Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded

The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded opened in 1910 as the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics near Lynchburg, Virginia. It was authorized by a 1906 bill written by eugenicist and social welfare advocate Aubrey Strode, in collaboration with eugenicists Albert Priddy and Joseph DeJarnette. Priddy served as the first superintendent of the colony. In 1914, Priddy asked the state legislature to expand the Colony's purview to include the feebleminded. The name was then changed to reflect the Colony's new mission.[1] The Colony is notorious for having been the home of both Emma Buck and her daughter, Carrie Buck, who played a major role in the history of the American eugenics movement which culminated in the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell.[2] The institution is now known as the Central Virginia Training Center.[3]

References

  1. ^ Bruinius, Harry (2007). Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 9780375713057. 
  2. ^ "Buck v. Bell 274 U.S. 200". justitia.com. http://supreme.justia.com/us/274/200/case.html. Retrieved 21 August 2011. 
  3. ^ "CVTC History". Central Virginia Training Center. http://www.cvtc.dbhds.virginia.gov/feedback.htm. Retrieved 21 August 2011.