Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell

9 Carrie Buck versus Dr. Priddy

1 12 The morning of the Buck trial was unusually cold. Snow in mid-November was rare enough, but getting up before dawn for a train ride to court was not a prospect that most of the witnesses relished. As they made their way up the brick walkway to the County Courthouse, each visitor saw the obelisk placed by the Daughters of the Confederacy to honor the “sons of Amherst County” who had fallen in the Civil War a generation earlier. The plaque stood as a reminder of the sacrifices citizens are sometimes asked to make for the good of the community. The inscription also remembered the survivors, whose later lives were lived “ever proud that they had done their part in the noble cause.” Saving society from a threat some considered as dangerous as a foreign army would be a theme in the trial the visitors were about to attend. At least some of the witnesses in that trial regarded eugenics as a similarly noble cause, a kind of biological patriotism. Aubrey Strode was a careful lawyer. He orchestrated the passage of the sterilization law and constructed a legal test that he could shepherd through the courts. Though last-minute surprises threatened to ruin his lawsuit, Strode quickly recovered to assemble a case he had every intention of winning. It was built on several kinds of testimony from what he hoped were uniquely qualified witnesses. There were teachers who had observed the Buck family in school, and there were social workers from welfare agencies who had monitored similar problem families in the community. Strode even called several neighbors of the Buck family to show how ordinary people viewed the Bucks. But the most important witnesses were the experts , each with the title of “Doctor,” all well versed in eugenic theory. Two medical doctors who ran asylums for the defective took the stand, and two eugenic scientists—authorities from out of state—added their opinions on the workings of heredity and the threat posed by girls like Carrie Buck. Strode began his presentation with a touch of courtesy to put the witnesses at ease. People from Charlottesville had traveled some distance, he Carrie Buck versus Dr. Priddy 9 Carrie Buck versus Dr. Priddy | 1 13 said. Though it would not be the usual practice, he planned to question them in the beginning so that they could return home early. Mrs. Anne Harris, a Charlottesville nurse, was first.¹ Harris claimed to have known Carrie Buck for twelve years. She described Emma Buck as someone who was “on the charity list for a number of years, off and on—mostly on.” She lived in the “worst neighborhoods” and could not—or would not—take care of her children. They were “on the streets more or less.” StrodepressedMrs.Harrisformoredetail.TheBuckswere,shesaid,“absolutely irresponsible” and dependent on “numerous charity organizations.” Rumor had it that Doris Buck was only half-sister to Carrie and was a “very stormy individual, . . . incorrigible.” Emma Buck had children even though she wasn’t living with her husband. The nurse knew the phrase “the socially inadequate person” and believed that it defined someone who Carrie and Emma Buck at the Virginia Colony just before the Buck trial, 1924. Courtesy Arthur Estabrook Papers, University at Albany Libraries’ Special Collections. 1 1 4 | Three Generations, No Imbeciles was “irresponsible mentally” and unable to care for herself. In response to Strode’s direct question about “feeblemindedness,” Harris said that Emma functioned like a twelve-year-old, the children no better. Under cross-examination by Irving Whitehead, Harris repeated what she had said earlier: she did not know much about them, “very little” about Carrie past the age of four. Mrs. Harris had little recollection of Carrie except for an incident during her grammar school years: Harris: The Superintendent called me and said she was having trouble with Carrie. She told me that Carrie was writing notes, and that sort of thing. . . . Aubrey Strode, lawyer for the Virginia Colony in the Buck case. Papers of Aubrey E. Strode, MSS 3014, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library. Carrie Buck versus Dr. Priddy | 1 1 5 Whitehead: Writing notes to boys, I suppose? Harris: Yes, sir. Whitehead: Is writing notes to boys in school, nine or ten years old, considered anti-social? Harris: It depends upon the character of the note. Whitehead: If the child had been sixteen years old, would...