Indiana
Number of
Victims
2,424 people were sterilized in Indiana institutions. There was near parity between males and females in sterilizations: 1,167 males and 1,257 females were sterilized. 1,751 of these people were considered mentally deficient and 667 mentally ill. Indiana also had a number of sterilizations before the law was even passed. These sterilizations were carried out by Dr. Harry Sharp (see below) in the Indiana State Reformatory on male inmates to “cure” masturbators, though possibly with eugenic intentions as well. The estimates of those sterilized by Sharp vary, as do opinions of the voluntariness of the sterilizations. Estimates of the numbers vary from 175 to 800 (Paul, p. 342). Stern’s estimate is at the lower end of the spectrum, indicating that he performed about 225 prelaw vasectomy sterilizations (p. 11).
Period During Which Sterilizations Occurred
Sterilizations in Indiana officially started in 1907 with the world’s first eugenic sterilization law, but in 1909 a new governor (Thomas Marshall) soon put a stop to the process by threatening the funding of institutions that used the law (Paul, p. 343), and the law was struck down in 1921 by the Indiana Supreme Court. A new law was passed in 1927 and was on the books until 1974, though most sterilizations had already stopped by this time (Baldanzi et al). There were several hundred prelaw sterilizations (taking place between 1899 and 1907) carried out on criminals in the Indiana State Reformatory, all vasectomies done on male prisoners (Paul, p. 342).
Temporal Pattern of Sterilization and Rate of Sterilization
This graph is illustrative of the changing patterns of the rate of sterilization in Indiana. In the beginning period (1907-1930) and at the end (1960-1983) there were few sterilizations, but during some of the years between (mostly 1933-1950) there was a large number of sterilizations, with only a mild increase from 1950-60, after which there were very few. For the period 1933 to 1950, a total of 1672 sterilizations were performed, which averages to 98 sterilizations per year. The periods with the highest number of sterilizations were 1933-1938, when 443 people were sterilized, and 1944-1950, with 603 sterilizations. In the 1933-1938 period about 90 people were sterilized per year, and the sterilization rate was about 3 people sterilized per 100,000 residents per year. The period 1944-1950 had a rate of about 100 sterilizations per year, and the sterilization rate per resident per year was also about 3 (StatsIndiana).
Passage of
Laws
Indiana was the first state to pass a compulsory sterilization law, with the law coming into effect in 1907 (Stern, p. 7). After this law was struck down in 1921 by the Indiana Supreme Court, there was an attempt to pass a new sterilization law in 1925 which sought to reinstitute eugenic sterilization in Indiana through the creation of a state eugenicist, but this effort was defeated in the Indiana Legislature (Lantzer and Stern, pp. 9-10). Shortly thereafter, the legislature succeeded in passing a second law in 1927. This law was expanded in 1931, and eventually repealed in 1974 (Baldanzi et al).
Groups
Identified in
the Law
The first law (in 1907) targeted: “’confirmed criminals’, ‘idiots’, ‘imbeciles’, and ‘rapists’” (Stern, p. 9). The second law (1927) was somewhat more limited, confined only to the “’Insane’, ‘feeble minded’ or ‘epileptic’” (Stern, p. 29). There was thus a shift in emphasis, from the mentally ill and serious criminals to only the mentally ill. Both laws were specifically designed to target those housed within state institutions, not those in the general population (Stern, pp. 9, 29).
Process of the Law
The first law stated that state institutions containing targeted individuals (such as prisons, asylums, or reformatories), would appoint two surgeons to investigate candidates for sterilization in those institutions, and if they thought society would benefit from their not having children, the person would be sterilized. The second law’s procedure was much less straightforward, a deliberate change to prevent the law from suffering the same downfall in the courts as its predecessor. An institution’s superintendent would suggest a certain person be sterilized to the institution’s governing board. The board would issue a notice to the inmate informing him/her of a hearing. This hearing before the board of the inmate and/or a relative would determine if the candidate should be sterilized. If the inmate or his/her family was dissatisfied with the ruling, then they could appeal to the court system. This law was expanded in 1931 to empower county judges, with the approval of two physicians, to order the sterilization of the feebleminded and insane during their commitment procedure (Stern, pp. 29-30).
Precipitating
Factors
and Processes
Indiana had one of the first practitioners of the vasectomy, Dr. Harry Sharp. His revelations that vasectomies could be performed relatively cheaply and safely (the previous method of male sterilization had been outright castration) gave ammunition to eugenics advocates for the first law (Paul, p. 344). Stern (p. 9) points out that “it was not formulated de novo. Instead it represented the legalistic culmination of at least two decades of steady development of ideas about criminality, degeneracy, hyper-sexuality, and the primacy of heredity in determining personality and familial traits”. When Indiana’s eugenic sterilization measures was passed, many considered it little more than just another aspect of society’s efforts to combat poverty and disease. It was perceived that the “dregs of society” were reproducing themselves at a rapid rate compared to the rest of society, and it was vital to use all the tools at hand, including eugenic sterilization, to prevent those posing the greatest threat to the state from propagating those like themselves (Stern, p. 13). Extended family studies such as the Tribe of Ishmael (done in the late 19th century) supposedly proved that certain family groups were posing undue burdens on the state through irresponsible living and high birth rates (as such people were more likely to spend time in jail and be on public relief) (Stern, p. 15).
Even after the first law was struck down for lack of due process, eugenics itself did not die in Indiana. Better babies contests and eugenics presentations at county and state fairs helped maintain public interest in the ideas of human heredity (Stern, p. 22). In 1915 Governor Samuel Ralston created the Committee on Mental Defectives. It worked throughout the period 1915 to 1924 (when there were virtually no sterilizations), doing family studies, assembling pedigrees, and publishing findings to try and keep interest in hereditary defectiveness alive. Findings include the assertion that 2% (Fifty-six thousand persons in all) of Indianans were mentally defective, and these defectives could usually be found in isolated and rugged parts of the state, the exact same places where one found the rural poor (Lantzer and Stern, pp. 7-9).
Such findings as this helped to incite C.M.D. member and state senator C. Oliver Holmes to lobby for sterilization to return to Indiana. He attempted to push a new law through in 1925, but this effort eventually failed in the State House of Representatives (Lantzer and Stern, p. 9) Holmes remained undeterred, and received a federal boost for his push for a new law in 1927 when the US Supreme Court decided the Buck v Bell case, supporting involuntary sterilization in Virginia. In Buck v. Bell, the court ruled that the sterilization of Virginia woman Carrie Buck was in the public interest just like vaccination, and as such could be done against the will of the person being operated on. This event was so important in legitimizing sterilization that Lantzer and Stern state that “the resurgence of eugenic sterilization in Indiana could not have taken place without one of the most famous and infamous US Supreme Court decisions, Buck v. Bell” (p. 11).
One factor that led to the increased rates of sterilization seen in the 1930s was the Great Depression. Budgetary constraints pushed institutions such as Fort Wayne to seek ways to parole inmates, and it was felt that inmates would pose less of a threat to the outside world were they unable to have children. Thus, some inmates were sterilized so that they could be let go and not pose a burden on the state treasury (Stern, pp. 30-31).
One other factor that should be mentioned in the popularity of eugenics is the social change that was sweeping Indiana in the early 1900s. What was once an overwhelmingly agricultural and rural state was gradually converting to a more urbanized, educated, scientific, and modern society. As some elements of Indiana’s society progressed, those who failed to do so were more and more obvious in their marginalization. The class differences between those who were investigated and those doing the investigations may have also played a role in the system classifying many of the rural poor “degenerate” (Stern, p. 14; Lantzer and Stern, p. 9).
Groups
Targeted and
Victimized
As seen in the law’s explicit statements, those with various degrees of mental disability were targeted for sterilization, though the rural poor often ended up as targets as well. Poor whites from Kentucky and Tennessee were often singled out as disproportionately degenerate as well, especially those living in the back country (Stern, p. 20). These groups were not only outsiders, but had been left behind by the developmental forces sweeping Indiana in the early 20th century. Their social stagnation could easily be characterized as due to innate inferiority compared to the rest of the state (Stern, p. 13).
Other
Restrictions
Placed on Those Identified in the Law or With Disabilities in General
One of the laws preceding the 1907 sterilization law was a 1905 law that forbade the “mentally deficient”, those with a “transmissible disease” (probably a reference to syphilis), or “habitual drunkards” from marrying (Stern, p. 4).
Major Proponents
(Photo
origin: Mary Washington College, Department of History and American
Studies; available at http://www.umw.edu/hisa/resources/)
Dr. Harry C. Sharp was a pioneer in the use of vasectomies, originally for the purpose of curing sexual delinquency in inmates at the Indiana State Prison. He lobbied the Indiana government to use sterilization to cure problems of mental deficiency and sexual deviancy in Indiana, helping to get the 1907 law passed. Sharp also attempted to spread his ideas through works such as Vasectomy, a pamphlet that touted his successes performing the operation on prisoners and called for more states to adopt sterilization laws (Stern, p. 11).
Governor James Frank Hanly was the governor of Indiana (1905-1909) who signed the 1907 law authorizing involuntary sterilizations in Indiana. Hanly was known for being “an anti-vice crusader and hard-line prohibitionist” (Stern, p. 9), even so much so as to run for president for the Prohibition Party in 1916 (In.gov, "Hanly"). Hanly was also praised by Dr. Sharp, who stated that his administration “has been noted for its efforts at race purity and civic righteousness” (Sharp, p. 179). His biography in the Indiana state government website mentions nothing of the sterilization law.
C. Oliver Holmes was one of the prime figures responsible for bringing sterilizations back to Indiana. In 1925, several years after sterilization had been ruled unconstitutional by the Indiana Supreme Court, Holmes attempted to pass a new bill granting wide powers to a state eugenicist. This effort failed, but two years later he successfully pushed the law described above through the legislature. He was also a member of the Committee on Mental Defectives, which investigated Indiana’s mentally ill, mainly in the years when sterilizations were not taking place (Lantzer and Stern, pp. 9, 10).
Feeder Institutions
(Photo origin: IndianaCourts.com; available at http://www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/cle/eugenics/index.html)
The Fort Wayne State School for Feeble Minded Youth (located on East State Street in Fort Wayne; initially named the Indiana School for Feeble-Minded Youth), which opened in 1890, provided the vast majority (around 1800 out of 2424 total) of patients for sterilization. In 1954, due to dilapidation and overcrowding the location changed to Parker Place Farm and was renamed the Fort Wayne State Developmental Center. The Fort Wayne facility’s website also says nothing of its leading role in sterilizing Indianans. Although it closed in 2007, the facility has provided services to the mentally disabled after relinquishing its place as the epicenter of Indiana’s sterilization program (Fort Wayne State Developmental Center Website).
Other important institutions include the Muscatatuck Colony (in Butlerville), the Logansport State Hospital (in Logansport) for the Insane, and the Indiana Girls’ School (near Indianapolis, now the Juvenile Correctional Facility) (Stern, p. 28). There are no official websites or histories for the other sites, although the Indiana Girls School still exists, now under the name of the Juvenile Correctional Facility (Cotton, p. 1). The Muscatatuck colony (also known as the Indiana Farm Colony for Feeble-Minded) also recently closed in 2005, due in part to decreasing demand for services for the mentally disabled in Indiana, though there were also allegations of abuse (Rosebrough, p. 1). It appears that the Logansport State Hospital is still in operationl (IN.gov, "Other Indiana Hospitals").
Opposition
After only two years of sterilizations with the 1907 law, Hanly’s successor Thomas Marshall, after receiving complaints from people sterilized against their will, decided to issue a moratorium on sterilizations. In 1919 Governor James Goodrich sought to push the law through the court system, resulting in the case heard by the Indiana Supreme Court in 1921, Williams v. Smith. Feeling that the lack of an option of appeal violated the 14th amendment’s due process clause, and that sterilizations were cruel and unusual punishment, the court struck down the sterilization law (Stern, p. 12).
Commemoration
In 2007, a marker was erected to commemorate those sterilized under the Indiana Sterilization Act. The marker was erected by the Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana University, and Indiana University Foundation. The marker number is 49.2007.1 and reads: "By late 1800s, Indiana authorities believed criminality, mental problems, and pauperism were hereditary. Various laws were enacted based on this belief. In 1907, Governor J. Frank Hanly approved first state eugenics law making sterilization mandatory for certain individuals in state custody. Sterilizations halted 1909 by Governor Thomas R. Marshall." On the reverse: "Indiana Supreme Court ruled 1907 law unconstitutional 1921, citing denial of due process under Fourteenth Amendment. A 1927 law provided for appeals in the courts. Approximately 2,500 people in state custody were sterilized. Governor Otis R. Bowen approved repeal of all sterilization laws 1974; by 1977, related restrictive marriage laws repealed."
The exact location of the
marker is 39° 46.185′ N, 86° 9.812′ W. It is located in Indianapolis,
Indiana, in Marion County on North Senate Avenue on the East lawn of
the Indiana State Library: 140 N Senate Ave, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Bibliography
Baldanzi, Jessica, Bulloff Elizabeth, Dragoo Brent, Fairfield Alicia, Hunter Claire, and Robbins Kyle. “Eugenics in Indiana.” Available at <http://www.kobescent.com/eugenics/>
Bower, M. 2008. “The Historical Marker Database: 1907 Indiana Eugenics Law.” Available at <http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1829>
Cotton, Gaylie. 2008. “Logansport Correctional Facility Reactivated as a Male Juvenile Facility.” Available at <http://www.in.gov/idoc/files/loganreactiv.pdf>
Fort Wayne Developmental Center. 2008. “About The Fort Wayne State Developmental Center.” Available at <http://www.fwsdc.com/aboutfortwayne/>
IN.gov. “James Frank Hanly”. Available at <http://www.in.gov/gov/2364.htm>
IN.gov. “Other
Indiana Hospitals for the Mentally Ill and Developmentally
Disabled.” Available
at <http://www.in.gov/icpr/2916.htm>
Lantzer, Jason S., and
Stern, Alexandra Minna. 2007.
“Building a Fit Society: Indiana's Eugenics Crusaders.” Traces
of
Indiana and Midwestern History
19, 1: 4-11.
Paul, Julius. 1965. “‘Three Generations of Imbeciles Are Enough’: State Eugenic Sterilization Laws in American Thought and Practice.” Unpublished manuscript. Washington, D.C.: Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Rosebrough, Dennis. 2005. “Fort Wayne Developmental Center to Transition to Community-Based Settings.” Available at <http://www.fwsdc.com/press-release/>
Sharp, Harry. 1907. “Rendering Sterile of Confirmed Criminals and Mental Defectives.” Proceedings of the Annual Congress of the National Prison Association: 177-85.
StatsIndiana. 2002.
“Historic Census Counts for the U.S. and States (including
District of
Columbia) 1900 to 2000.” Available
at
<http://www.stats.indiana.edu/population/PopTotals/historic_counts_states.html>
Stern, Alexandra M. 2007. “We Cannot Make a Silk Purse Out of a Sow’s Ear: Eugenics in the Hoosier Heartland.” Indiana Magazine of History 103: 3-38.