In an age in which political figures are being forced to reckon with past instances of racism, it’s worthwhile to consider NCC’s own past.
Specifically, looking at NCC’s role in promoting the eugenics movement in the first half of the 20th century. Eugenics is controlling breeding in order to pass down “desirable” traits and eradicate those that seem undesirable. The intention is to improve the human race as a justification for racism.
According to archival school catalogs, NCC introduced the course “Genetics and Eugenics” in 1926. At the time, the school was still called North-Western College. The course description read:
“A study of experimental analyses of heredity, including considerations of the material basis of heredity, the question of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, the laws which govern the distribution of unit characters, and the application of these laws to human heredity.”
Harold J. Eigenbrodt, the head of the biology department at the time, taught the course. It was a zoology course but judging by the course description, it pertained to human heredity as well. The course remains in the catalogs through 1959 when the title was changed to simply “Genetics” following Eigenbrodt’s death. The course description remained unchanged until 1967.
This is not the only documented instance of the school engaging with these ideas. In Oct. 1917, T.W. Shannon, the president of the Practical Eugenics Movement visited campus to lecture on the benefits of eugenics. The Chronicle covered his visit at the time, referring to him as “a man with a timely, vital and inspiring message.”
He was the author of several books, including Eugenics: The Laws of Sex Life and Heredity, as well as many others in which he mainly provides puritanical sex advice to young boys and girls.
Alonzo D. Baker gave a speech on campus in 1941 on the subject of “America’s Needed Discipline.” Baker was “interested in preserving and advancing the eugenic stock of the American people,” according to The Chronicle article announcing his visit.
The article also positively cites his association with Dr. Kellogg’s Race Betterment Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. In addition to inventing corn flakes, John Harvey Kellogg was the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and fervent advocate for eugenics, racial segregation and other ideas, such as the need for genital mutilation in order to prevent masturbation in children.
Baker’s speech coincidentally fell on the exact day that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, which would lead the U.S. to enter World War II. This is a reminder of the danger of these ideologies, like Nazi Germany, as one significant example of putting the concept of eugenics into practice.
