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Copyright © 1989 by J. David Smith and K. Ray Nelson
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, including electronic, mechanical, or any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission should be addressed to
New Horizon Press
P.O. Box 669
Far Hills, NJ 07931
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 89-61444
J. David Smith and K. Ray Nelson
The Sterilization of Carrie Buck:
Was She Feebleminded or Society’s Pawn
ISBN-13 (eBook): 978-0-88282-536-6
New Horizon Press
18 17 16 15 14 6 7 8 9 10
For Joyce
and
To Carrie and Doris Buck and the thousands of others whose lives were forever changed because they were sterilized while at the State Colony for Epileptics in Virginia. These individuals suffered a grievous wrong in the name of the rationalization which others described as “for their own good.”
Contents
Acknowledgment
Foreword
Introduction
1 Carrie’s Childhood
2 Emma’s Inquisition—April 1, 1920
3 Carrie’s Commitment
4 Inside the Colony: Emma, Carrie and Doris
5 Prophetic Preliminaries
6 Old Friends Meet
7 The Trial: Neighborly Witnesses
8 The Trial: The Caretakers Speak
9 The Trial: Expert Testimony
10 Final Appeals
11 The Sterilization of Carrie Buck
12 Carrie: The Parole
13 Carrie: “I Married Mr. Eagle.”
14 Carrie: The Rest of Her Life
15 Carrie’s Family: The Irony
16 The Persistent Solution
Bibliography
The occasion of completing this book is a personal celebration for us. We have looked forward with great anticipation to sharing the story of Carrie Buck with interested readers. We relish seeing the manuscript that we have written, rewritten, and generally lived with for such a long time become a book. Our joy is magnified by having the opportunity here, on its beginning pages, to give words of thanks to those people who have been most supportive of our efforts to relate the facts and significance of the sexual sterilization of a young Virginia woman in 1927.
We were given invaluable assistance in our research for this book by several organizations and individuals:
Dr. Smith especially wishes to thank:
Commissioner Howard Cullum of the Virginia Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, who granted me access to Carrie Buck’s records at the Central Virginia Training Center. These records allowed me to understand and relate an important chapter of Carrie’s life. I am in Commissioner Cullum’s debt for recognizing the special circumstances of Carrie’s case and the importance of her story’s being told.
I am also enormously grateful to Senator Elliot Schewel of the Senate of Virginia for believing in the value of my work and who was an unfailing advocate in my quest to discover the details of Carrie’s story.
Dr. Bill Walker, Director of the Central Virginia Training Center, greatly facilitated my work there and I appreciate the encouragement he gave me. Two of his staff members, Ms. Helen Hardy, Director of Medical Records, and Ms. Helen Hester, Professional Library Director, were also most gracious and helpful.
I was received with hospitality in the Manuscripts Division of Alderman Library at the University of Virginia. I am particularly appreciative of Michael Plunkett’s help while I was reviewing the Aubrey Strode Collection there.
Martin Levitt was helpful and genuinely interested in my research during my several days at the American Philosophical Society.
The contact I had with people who had personal relationships with Carrie during her lifetime, or who knew her through family ties, brought a special quality to my understanding of her. I was given particularly valuable insights by Mr. and Mrs. A. T. Newberry, Mrs. Lucille Lewis, and Sharon Kincaid. By a delightful coincidence, my father-in-law, Fred Shaver, was able to send me to Jerry Layman, director of the nursing care facility where Carrie was a resident at the time of her death. Thanks to both.
From the start of my work on this book, I had the encouragement of my friend and colleague, Ed Polloway. He has been consistently tolerant of my obsessions and compulsions, and has often reassured me of the value of the work I have chosen to pursue. Rosel Schewel and Pete Warren have also been unfailing friends and have been mentors to me. I am lucky to have found them.
I was given assistance and support in this effort by the staff of the Lynchburg College Library. Such good people! The Committee on Faculty Research and Development at Lynchburg College provided some financial help for my research, and I am grateful. A major source of support was the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. My freedom as a Fellow under the auspices of the Foundation allowed me to accomplish much of the research on the life of Aubrey Strode and my investigation of Carrie’s family history.
My work on Carrie Buck’s life was facilitated by those scholars who had previously investigated Buck v. Bell and related matters. I owe a great deal to the quality and care of their efforts. Primary regards in this respect are due Paul A. Lombardo.
Several people read early drafts of this book. Thanks go to Bob Lassiter, Ken West, Stephen Jay Gould, Mary Bishop and Tom Looney for helpful criticism and encouragement. I also appreciate the advice and interest of Hal Devening in the early stages of this work.
Phyllis Lane prepared the manuscript with care and good judgment. Through her fine
