Carrie's baby (Vivian), Charlottesville, with Mrs. John Dobbs, 1924
Description
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.
Date
1924
Rights
Arthur Estabrook Papers, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University at Albany Libraries.
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.
Date
1924
Rights
Arthur Estabrook Papers, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University at Albany Libraries.
Albert S. Priddy, Superintendent of the State Colony for Epileptics and the Feebleminded
Description
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.
Aubrey E. Strode, Author of Virginia's Sterilization Law
Description
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.
Buildings at the Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded
Description
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.
Source
Mental Defectives in Virginia. A Special Report of the State Board of Charities and Corrections. Richmond, 1915. The Library of Virginia. 12-1094-003.
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.
Source
Mental Defectives in Virginia: A Special Report of the State Board of Charities and Corrections. Richmond, 1915. The Library of Virginia. 12-1094-002.