Buck v. Bell Images
Buck v. Bell Documents
John Hendren Bell
1934
<em>Journal of Heredity</em> (1934), courtesy of the VCU Tompkins-McCaw Library.
Photograph
Carrie's baby (Vivian), Charlottesville, with Mrs. John Dobbs, 1924
Mrs. John Dobbs was the foster mother of Vivian Buck, Carrie's daughter. To demonstrate that the infant was an imbecile, like her mother and grandmother, Mrs. Dobbs waved a coin in front of Vivian's face and determined that the infant could not follow the coin with her eyes. This photo was used as evidence of her imbecility.
1924
Arthur Estabrook Papers, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University at Albany Libraries.
Photograph
Carrie Buck and Emma Buck, 1924
Carrie Elizabeth Buck was born in Charlottesville in 1906 and placed with a foster family at age three. Her foster parents took her out of school after sixth grade to perform housework for them. In 1923 she became pregnant after her foster parents' nephew raper her. The family had her committed to the Virginia State Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded after her daughter was born in March 1924. Under a state law, she was sterilized in 1927 and released from the colony. She married twice, and family and friends later denied the accuracy of her diagnosis. Carrie Buck Eagle Detamore died in 1983.
1924
Arthur Estabrook Papers, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University at Albany Libraries.
Photograph
Albert S. Priddy, Superintendent of the State Colony for Epileptics and the Feebleminded
Dr. A.S. Priddy, the superintendent of the Virginia Colony, assigned Irving Whitehead, a former member of the colony's board, to be Carrie Buck's defense lawyer. Priddy died before the appeals in the case were heard, and John Bell succeeded him.
The Library of Virginia. 05-0905-01.
1908
Photograph
Aubrey E. Strode, Author of Virginia's Sterilization Law
Aubrey E. Strode drafted the 1924 sterilization law and acted as legal counsel to the Board of Directors of the Virginia State Colony. He was paid $750 to represent the Board in each of the appeals of Carrie Buck's case.
The Library of Virginia. 05-0905-02.
1908
Photograph
Buildings at the Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded
These buildings at the Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded were the site of Carrie Buck's 1927 sterilization. Afterward, she was released from the colony. She married twice, and family and friends later denied the accuracy of her diagnosis.
<em>Mental Defectives in Virginia</em>. <em>A Special Report of the State Board of Charities and Corrections</em>. Richmond, 1915. The Library of Virginia. 12-1094-003.
1915
Explanation of Symbols used in Mendelian Chart
Because characteristics such as feeble-mindedness and sexual immorality were thought to be hereditary, the Virginia Colony often used pedigrees to determine whether a person was a good candidate for sterilization.
<p><em>Mental Defectives in Virginia: A Special Report of the State Board of Charities and Corrections. </em>Richmond, 1915. The Library of Virginia. 12-1094-002.</p>
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1915