3.4: From Eugenics to Online Racism

Francis Galton (1822–1911), often called the “father of eugenics,” defined eugenics as “the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations” (Galton, 1904). His ideas shaped early 20th-century racial policy around the world. In the United States, Indiana passed the first state sterilization law in 1907, authorizing compulsory procedures for people labeled epileptic, “feeble-minded,” sexually promiscuous, alcoholic, or blind (Lombardo, 2011). Police and state institutions were empowered to detain and sterilize them, and similar laws eventually spread to more than 30 states, resulting in over 60,000 forced sterilizations (Stern, 2005).

The belief that race determines intelligence persists into the present. In 2007, James Watson—co-discoverer of the DNA double helix—sparked widespread condemnation after asserting that people of African descent were genetically less intelligent. “All the testing says not really,” he told a British journalist, adding that colleagues who employed Black workers “knew that wasn’t true” (Bennett & Rolph, 2007). The backlash was swift, leading to his resignation from positions at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Years later, amid financial strain following the controversy, Watson became the first living Nobel laureate to auction his medal (Zimmer, 2014).

Racists continue to cite Watson’s statements as “proof” of their beliefs. Pseudoscientific racial theories, once confined to fringe newsletters, now circulate widely online. One major promoter was the Pioneer Fund, a U.S. foundation established in 1937 to support eugenics and purported racial-intelligence research. In 1989, The Sunday Telegraph described the organization as “a neo-Nazi group tied to the American far right” (Shipman, 1994).

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