people desire to be possessed inherently by its future citizenry.

Source Modified from “Biological Aspects of Immigration,” Harry H. Laughlin testimony before the House Com-mittee on Immigration and Naturalization (1920). The Harry H. Laughlin Papers, Truman State University.



What new context does this document provide? How do you think the court came to judge Carrie Buck to be “feebleminded”?

TEXT 06

BUCK V. BELL OPINIONIn addition to immigration laws, the U.S. Eugenics Records Office also tried to influence sterilization laws — that is, laws that would force people to undergo surgical procedures to prevent them from producing children. Indiana was the first state to pass a eugenics sterilization law in 1907 and other states followed suit, including Virginia in 1924. In that same year, the Board of Directors for the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-minded authorized the forced sterilization of Carrie Buck, a patient at that institution. Both Carrie and her mother, Emma, had given birth to children outside of marriage, and so both were judged to be “feebleminded” and promiscuous. The case reached the Supreme Court of the United States, which upheld both the Virginia law and the steril-ization of Carrie. Only Justice Pierce Butler dissented. This is an excerpt from the majority opinion, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

HOLMES, J., Opinion of the Court SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

274 U.S. 200 Buck v. Bell

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF VIRGINIA No. 292 Argued: April 22, 1927 — Decided: May 2, 1927

Mr. JUSTICE HOLMES delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a writ of error to review a judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State of Virginia by which the defendant, the superintendent of the State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, was ordered to perform the operation of salpingectomy upon Carrie Buck, the plaintiff, for the pur-pose of making her sterile.

Carrie Buck is a feebleminded white woman who was committed to the State Colony above mentioned in due form. She is the daughter of a feebleminded mother in the same institution, and the mother of an illegitimate feebleminded child. She was eighteen years old at the time of the trial of her case in the Circuit Court, in the latter part of 1924. An Act of Virginia, approved March 20, 1924, recites that the health of the patient and the welfare of society may be promoted in certain cases by the sterilization of mental defectives; that the sterilization may be effected without serious pain or sub-stantial danger to life; that many defective persons, if now discharged, would become a menace, but, if incapable of procreating, might be discharged with safety and become self-supporting with benefit to themselves and to society; and that experience has shown that heredity plays an impor-tant part in the transmission of insanity and imbecility.

The judgment finds the facts that have been recited, and that Carrie Buck is

the probable potential parent of socially inadequate offspring, likewise afflicted, that she may be sexually sterilized without detriment to her general health, and that her welfare and that of society will be promoted by her sterilization.

It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from con-tinuing their kind. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.

Source Modified from Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927). Accessed 9 April 2013. http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0274_0200_ZO.html.



What is this map telling you? Do you notice any patterns?

TEXT 07

STERILIZATION LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES AS OF JANUARY 1, 1935When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Virginia’s sterilization law in the 1927 Buck v. Bell decision, it paved the way for similar laws in other states. Historians estimate that 65,000 Americans were sterilized without consent under these laws. The map below shows the states that had passed laws on mandatory sterilization by 1935, and the num-ber of sterilizations performed by that time.

Source “Legislative Status of Eugenical Sterilization in the United States” (1935). The Harry H. Laughlin Papers, Truman State University.

Education

Investigation: How and Why Have People Misused Darwin's Ideas?