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American Experience: The Eugenics Crusade DVD

$24.99
Item #: WB0162
The Eugenics Crusade tells the story of the unlikely - and largely unknown - campaign to breed a “better” American race, tracing the rise of the movement that turned the fledgling science of heredity into a powerful instrument of social control. Populated by figures both celebrated and obscure, The Eugenics Crusade is an often revelatory portrait... ... More
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The Eugenics Crusade tells the story of the unlikely - and largely unknown - campaign to breed a “better” American race, tracing the rise of the movement that turned the fledgling science of heredity into a powerful instrument of social control. Populated by figures both celebrated and obscure, The Eugenics Crusade is an often revelatory portrait of an America at once strange and eerily familiar.


American Experience: The Eugenics Crusade A hybrid derived from the Greek words meaning “well” and “born,” the term eugenics was coined in 1883 by Sir Francis Galton, a British cousin to Charles Darwin, to name a new “science” through which human beings might take charge of their own evolution. The Eugenics Crusade tells the story of the unlikely - and largely unknown - movement that turned the fledgling scientific theory of heredity into a powerful instrument of social control. Perhaps more surprising still, American eugenics was neither the work of fanatics, nor the product of fringe science. The goal of the movement was simple and, to its disciples, laudable: to eradicate social ills by limiting the number of those considered to be genetically “unfit” - a group that would expand to include many immigrant groups, the poor, Jews, the mentally and physically disabled, and the “morally delinquent.” At its peak in the 1920s, the movement was in every way mainstream, packaged as a progressive quest for “healthy babies.” Its doctrines were not only popular and practiced, but codified by laws that severely restricted immigration and ultimately led to the institutionalization and sterilization of tens of thousands of American citizens. Populated by figures both celebrated and obscure, The Eugenics Crusade is an often revelatory portrait of an America at once strange and eerily familiar.

Producer: WGBH
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
Production Company: A 42nd Parallel Films Production for American Experience, WGBH
Production Year: 2018
Copyright Year: 2018
Rating: TV-14
Narrator: Corey Stoll
Number of Discs: 1
Length: 114 minutes
Subtitled: Y
Subtitle Languages: English (SDH)
Language Track: English
Audio Format: 5.1 Surround
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen


Highlighted Customer Reviews


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Juanita R. reviewed American Experience: The Eugenics Crusade DVD
5.0 star rating
Eugenics
Review by Juanita R. review stating Eugenics
Fascinating yet Disturbing We should show this to high school students!
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Evil E. reviewed American Experience: The Eugenics Crusade DVD
5.0 star rating
Understand the underlying racism in America
Review by Evil E. review stating Understand the underlying racism in America
Science of genetics was used to put forth a theory of the superiority of the white race. It lead to 60,000 Americans being sterilized in the early 20th century. This story should be told in high schools.
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larry reviewed American Experience: The Eugenics Crusade DVD
5.0 star rating
past is today
Review by larry review stating past is today
detailed incite of a view that persists to this day

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