Caste

by

Isabel Wilkerson

Eugenics Term Analysis

Eugenics is the study of controlling reproduction in humans to encourage certain genetic traits that are considered desirable. Eugenics was largely discredited as unscientific and racist after Adolph Hitler’s Nazi regime used eugenics (specifically the idea that there was a superior “Aryan race”) to discriminate against Jewish people and other subordinate-caste groups.
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Eugenics Term Timeline in Caste

The timeline below shows where the term Eugenics appears in Caste. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Three: An American Untouchable
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How Caste Sustains Itself Theme Icon
White supremacists and eugenicists in the 20th-century U.S. proudly compared the Jim Crow laws of the Southern states, which... (full context)
Chapter Four: A Long-Running Play and the Emergence of Caste in America
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...was abolished, the dominant caste turned to a “labyrinth” of laws and the pseudoscience of eugenics in order to keep the subordinate caste at the bottom of society. Already, the dominant... (full context)
Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity
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...entirely socially constructed concept. Race has no basis in science or biology—though white supremacists and eugenicists have certainly tried to justify the “arbitrary” elevation of whiteness by suggesting that there are... (full context)
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste
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...century, over 230 monuments to Lee existed throughout the States. Lee was a racist, a eugenicist, and a violent slaver—yet even after leading a treasonous war against his country, he faced... (full context)