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Michigan

Number of Victims

There were at least 3,786 officially documented cases of sterilizations  in Michigan. Of the 3786 cases, 74% of sterilizations were carried out on females and 26% on males. 440 sterilizations cases were carried out on people considered mentally ill, while 2927 were carried out on persons deemed mentally deficient. The remaining 419 were of neither--those considered “sexual deviants, epileptics or moral degenerates” (Paul, p. 375).

Period When Sterilizations Occurred

Sterilizations in Michigan occurred from 1914 through 1963 (Paul, p. 382). The vast majority of them occurred after the Michigan passed its last sterilization law in 1929.

Temporal Patterns which Sterilizations Occurred

The initial number of sterilization in Michigan was relatively low for the first 10 years of its eugenic history. The number peaked from the time period between 1928 and the end of 1932, when approximately 200 people per year were sterilized. During this period, the rate of sterilization was about 4 people per year per 100,000 citizens.The yearly number of sterilizations was fairly constant from the mid thirties to the mid fifties.

Passage of Laws

In 1897, Michigan became the first state in the nation to propose eugenics legislation. This bill called for the castration of certain types of criminals and "degenerates"; however, this legislation did not pass.

In 1913, Michigan adopted a forced sterilization policy which applied to “mentally defective or insane” in public institutions (Paul, p. 372; Laughlin, p. 28). Only one sterilization occurred before the Michigan Supreme Court system declared the law unconstitutional in the Michigan court case of Haynes v. Lapeer Circuit Judge.

A new sterilization law was passed in 1923, which amended in 1925 and subsequently upheld in several court cases in 1925 and 1926 (Paul, pp. 372-3; Landman, pp. 71-2). Under the 1923 reimplementation of the 1913 law, x-rays were added to vasectomy and salpingectomy as specifically stated means of sterilization (Hodges, "Euthenics, eugenics," p. 148). As Jeffrey Hodges has commented in his Master's thesis on eugenics in Michigan, Nazi Germany was not the first entity to contemplate the x-ray sterilization procedure (Hodges, "Euthenics, eugenics," pp. 41-2).

Another law was passed in 1929, which expanded the groups potentially subject to sterilization. It also included a new reference to a "more humane method of sterilization" (Landman, p. 73), which came to mean castrastration, of which by 1938 twenty had been performed, all on sex offenders (Hodges, "Euthenics, eugenics," pp. 41-2).

Groups Identified

Michigan's 1913 sterilization law pertained to the "mentally defective" and "insane."

The 1923 law was compulsory and voluntary and pertained to "idiots, imbeciles, and feebleminded, but the not the insane" (Paul, p. 372), and it was extramural in that it included not only patients in state institutions but also those at large (Paul, p. 372).

In 1929, the act was expanded to include, in addition to the previously included groups, the "insane and epileptic persons, ..., moral degenerates, and sexual perverts likely to become a menace to society or wards of the state" (see Hodges, "Dealing with Degeneracy," p. 141; Paul, p. 375).

Process of Law

The original 1913 law consisted of several sections and provided that the state of Michigan had the right to sterilize via a vasectomy or salpingectomy anyone with any of the preceding labels if there was a potential that this person could generate "mental defectives" as offspring. A board of surgeons and physicians would examine the "mental condition" of each patient in a a state institution to determine whether sterilization was necessary.

The 1923 law stipulated that the boards of state institutions providing social services (including those for the mentally disabled and ill) and penal, and correctional facilities, family members, and apparently even community members could petition a court for the sterilization of a person, upon which a panel of three physicians would be provide an opinion, which on demand (of the person to be sterilized) would then be considered by a six-person jury impaneled by the court. If a sterilization order came forth, it could be challenged by the person to be sterilized in an appeals process (Landman, p. 73). The amendment in 1925 allowed probate courts to hear sterilization request (Hodges, "Dealing with Degeneracy," p. 150).

The expanded 1929 law provided that superintendents or wardens of state institutions could recommend to the board of such institutions and the state welfare commission the sterilization of a resident. The decision required written consent, but a probate court could dispense with the requirement of such consent (Landman, pp. 72-3).

Precipitating Factors and Processes

In Michigan and elsewhere, the proponents of eugenics were concerned with the well-being of the “millions unborn.” They thought of eugenics as the tool with which to create a race of strong, healthy individuals by weeding out the "unfit." When the U.S. Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell set precedence for more lenient sterilization justifications, Michigan’s Supreme Court in turn reinterpreted its sterilization policy as an extension of its compulsory vaccination law, which precipitated an massive increase in sterilizations (Paul, p. 373).

Groups Targeted and Victimized

African Americans living in Michigan may have had a four times greater chance of being sterilized than whites; the extant records do not allow for a definitive determination, however (Hodges, "Euthenics, eugenics," p. 59). ther highly targeted people were poor families, which could be easily split up by a county judge and nomadic Native Americans from tribes such as the Ottawa (Sturm). 

In the records examined by Hodges, he found that "over twenty percent of the sterilization requests include a history of criminal offenses. Nearly half of the offenses listed were of a sexual nature. These sexual offenses ranged from indecent exposure to rape and murder. Homosexuality was also included as a deviant, illegal behavior. Though homosexuality was legally defined as a form of sodomy, cases of bestiality and worse were also extant. The most unusual case was a poor, physically deformed girl of 13, who had been repeatedly raped by uncles and other family member. Reportedly, she preferred intercourse with a 'large hunting do' the family owned. This file reveals the patient not so much as a victim, but as a repository of social evil. Through her weakness, her inability to prevent males from taking physical advantage of her, she supposedly represented a continuing temptation towards societal immorality. Rape, incest, and sodomy constituted evidence of her personal degeneracy, not society's inability to protect her from abuse" ("Euthenics, Eugenics," p. 68).

Other Restrictions on the Disabled

In 1846 epileptics were barred from marriage in Michigan. This prohibition was elminated in 1962 (Paul, p. 389).

Jeffrey Hodges has commented on instances of "euthanasia" for infants in Michican: "Euthanasia of deformed and retardet newborns wa not unknown. In the hospital jargon of the times, they were 'set aside.' The were set aside, to live or die, while care was given to the mother....Deformed and retarded children were referred to as FLKs, funny-looking kids; their parents as FLPs" ("Euthenics, Eugenics," p. 36).

Major Proponents

(photo origin: Willard Library; available at http://www.willard.lib.mi.us/historical/bcphotos/individuals/images/h41_3981.jpg)

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, American entrepreneur and inventor of “Corn Flakes”, was an avid supporter of eugenics. In 1911 he founded the “Race Betterment Foundation” at Battle Creek, Michigan. As president the foundation held three conferences in 1914, 1915, and 1928. The foundation was mostly concerned influencing the people of Michigan to support positive eugenics programs in which citizens deemed to have beneficial traits were encourages to marry and have large families (EugenicsArchive.org).

(Photo origin: The Vaughan Family Archive; available at www.vaughan.org/bios/vcv/images/vcva2.jpg)

Victor C. Vaughan was another large supporter of eugenics in Michigan. He first became famous as the dean of the University of Michigan's Medical School (Sturm). However, he vocally supported a forced sterilization program, claiming it would lead to a more humane society and even benefit the victims of the sterilizations (Millikan).

Serving with Kellogg on the state board of health, Vaughan and Kellogg were able to leverage the state legislators to pass a compulsory sterilization law in 1913, Vaughan later became president of the American Medical Society at Ann Arbor in 1914 (Sturm; Hodges, "Dealing with Degeneracy," chap. 4).

“Feeder Institutions” and Institutions where Sterilizations were Performed

(Photo origin: Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, available at <http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3304-98476--,00.html>)

In 1893 the Michigan Home for the Feebleminded and Epileptic was established, later known as the Michigan Home and Training School, Lapeer State Home and Training School, and the Oakdale Center for Developmental Disabilities. It was the place where the majority of sterilizations appear to have occurred, at least until 1937, and the majority of them on women (Hodges, "Euthenics, eugenics," p. 31). It received children whose families could not longer care for their children during the Great Depression. The city of Lapeer's largest business, it once employed 1060 people. This institution closed down for good in 1992 and is in the process of being fully demolished (Sturm; Michigan Department of Environmental Quality). 

Hodges ("Euthenics, eugenics," p. 31) mentions the Michigan Farm Colony for Epileptics, in Wahjamega/Caro, as the location of a small number of sterilizations. It was also called the Caro State Home for Epileptics, Caro State Hospital, Caro Regional Mental Health Center, and a few buildings still appear to be used today (Rootsweb.org).

Another sterilization institution included the Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, which is now used as a correctional facility (Ionia County). 

(Picture origin: Jackson District Library, available at < http://jackson.lib.mi.us/gallery/v/buildings/PA_FULL_24.jpg.html>)

Another is the Michigan State Prison at Jackson, which was once the largest prison in the world. In 1997 it was renovated and reopened as the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility. The facility officially closed in 2007 (Michigan Department of Corrections).

The University Hospital in Ann Arbor was another location where sterilizations occurred (Sturm; Hodges, "Euthenics, eugenics," p. 33). 

None of the institutions make reference to their role at sterilization institutions on their websites.

Opponents

Eugenics theories had much opposition in the early 1900's in Michigan's scientific community. Many scientists refuted the principle that pure-bred organisms have a competitive advantage over hybrids. They looked to the competitive success of genealogically diverse corn over pure-breeding corn. In addition, by 1910, Hardy and Weinberg proposed their evolutionary equilibrium model which demonstrated that sexual sterilization in the short term would not greatly alter the gene frequency of heritable traits (Sturm). When the 1929 Michigan sterilization law was passed, Jeffrey Hodges notes, "the Catholic church's opposition had not concretized at this point" (Hodges, "Dealing with Degeneracy," p. 154). In the 1960’s medical research proved that much of the defects doctors thought were genetic turned out to be linked to ground and water toxins (Hodges, "Euthenics, eugenics," pp. 106-7).

Bibliography

EugenicsArchive.org. “Eugenics Organizations.” Available at <http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/static/themes/19.html>.

Hodges, Jeffrey Alan. 2001. "Dealing with Degeneracy: Michigan Eugenics in Context." Ph.D. dissertation in history, Michigan State University.

Hodges, Jeffrey Alan. 1995. "Euthenics, Eugenics and Compulsory Sterilization in Michigan, 1897-1960." Master's thesis, Dept. of History, Michigan State University.

Ionia County MIGenWeb. “Michigan State Prisons in Ionia County.” Available at <http://ionia.migenweb.net/history/prisons.htm>.

Landman, J. H. 1932. Human Sterilization: The History of the Sexual Sterilization Movement. New York: MacMillan.

Laughlin, Harry H. 1922. Eugenical Sterilization in the United States. Chicago: Municipal Court of Chicago.

Michigan Department of Corrections. “Southern Michigan Correctional Facility (JMF) Closed November 17, 2007.” Available at <http://www.michigan.gov/corrections/0,1607,7-119-1381_1388-5357--,00.html>.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. "Lapeer County." Available at <http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3304-98476--,00.html>.

Millikan, Arikia. 2008. “A Dark Medical History.” The Michigan Daily. Available at <http://www.michigandaily.com/content/arikia-millikan-dark-medical-history>.

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.

Rootsweb.org. "Caro Center." Available at <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~byram/asylums/caro_mi/>.

Sturm, Daniel. 2004. “Living with the Legacy of 'Racial Hygiene' in Michigan.” Lansing City Pulse 3, 22. Available at <http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/archives/040114/040114cover.html>