The Lynchburg Story

Summary

"The Lynchburg Story" delves into the tragic history of the Lynchburg Colony in Virginia, where thousands were forcibly sterilized under the guise of "eugenics." The film explores the stories of victims like Mary Donald and Carrie Buck, whose lives were forever altered by a pseudo-scientific belief system that sought to purify the population by eliminating deemed "undesirable" traits. Through poignant testimony and historical exploration, the documentary reveals the societal and institutional failures that allowed such a violation of human rights. This haunting exposé serves as a stark reminder of the perils of wielding science without humanity.

Highlights

• Mary Donald was forcibly sterilized at just ten years old, reflecting the cruelty of the eugenics program. 🚨
• Many victims like Jessie Meadows and Carrie Buck were unfairly labeled as 'feeble-minded' and sterilized. 🏛️
• Eugenics falsely promised societal improvement while masking gross human rights violations. 🎭
• Authorities celebrated sterilization for its cost-saving potential, revealing appalling priorities. 💰
• The film underscores the resilience of survivors who, despite their trauma, continue to seek justice. 🕊️

Key Takeaways

• Eugenics movement unjustly targeted the vulnerable, leading to forced sterilizations. 🤯
• Societal prejudices were institutionalized, affecting thousands like Mary Donald and Carrie Buck. 📜
• The movement sought to eliminate 'undesirable' traits without understanding human complexity. 🔬
• Victims, often poor or marginalized, faced life-long impacts and lack of genuine recognition. 💔
• Despite legal backing, eugenics policies caused irreversible harm and are now recognized as grave injustices. 🚫

Overview

Set in the poignant backdrop of Lynchburg, Virginia, 'The Lynchburg Story' unveils a chilling narrative of forced sterilizations carried out under misguided eugenic policies. The film opens with Mary Donald's harrowing tale – a child caught in a system eager to 'cleanse' society of its labelled inadequacies. Her story echoes through the walls of the institution where humanity was sacrificed on the altar of pseudo-science.

Carrie Buck's saga is a centerpiece in this documentary, illuminating the dark journey of a legal battle she was doomed to lose. Designated a feeble-minded delinquent, her story underscores the grave miscarriage of justice when prejudice guides power. The court's infamous ruling 'three generations of imbeciles are enough' remains a chilling reminder of how far societal approval can tilt.

As the documentary peels back layers of bureaucratic and ideological failure, it also sheds light on those who refused to let history forget. Judy Crockett’s relentless pursuit of justice and the haunting testimonies of the sterilized reveal a tapestry of resistance against oppression. These narratives challenge viewers to remember and to ensure such violations remain in the annals of history as a lesson never to be repeated.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:30: Mary Donald's Experience at Lynchburg Colony The chapter "Mary Donald's Experience at Lynchburg Colony" describes the traumatic events in 1946 when Mary, at just ten years old, was taken by the sheriff along with her brother to Lynchburg Colony. This action was insisted upon with the claim that her mother was already there. The chapter presumably covers the experiences and challenges Mary faced due to this situation, shedding light on a distressing moment in her life.
• 02:30 - 04:30: Mary's Sterilization and Aftermath The chapter titled "Mary's Sterilization and Aftermath" discusses Mary's unexpected transfer to the colony. She was confused and frightened when she arrived. Upon arrival, a nurse guided Mary downstairs, where she was taken to the hospital ward. Her first experience there included being put into a bathtub, an action she couldn't understand. This chapter explores her initial reactions and experiences at the colony.
• 04:30 - 10:00: Virginia's Sterilization Program and Its Origins The chapter provides a brief conversation between individuals discussing the experience of being in a hospital under the care of Dr. Ramsey. The patient refers to spending time on a ward named 'Ward fat' where Dr. Ramsey was involved. It seems to touch upon personal experiences within a medical facility, possibly relating to Virginia's sterilization program and the medical practices of the time.
• 10:00 - 17:00: Carrie Buck's Case and the Supreme Court The chapter discusses the Lynchburg Colony in Virginia, where numerous individuals, including Mary, were committed under the dubious diagnosis of 'feeble-mindedness'. This term was broadly applied to the poor and uneducated, predominantly White individuals, who were deemed socially inadequate and a state burden.
• 17:00 - 23:00: Impact of Eugenics and Sterilization The chapter titled 'Impact of Eugenics and Sterilization' discusses the history and implications of a troubling social engineering program. It begins with a warning that Lynchburg was at risk of becoming a site for widespread human rights abuses. The narrative details the experience of Mary and other inmates, who were subjected to forced sexual sterilization as part of a eugenics program aimed at controlling the population deemed 'undesirable.' This historical analysis highlights the ethical and moral issues associated with eugenic policies and the long-lasting impact on the individuals affected.
• 23:00 - 30:00: Legal Challenges and Advocacy The chapter titled 'Legal Challenges and Advocacy' likely discusses various obstacles and efforts in legal matters. Although the transcript is incomplete and lacks context, it seems to involve a narrative or dialogue about a personal experience, potentially hinting at a legal issue or personal advocacy. The mention of staying 'in the house for like two weeks in a coma' suggests a significant event or challenge faced by an individual.
• 30:00 - 43:00: Judy Crockett's Efforts and Victims' Stories The chapter titled "Judy Crockett's Efforts and Victims' Stories" explores the experiences of individuals who underwent sterilization. One victim, Mary, recounts her ordeal of almost losing her life during the procedure. She reflects on her time at Lynchburg, where she received limited education despite attending school, which was taught by Charles Wills for 25 years. The chapter highlights the societal belief at the time that individuals like Mary should not have many children, revealing the underlying motivations for forced sterilizations. Mary’s narrative provides a poignant insight into the impact of these practices on victims' lives and the broader social ideologies that supported them.
• 43:00 - 53:00: Labor and Punishments at Lynchburg Colony This chapter discusses the procedures and evaluations that individuals at Lynchburg Colony underwent. Legal permission allowed individuals to join the colony, where they were later assessed by psychologists and social workers to determine how well they could adapt to the environment. Medical evaluations were also conducted to diagnose conditions like mental retardation, which could render an individual eligible for sterilization. The chapter highlights the intertwining roles of medical and social evaluations in determining the fate of these individuals.
• 53:00 - 67:00: Stories of Inmates, Including Jesse Frank Meadows The chapter discusses the life of an inmate, possibly Jesse Frank Meadows, from an educational and functional perspective. It highlights the challenges faced by the individual in managing daily tasks beyond a primary education level. The individual, although capable of holding a routine job in fields like apple or tobacco picking, faces difficulties in managing personal finances, which makes them a candidate for sterilization if they meet certain criteria.
• 67:00 - 74:30: Resistance and Lawsuits Against the State The chapter 'Resistance and Lawsuits Against the State' begins with a reflection on a personal past at the age of sixteen, exploring the understanding of certain social realities and personal experiences.
• 74:30 - 81:00: Carrie Buck's Later Life and Legacy Carrie Buck's later life is largely defined by her forced sterilization as part of the Virginia sterilization program. While she was pregnant, an exam confirmed her condition, but the subsequent operation not only sterilized her but also resulted in the death of her unborn child. Her life story sheds light on the extent and impact of the Virginia sterilization laws. Her legacy is a grim reminder of the injustices carried out under the guise of eugenics.
• 81:00 - 90:00: Discussion on Eugenics' Impact and Conclusion The chapter discusses the history and impact of a state-run eugenics program that emerged in 1980, detailing the increase in reported victims over time, ultimately totaling 8,300 individuals. The text raises significant concerns regarding the legality and ethical implications of such a program, with references to individuals like Judy Crockett who were vocal in expressing these issues.

The Lynchburg Story Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] marry Donald was one of the victims in 1946 when Mary was only ten years old the sheriff brought her to Lynchburg along with her brother insisting her mother was already
• 00:30 - 01:00 man we have no idea why she had been taken to the colony when she arrived she was frightened and I said I don't understand yes but what I'm doing over here so well nurse come down come down stairs you know when I fight something went up to the hospital my hospital ward first thing you did then they put me in a bathtub baby you know I can't you know way but Jabba's owner famous it but they done it boy you say and if I stayed
• 01:00 - 01:30 there for a while doc dr. Ramsey he was dunking he's danced me now you know c5 you know well you know I know him feel good and getting up on sale in the hospital for a while they sent me down on the wards Ward fat that was a first for dr. Rowan Zaki that kini is up
• 01:30 - 02:00 at the Lynchburg Colony Mary was one of 1,700 inmates somewhere epileptic mentally [ __ ] or severely disabled most however like Mary had been committed using the spurious diagnosis of feeble mindedness this was a catch-all phrase the authorities used to classify Virginia's poor and uneducated White's they were thought to be socially inadequate and a burden on the state
• 02:00 - 02:30 [Music] Lynchburg could become a dumping ground for such people what Mary and the other inmates did not know was that they want to be sexually sterilized as part of a systematic program of social engineering
• 02:30 - 03:00 they said duh you got the operator I said but what they said was for your own held ain't you me think was Furby insta like me you get mad you can handle John didn't tell me Dad and after that I have a winner on stayed stayed on the house for like two weeks in a coma they still I'm not leaving years old and
• 03:00 - 03:30 they almost lost me and I don't think I remembered nurses they well it's up to God me as she lives after her sterilization Mary was kept at Lynchburg she attended the colony schoolhouse but received little education the school teacher for 25 years with Charles wills it's a society we say we don't think is a good idea for these people to continue to have many children not being able to
• 03:30 - 04:00 take care of themselves so the law permitted him to come to the colony at that time and then they would be presented at the house psychologist social worker we would work with them to see how they function in our environment then the psychologist the social worker nurses and medical people would check the note and say well this is chlamydial retardation yes he would may be eligible for sterilization here again I'm encroaching on the medical field because
• 04:00 - 04:30 I'm looking at it from an educational point of view he would not be able to function much more than at the primary level he could he could hold a routine job down maybe working in a field picking apples picking tobacco and things like that but he would have a difficult time managing his own money and so they would if he met the criteria he would be eligible for sterilization
• 04:30 - 05:00 [Music] I doubt dawn say best 16 years up sixteen when I learn what it was all about did you know a lot of girls that was but jobs now I'm on only one and one girl she was our friend and she was I don't
• 05:00 - 05:30 know where I'm okay and when anyway she was pregnant they the exam is her and see if she was pregnant and he would only done the operation ain't calling them name it done operation when they operate they killed a little baby the extent of Virginia sterilization
• 05:30 - 06:00 program began to emerge in 1980 reported numbers of victims grew until the final total was found to be 8300 [Music] grave concerns over the legality and the ethics of a state-run program began to be voiced at the time judy Crockett was
• 06:00 - 06:30 working for the American Civil Liberties Union in Richmond Virginia she felt that the forced sterilization of children at Lynchburg had violated their constitutional rights the ACLU prepared to sue the state of Virginia on behalf of the victims it was a huge publicity it was everywhere and Virginia is very proud of its history and this was a piece of history that they couldn't be proud of
• 06:30 - 07:00 and nobody else was proud of so the state wanted this to die down as quickly as it possibly could and we of course we're not interested in having it die down we wanted it to keep going until it got fixed we wanted the law fixed we want to make sure if it's never gonna happen again and the best way to do that would be to make sure that it was embarrassing enough and enough people knew about it and really understood what had happened judi learned that the story began back
• 07:00 - 07:30 in 1910 when Lynchburg was set up as a colony for epileptics the first superintendent was dr. Albert pretty pretty claimed that Virginia was accumulating an ever-increasing population of the feeble-minded his solution was to commit these people to the colony and to lobby for their sterilization there was no secure legal framework that would allow this operation by the 1920s however pretty had found the sort of model legislation
• 07:30 - 08:00 he needed it had been drafted a few years earlier by the prominent biologist dr. Harry Laughlin Laughlin model law called for the compulsory sterilization of those who were blind deaf deformed alcoholic drug-addicted tuberculin syphilitic or leprous it also included criminals and the feeble-minded as well as paupers and a homeless
• 08:00 - 08:30 [Music] [Music] they were trying to make sure that we kept the white race as pure as possible and that people who were dragged down the level of the white race would no longer be able to breed they stopped short of killing them but they made sure that they wouldn't have any children and the project was supposed to have been legally was supposed to have been focused on mentally [ __ ] people or
• 08:30 - 09:00 mentally ill people who had a hereditary form of mental retardation or illness that would be passed on to their kids in fact it was people who were poor teenagers we're not talking about adults here we're talking about teenagers sometimes young teenagers who were poor who came from broken homes who had been raped or had children out of wedlock boys who had stolen things are run away from home who are rounded up mostly by
• 09:00 - 09:30 welfare workers now put in the institution sometimes just put in solely for the purpose of being sterilized [Music]
• 09:30 - 10:00 but how could such a policy of mass sterilization have been sanctioned in a free society dr. Paul Lombardo has been 13 years studying the legal history of Virginia's program he started at Amherst courthouse where the Lynchburg sterilization is not authorized and the record
• 10:00 - 10:30 theory of eugenics eugenics is a somewhat peculiar word to modern ear but at the time people understood it to mean the science if you can call it a science of being well born that is the science of good breeding the heredity of having healthy productive people marry other healthy productive people and have children and preventing those who are not healthy and productive from having any children at all the word eugenics was coined by the
• 10:30 - 11:00 British scientist Sir Francis Galton in 1883 Gorton was a cousin of Charles Darwin the eugenicist Swanton courage survival of the fittest while eliminating the unfit through surgical sterilization eugenicist claimed that simple laws of heredity could be applied to all kinds of complex human qualities mental capacities as well as physical characters are inherited the family
• 11:00 - 11:30 history shows special talents reappearing in successive generations feeble-mindedness and many other undesirable qualities are also heritable fearing that the nation was being swamped by defectives the eugenicist Salima the power to prevent further racial degeneration social reformers on the Left as well as the right were seduced by the idea
• 11:30 - 12:00 writers like HG Wells and George Bernard Shaw and politicians like Winston Churchill believed that eugenic sterilization would improve the vigor of the nation and save millions on welfare prisoners and hospitals in Britain Galton's ideas were never put into practice it was a different story in the United States in America the ideas that were propounded by the New Genesis were
• 12:00 - 12:30 taken up as a practical way of limiting reproduction among people some felt should not reproduce compulsory sterilization had strong support from American and politicians it also had a broad appeal to ordinary people along with prizes for pig breeders and pie bakers state fairs held fit her family contests to reward those who practiced good breeding
• 12:30 - 13:00 eugenics became a household word but there were a few dissenting voices Hollywood was one [Music] sit down I won't talk I'm advisors and Welfare Association you're definitely not Travis yeah the
• 13:00 - 13:30 party be down my throat the resources necessary to today authenticate these medical solutions not in an examination they decided it was the fundament of nationally have your entire family paranoid what's that I don't know what you're talking about well we investigated your family's history Alice and those are the first three generations having fever virus genital [ __ ] or a digital citizens removing each generation is
• 13:30 - 14:00 more of a problem now in this state we have a loss which provides that have an operation so there won't be any more but I'm keeping my job I'm not going anywhere are you all going to the hospital - and you mean they're going to stop me from having children ever I'm gonna tell you I won't go to any Hospital by the mid-1920s the eugenicist s-- were determined to
• 14:00 - 14:30 overcome all opposition to enforced sterilization during his research dr. Paul Lombardo uncovered an extraordinary conspiracy dr. Albert pretty the Lynchburg superintendent had been privately sterilizing inmates but stop it in 1917 when he was sued for damages by a victim fearful of being sued again pretty needed dr. Laughlin smadi more to be declared constitutional by the
• 14:30 - 15:00 highest court in the land in 1924 Prudie colluded with others to bring a test case before the US Supreme Court a case they knew they would win it began here at amherst and became known as buck vs. Bell book vs. Bell was the first time that the United States Supreme Court said that it was okay under the Constitution to sexually sterilize someone because they were likely to have children who were in the
• 15:00 - 15:30 words of the court socially inadequate the person pretty used to serve his purposes was a teenage girl named Carrie but Carrie came from a poor family that lived in Charlottesville Virginia her mother Emma was suspected of being a prostitute but had already been committed to Lynchburg they said she was feeble-minded Carrie was sent to live with foster parents John and Alice Dobbs
• 15:30 - 16:00 John Dobbs worked on the railway in Charlotte's fall and was active in local affairs when Kari was 16 she was raped by a nephew of the dogs in this house she became pregnant and in 1924 gave birth to a little girl who she named Vivian ashamed of what had happened the dogs
• 16:00 - 16:30 wanted to be rid of Carrie and reported her to the authorities although a victim of rape her pregnancy out of wedlock was sufficient to have her taken away to the Lynchburg Colony [Music]
• 16:30 - 17:00 what happened to Perry would change the lives of tens of thousands of for teenagers like her when Kari bark arrived at Lynchburg she found herself in terrifying circumstances torn from her daughter Vivian she was brought before dr. Albert
• 17:00 - 17:30 pretty whose stated mission was to rid the nation of people like her pretty examine to carry and classified her let her mother as feeble-minded of the [ __ ] class a moral delinquent and worthy of sexual sterilization in fact she was none of these things but pretty now had two generations of the Bukka family locked away pretty knew that the Virginia law only
• 17:30 - 18:00 applies to people with hereditary defects so Carrie buck appeared the perfect subject the prettiest test case probably the most important person after doctor pretty was a man named Aubrey strode Aubrey strode was the attorney who represented the Virginia Colony in this case mr. strode served a term as Senator in the state assembly he also acted as a lobbyist and he wrote legislation at the request of people like dr. pretty his counterpart was a
• 18:00 - 18:30 lawyer named Irving Whitehead who was appointed to represent Kerry buck mr. Whitehead had more than a passing acquaintance with the Virginia Colony as well he had been a member of its first special Board of Directors he had actually voted to sterilize people even before the specific statute was passed in 1924 Whitehead and strode had been friends they'd grown up together in the village of Amherst they had been business associates political friends and had
• 18:30 - 19:00 worked together in lobbying to gain additional funding for the Virginia Colony they set up the Supreme Court challenge to this in what can only be described as a sweetheart deal everybody participated in the lawsuit being someone who was strongly in favor of the sterilization law including the person who was supposed to be representing Carrie buck so it was it was an outrage that that case was an outrage that that
• 19:00 - 19:30 it went forward and that they accepted those ideas as proceeding was got underway at Amherst courthouse expert evidence was given against carry by a man who would never examined him never even met her it was dr. Harry Laughlin the very man who wrote the model sterilization law dr. Laughlin was in charge of the eugenics Record Office on Long Island
• 19:30 - 20:00 New York this organization tracked down so-called problem families and promoted the idea of compulsory sterilization dr. Laughlin was America's leading eugenicist he trained hundreds of field workers to gather data on families he thought should be sterilized when pretty needed an expert witness to testify against Carrie Laughlin was the obvious choice
• 20:00 - 20:30 even though O'Laughlin never met Carrie but never examined her in fact never saw her he produced a deposition or her trial the deposition was based verbatim on information given to him by dr.
• 20:30 - 21:00 pretty and the deposition repeated the phrase that pretty used to describe the buck family these people belong to the shiftless ignorant and worthless class of antisocial whites of the south that phrase made its way in to the Supreme Court records of the buck vs. Bell case Laughlin said that Kerry was a socially inadequate person that she was a moral delinquent because she had had a child and hadn't been married and that in fact
• 21:00 - 21:30 all of the pointers of heredity indicated that her family was the source of this hereditary deficiency and then Kari herself would pass on her defects to those she had his children the court also heard evidence from a woman named Carolyn Wilhelm Ms Wilhelm was a Red Cross nurse and she was very familiar with the book family she also
• 21:30 - 22:00 had the opportunity to observe carries child Vivian when Vivian was not more than six months old when asked in court how that child responded Ms Wilhelm was unable to come up with specifics but said simply that there was something peculiar about the child I'm not sure exactly what it is she said but there's something peculiar about it it was that comment that became the basis for Carrie sterilization she was later condemned as
• 22:00 - 22:30 one of three generations of imbeciles her mother being the first Carrie the second and her daughter Vivian who was simply somewhat peculiar the third in the spring of 1927 the case of buck vs. Bell came before the US Supreme Court it was heard by justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Holmes is one of the greatest figures in American jurisprudence and is widely regarded as a libertarian but in
• 22:30 - 23:00 this case he issued an opinion which was to deprive tens of thousands of Americans of their rights to have children Holmes said they could be forcibly sterilized by declaring the principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the fallopian cubes homes in a phrase which is remembered even today included that Kerry was in fact a feeble-minded mother of a feeble-minded daughter herself the
• 23:00 - 23:30 daughter of another feeble-minded mother drawing the line under these three people Holmes said simply three generations of imbeciles are enough and declared that the Virginia law was constitutional and could be applied to Kerry and others like her do you know anything about her family background one is the [ __ ] who others might be classes people mind running tale yes and
• 23:30 - 24:00 knowing all that you do contain this girl should be allowed to be brought in like that into the world Oh Your Honor he's not anything like the rest we could be given a chance to work out our own salvation I can't agree with you doctor suppose she is long passes out of her judgment so then the head of the family thing your honor all right I'm probably about three generations of unfit are enough petitions are about don't you understand
• 24:00 - 24:30 what you're doing look at me can't you see that I'm running strong and I mother to judge [Music] after buck vs. Bell the floodgates opened American states began wholesale sterilization of poor citizens at the margins of society eugenics became a
• 24:30 - 25:00 cornerstone of American social policy states competed to sterilize the largest numbers of citizens and boasted of how much public money they saved in 1933 Hitler came to power one of his first acts was to introduce a eugenic sterilization while Hitler encouraged breathing from
• 25:00 - 25:30 ideal human stock his sterilization act marked the beginning of the Holocaust in the first three years the Nazis sterilized more than 225,000 people the final total was nearly half a million throughout the Nazi period eugenic sterilization is in America increased the Lynchburg authorities welcomed Hitler sterilisation war their annual
• 25:30 - 26:00 report of 1933 praised the great German Republic they wrote apply the pruning knife with vigor Hitler's sterilization all borrowed directly from dr. Harry Laughlin American legislation in 1936 the Nazis recognised Loveland's contribution to race hygiene by giving him an honorary doctorate from the University of Heidelberg
• 26:00 - 26:30 Virginia health officials envy the Nazis sterilization program in 1934 one of them declared the Germans are beating us at our own game in Hitler's Germany sterilization soon
• 26:30 - 27:00 gave way to the killing of mental patients by lethal injection and ultimately the final solution in which more than six million died it was obvious that the program that America had had some influence on the Nazis I was startled to find that out I always thought that the Nazis kind of thought it up for themselves it struck me as incredibly ironic that before World War two there was all this very
• 27:00 - 27:30 florid language in the reports about how about eugenics and after World and sterilizations ran high after world war ii the sterilizations did not drop they just changed the language Judy Crockett wanted Virginia's sterilization law repealed for the states to pay compensation but she needed to find victims of the program to build her case
• 27:30 - 28:00 among the first people that I interviewed was Doris buck who was Cary bucks sister and her husband Matthew Figgins they had just recently found out that she had been sterilized they had spent most of their lives trying to have kids and finally realizing that they weren't going to adopting their nephews and nieces and they were still very upset not having found out that she had been sterilized it was clear to me when I interviewed her that there was
• 28:00 - 28:30 something drastically wrong with this program I mean bad as it would have been if it had only sterilized mentally [ __ ] people it was much worse to have sterilized him and ruined the lives of people who were clearly not [ __ ] and obviously able to function in society just reaching the victims of the program was an enormous obstacle for us these were folks who were really deeply
• 28:30 - 29:00 humiliated and hurt by the fact that they had been institutionalized in the first place and then that the state had decided that they were so disgusting that they shouldn't be allowed to have kids we didn't feel that it was our business to ferret people out they needed to want to come to us the reporters were ferrying people out so when they ferreted them out they would say you should call the ACLU
• 29:00 - 29:30 one of the reporters who searched for the victims is Mary Bishop of the Roanoke times 13 years later she's still concerned with their plate I was looking through court records from the 20s and 30s looking for people who had been sterilized of the colony looking for people who'd lived through all that and among those names I found a Jesse Frank meadows and I looked in the Lynchburg
• 29:30 - 30:00 phonebook and found a Jesse F Meadows and called him and I said well I'd like to come and talk with you and he said we'll come right over so I went over that day and it was about all I could take just to hear an hour of it at that time because there was such sadness in it mr. metas mother died in childbirth when he was 13 and his father quickly married
• 30:00 - 30:30 another woman and his stepmother decided she didn't want to raise any of the children she wanted all the children to be dispersed he was sent to the Virginia Colony he was just 17 years old he was sent there in 1940 [Music]
• 30:30 - 31:00 hey mr. manners thank you good to see nice day huh hey puppy sure is got a nice breathe through those always I'm not gonna operate like the taking
• 31:00 - 31:30 shots so what's the doctors coming in nursing example they sleep as a gnome enough for my there and I started cutting it were you watching yeah know what sit back to the warranty and I sources so a week ago no I want me something some people agree to Peter Bay has been operating on then they put them
• 31:30 - 32:00 back in the husband give them any more shots and keeping I give them kind of sailing nearly kill something mr. meadows would love to have been a father and he would have been a very
• 32:00 - 32:30 good father he loves children and he he really misses that he's very sad that that could not have happened to him been terrible why weren't some children go pretty hard life and one boy put took him I went 15 sweating to have him done I can't his mother and father's got
• 32:30 - 33:00 lawyers and got him away from her support it had time to do some other boys when it they run away getting a during the service keep them from doing it sterilization was not the only scandal at the Lynchburg Colony able-bodied inmates were exploited for their labor boys worked on the colonist farm for as little as 25 cents a week [Music]
• 33:00 - 33:30 the girls served in the dining hall we were made to help on the wards other inmates have a laborer sold outside the colony and worked as virtual slaves I felt like I'll never get out we're just talking it was you guys to the leading it I for a work to the inhale
• 33:30 - 34:00 didn't have enough painters just have to keep me there to the draft somebody's Hitler painted to the custom I didn't give me a raise or ever seen was 25 cents a week [Music] [Music] punishments at Lynchburg were severe one
• 34:00 - 34:30 of the most frequent was the blind room tiny cells were inmates were placed in solitary confinement for up to 90 days their heads were shaved and they were made to wear a hospital gown the cells contained nothing except a mattress and a bucket I didn't like it dan and I run run and I'm gonna come back to put minutes blenman put me now and I stay in there for a
• 34:30 - 35:00 while and they keep somebody with me enough agent meaning then put mine blinding with me make him stayin out with me I was feared dead [Music] you know I saw something that one day
• 35:00 - 35:30 I'm not calling them name and I saw this first I'm say person I think it's Sam better beat this patient you know the amp too much man 408 the straightjacket now and twist the arms behind and they just act hurry dual headed keys on the side to pocket and took and what beat is patient with it and next morning when I get up thank you my dear you know I asked a certain point
• 35:30 - 36:00 I said doc white hat Murray she said well she just ceased but I think she really you know Bo did with the keys now I was scared to say anything bad because they said by said anything better I get the same thing that patient deep that was the worst part of this
• 36:00 - 36:30 [Music] despite repeated stories like Mary Donald's the state denied all liability but Judy Crockett pressed ahead with a lawsuit on behalf of the victim once we got the victims then the state really started to build the certainty we
• 36:30 - 37:00 wanted to get their medical records and the state threw up all kinds of roadblocks the governor at that time governor dalton announced to the press no I'm not gonna notify people so that they can sue the state for the ACLU so we really had to fight through the state's resistance to letting us get add their documents eventually Judy Crockett's persistence paid off we discovered as we started to finally get the records that there had been a
• 37:00 - 37:30 kind of a kangaroo court proceeding where the teenage inmate was brought before someone who is acting as a judge and accompanied by someone who was supposed to be acting as their attorney representing their best interests and that there was some sort of forum aware of a hearing where the issue was discussed I was startled to find out that there was any kind of a hearing because most of the people I talked to
• 37:30 - 38:00 didn't recall ever having a moment at which they were told that they were going to be sterilized and asked if they agreed to be sterilized and what we found when we started looking at the hearings was that they were completely lacking in all the necessary elements that you have to have when somebody is agreeing to a medical procedure or any sort of a procedure that the person who was supposed to be representing their best interest in most cases had never
• 38:00 - 38:30 met them never discussed the issue with them in fact often didn't even seem to know their name never even spoke hearing officer how old are you boy 17 how long have you been here about 8 months are you going to school I was going back quit you like the movies yes sir if you like the funny yes sir you don't mind being operated on do you no sir all
• 38:30 - 39:00 right you can go ahead hearing officer how old are you girl 16 where is your home Richmond how long have you been here five months you like it here all right yeah you know what sterilization is yes all right with you yeah they ask me do you know what this meeting is for I
• 39:00 - 39:30 said no sir I don't there's so well this is a mean it should go through when you cocktail Sue's operation in this for your help the way they explained it to me and I said well it's for my help Dean I get that going through it see I didn't know differently the children there knew that they would not be able to be released unless they were sterilized in some of the records in the papers other than the earrings it
• 39:30 - 40:00 was specifying your fake she can't be released yet to her family because she hasn't been sterilized we were waiting until she sterilized before she can be released well after they completed their hospitalization stayed they would just reenter into the various education and training programs as if nothing happened forgive the remark but I don't think Cheryl ization cut the gleam out of
• 40:00 - 40:30 anybody's ah it was just I think a procedure to not permit people to have subnormal quotation marks children that couldn't function - well in society it was obvious that they had suffered a really deep blow to their sense of who they were and when that was never gonna be able to be fixed what a company that
• 40:30 - 41:00 was the clear sense that the state had thought that they were basically trash worthless and having children is a very big focus in their lives it was something they had expected to do something that they wanted to do it would have made an enormous difference numbers of them felt that their marriages had been ruined their husbands had left or whatever because they couldn't have children and I believe that's probably true
• 41:00 - 41:30 I'm just aa stage over 16 years 1958 I said were 19 today and then when I merged come-come got me out Murthy I reckon that was the best part of my life and no even I got married and I told him
• 41:30 - 42:00 all that my life you know it don't matter I had a mr. Lawson ain't no cow but that's time he said he didn't make no different you know from their childhood he loved me like a world so whose was marred that dog just take he knew that Keaney a good marriage and Nene sadly went to get the boys I figure me being sterilized all that well you know what's called I emerged green broke up like it cuz he loves Johnny you know no man love kids
• 42:00 - 42:30 and I used to lay in my bed crackers I kind of give him though even what he wanted I wanted to give him son for his name for the most meaning they won't you know one son to bear the name and no I cry don't worry about honey if things on the yard but didn't eat years go by he I don't know he begins change man so you got the voice marry somebody else that's he and best doing it
• 42:30 - 43:00 the Virginia sterilization program ended
• 43:00 - 43:30 only in 1972 despite the best efforts of Judy Crockett and her colleagues the 8300 victims were never to receive justice the court ordered a final settlement in 1985 I have to admit that I was disappointed it was clear from early on that the judge was not going to
• 43:30 - 44:00 declare something unconstitutional that the Supreme Court had said earlier was okay what I most deeply would have wanted would be a sincere apology from the governor on behalf of the state of Virginia most of the people that we dealt with had either had the sterilization or found out about the sterilization long enough ago that we could not have asked for any money for them
• 44:00 - 44:30 what we did get was an announcement on the radio and in the papers to people that if they had been in institutions in these times and had an operation they should get in touch with the state and the state and did agree to provide some sort of mental health counseling but they would never agree to pain for reversal operations carry bar sterilized because of a
• 44:30 - 45:00 Supreme Court decision in 1927 left hinge Berg got married and worked as a housekeeper after the death of her first husband she married Charles detimore they returned to Charlottesville and were found living in abject poverty in a house with no heat or running water Carrie was eventually taken to a nursing home where in 1982 Paul Lombardo met her
• 45:00 - 45:30 she had just played the role of the Virgin Mary and a Christmas pageant Carrie died a few weeks later in January 1983 a handful of people attended her funeral which took place on a cold rainy day dr. Lombardo was the only Mora who knew the drama which had began with carries
• 45:30 - 46:00 wraith in 1923 and continued with her forced sterilization in 1927 dr. Lombardo discovered two other gravestones in the Charlottesville cemetery which relate to Carrie's story one belongs to the Dobbs family her foster parents whose nephew had raped her and caused the birth of her daughter livia after Carrie had been taken away
• 46:00 - 46:30 to Lynchburg Vivian was adopted by the Dobbs next to the bob's monument is a tiny gravestone with a legend v AE d Vivian Alice Elaine Dobbs Carrie's daughter who died tragically at the age of eight from an intestinal disorder Paul Lombardo learned that Vivian attended the varible school in Charlottesville he went there
• 46:30 - 47:00 to look for evidence of her alleged feeble-mindedness I came here to the Venable school ultimately and found the report cards of Vivian which demonstrated to me what I had suspected all along there were no generations of imbeciles in the Buc family not three not two not even one least of all Vivian who at one point had even been on the honor roll in his very
• 47:00 - 47:30 school Carrie backstory has a strange footnote dr. Harry Laughlin the man who testified against her himself became the kind of person he wanted to sterilise he developed a severe epilepsy and was dismissed by his employers the eugenics Record Office the work of the eugenics Record Office was discredited in the early as 1935 by a team of independent
• 47:30 - 48:00 scientists they judged its methods and records unsatisfactory for the study of human genetics the eugenicist wanted a neat and orderly society with social problems excised by the surgeon's knife in the case of buck vs. Bell they presented false evidence to justify a compulsory sterilization throughout America they forced 70,000 people to undergo unnecessary operations and robbed them
• 48:00 - 48:30 of the ability to have children we don't have the wisdom to make those decisions we don't begin to understand what makes a good person or what makes a worthwhile person we're so caught up in our in our prejudices and our habits and we could lose this beautiful variety as as this wonderful messiness that we have in the
• 48:30 - 49:00 world and we could get so terribly tidy we could tidy away all of our flaws and and lose all of our all of our wonder all of our excitement all about unexpectedness catch the best from independent filmmakers tomorrow night starting at 10:30 when independent view shows the latest film and video it's followed at 11:00 by two features about crooks
• 49:00 - 49:30 without a clue zoom in on independent films tomorrow night at 10:30 on KQED on the web at kqed.org [Music] [Music]
• 49:30 - 50:00 you