Buck v. Bell
Location:
38° 2.202′ N, 78° 29.303′ W. in Charlottesville, Virginia on Preston Avenue (U.S. 250) 0.2 miles south of Grady Avenue (U.S. 250), on the left when traveling north. On the grounds of the Region Ten Mental Health Community Service Board.
The text:
Buck v. Bell
In 1924, Virginia, like a majority of states then, enacted eugenic sterilization laws. Virginia’s law allowed state institutions to operate on individuals to prevent the conception of what were believed to be “genetically inferior” children. Charlottesville native Carrie Buck (1906–1983), involuntarily committed to a state facility near Lynchburg, was chosen as the first person to be sterilized under the new law. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Buck v. Bell, on 2 May 1927, affirmed the Virginia law. After Buck more than 8,000 other Virginians were sterilized before the most relevant parts of the Act were repealed in 1974. Later evidence eventually showed that Buck and many others had no “hereditary defects.” She is buried south of here.
Stephen Jay Gould wrote an essay on this case in 1984 in Natural History magazine, entitled “Carrie Buck’s Daughter”. It is contained in his book “The Flamingo’s Smile” (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985, pp. 307-313).