Primary Source: Records of Eugenical Sterilization in North

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Primary Source: Records of Eugenical Sterilization in North Carolina

Date: 2009

Citation

The following tables are excerpted from a report prepared by the Eugenics Board in North Carolina. Data from these tables help illustrate North Carolina's history and relationship with the practice of eugenics.

Table 1

Number of cases presented at each meeting of the Eugenics Board and number of operations ordered under the 1933 law

Date	New cases	Cases carried over from previous meeting	Operations ordered
October 21, 1933	3	[none]	3
November 15	1	[none]	1
December 13	9	[none]	9
January 19, 1934	6	[none]	5
February 21	4	1	5
March 21	4	[none]	4
April 20	5	[none]	5
May 23	6	[none]	6
June 27	1	[none]	1
July 20	6	[none]	6
August 29	7	[none]	4
September 19	6	[none]	6
October 19	18	3	21
November 21	22	[none]	21
December 19	12	[none]	12
January 18, 1935	14	[none]	13
February 20	12	1	12
March 20	19	[none]	19
April 19	34	[none]	34
May 22	22	[none]	20
June 19	25	[none]	24
[Totals}	236	[5]	231

Table 7

Distribution of sterilization cases with reference to mental defect, origin of petition and marital status to June 30, 1935
Mental defect as shown in petition for sterilization	Origin of petition			Total	Marital status
Mental defect as shown in petition for sterilization	Non-inst.	Co. Inst.	State Inst.	Total	Married	Single	Widowed or divorced
1. Cerebral syphilis with mental deficiency	[none]	[none]	1	1	[none]	1	[none]
2. Congenital cerebral syphilis	[none]	[none]	1	1	1	[none]	[none]
3. Dementia praecox	[none]	[none]	22	22	13	9	[none]
4. Manic depressive psychosis	[none]	[none]	12	12	8	4	[none]
5. Psychosis with cerebral syphilis	[none]	[none]	1	1	1	[none]	[none]
6. Psychosis with constitutional inferiority	[none]	[none]	1	1	[none]	1	[none]
7. Psychosis with epidemic encephalitis	[none]	[none]	1	1	[none]	1	[none]
8. Psychosis with hereditary syphilis	[none]	[none]	1	1	[none]	1	[none]
9. Psychosis with mental deficiency	1	[none]	16	17	4	13	[none]
10. Psychosis with syphilis	[none]	[none]	1	1	1	[none]	[none]
11. Psychosis undiagnosed	[none]	[none]	2	2	1	1	[none]
12. Epilepsy	[none]	[none]	40	40	7	32	1
13. Epilepsy with mental deficiency	1	2	13	16	3	12	1
14. Epilepsy with psychosis	[none]	[none]	2	2	1	1	[none]
15. Feeble-mindedness	66	13	26	105	13	90	2
Total	68	15	140	223	53	166	4

Table 9

Sterilization operations with reference to type of operation and race, June 30, 1935
Type of operation	White	Negro	Total
Vasectomy	10	8	18
Castration	6	20	26
Salpingectomy	157	10	167
Overiectomy	11	1	122
Total	184	39	223

Credit text

Brown, R. Eugene. Eugenical sterilization in North Carolina. A brief survey of the growth of eugenical sterilization and a report on the work of the Eugenics board of North Carolina through June 30, 1935. Eugenics Board of North Carolina, 1935. HathiTrust. Accessed Dec. 19, 2025.