Strong state, weak links : eugenics and the Southern politics of welfare / Anna Krome-Lukens

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krome-Lukens, Anna L., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Eugenics--North Carolina--History--20th century.

Eugenics.

Eugenics--Government policy--North Carolina.

People with mental disabilities--North Carolina--Social policy.

People with mental disabilities.

Involuntary sterilization--North Carolina--History--20th century.

Involuntary sterilization.

Public welfare--North Carolina--History--20th century.

Public welfare.

African American women--North Carolina--Social policy.

African American women.

Poor women--North Carolina--Social policy.

Poor women.

Eugenics--Government policy.

North Carolina.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations, map

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, 2026

Summary:

"In the early twentieth century, most US states established eugenics programs to “improve” the human race through selective breeding. North Carolina ran one of the nation’s most aggressive programs; between 1927 and 1977, at least 5,700 people were sterilized and thousands more were committed to institutions. While sterilizations in the 1950s and 1960s disproportionately targeted Black women receiving public assistance, the program’s early focus was on poor white women. These policies were framed as scientific and progressive, yet they were deeply intertwined with racial and class biases, reflecting long-standing social hierarchies in the South. Anna Krome-Lukens examines those early years and reveals how white reformers such as social workers, politicians, and activists promoted the principles of eugenics while shaping the emerging welfare state before and during the New Deal. By using claims about fitness and mental defects to justify unequal access to public benefits, they defined who was worthy of care. Tracing this history, Strong State, Weak Links illuminates how North Carolina’s eugenics programs influenced the modern welfare state and how their legacy continues to shape debates over social policy today"-- JSTOR

Contents:

The social pulse of North Carolina : the emergence of progressive reform networks

Constant care and anxiety : institutional segregation and the eugenics debate in the 1910s

Save the feeble-minded girl : the limits of institutions and the logic of sterilization

The root of social problems : eugenics and the training of social workers

The burden of the socially useless : eugenics research and the campaign for sterilization laws in the 1920s

Brewer v. Valk : legal strategies in addressing female delinquency and feeblemindedness

The human element in the modern welfare state

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (JSTOR, viewed June 24, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Krome-Lukens, Anna L. Strong state, weak links

ISBN:

9781469693712

1469693712

9781469693705

1469693704

9781469693682

1469693682

OCLC:

1587422756

Publisher Number:

CIPO000379784

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license