'"""The Progress of Eugenic Sterilization,"" The Journal of Heredity, American Genetic Association, page 19"'

2291. Popenoe: Eugenic Sterilization 23 [photos, left and right] Buck vs. Bell Figure 7 Carrie Buck was committed to the Virginia State Colony for feebleminded, near Lynchburg. As a test case to determine the constitutionality of the law, she was selected for sterilization and an action brought in her name against the superintendent of the colony, to prevent the operation. This case, carried to the Supreme Court of the United States under the title of [italics]Buck vs. Bell,[end italics] led to the decision written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, fully upholding the constitutionality of eugenic sterilization. At the left, above, Dr. J. H. Bell, superintendent of the state Colony; at right, Carrie buck. [double hairline score, full width of page] sustained the decision of the Board. It was then carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, which on May 2, 1927, handed down the decision written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes upholding the constitutionality of the statute. In the course of this decision Justice Holmes recorded the memorable opinion that "Three generations of imbeciles are enough." (See page 25.) Carrie Buck's sterilization was thereupon carried out and she was later paroled from the Colony. Her illegitimate child, which had been previously placed out for adoption, later died. The decision in [italics]Buck vs. Bell[end italics] settled for all time the constitutionality of eugenic sterilization in the United States. Together with the evidence published by the Human Betterment Foundation, it tended to encourage sterilization in [end]