1.Why was Mary Donald sterilized?

2. What did the term `feeblemindedness' mean? What is the problem with using this term?

3. What rationale did the Lynchburg authorities provide Mary Donald to explain her sterilization?

4. How did Virgina deal with the exposes on the Lynchburg sterilizations that hit the press 50 years later?

5. Who were the principle residents of the Lynchburg colony? Who were they supposed to be? Who were they in actuality?

6. Who was Harry Laughlin? (note: read about him in Reilly)

7. What was the `Laughlin law' drafted for Virginia. Who was targeted by this law?

8. What was the relationship between Pritty and Laughlin about?

9. According to the ACLU (in the video), what was the purpose of Laughlin's law?

10. What was at the root of the Virginia Sterilization Law?

11. According to the video, why did Winston Churchill support eugenics?

12. What was the essence of the Buck vs. Bell US Supreme Court decison?

13. a. Why was the Buck vs. Bell US Supreme Court decision so important to the US eugenics movement?
      b. What happened to eugenics in the USA in the aftermath of this decision?

14. What is the irony of the decision to place Carrie Buck in the Lynchburg facility?

15. Why was the eugenics movement carefully chose the Carrie Buck case to fight for their position in the courts?

16. In what way do we know today that the Buck vs. Bell decision was `set up as a sweetheart deal'?

17. a. What was the essence of Harry Laughlin's testimony against Carrie Buck at the US Supreme Court?
      b. Critique his testimony

18. a. Why was the testimony of Caroline Wilhelm before the US Supreme Court so decisive to the eventual decision?
      b. Critique her testimony

19. On what basis did Oliver Wendell Holmes argue that Carrie Buck's sterilization was legal and moral?

20. How did the Nazi Sterilization Act `mark the beginning of the Holocaust'?

21. How active was the Nazi sterilization program?

22. What impact did the US sterilization program have on the Nazi program? What impact did the Nazi program have on the US sterilization program?

23. How did the Nazi eugenics program influence US eugenics in the period after World War II?

24. What was Doris Buck's story?

25. How did the state of Virginia respond to the sterilization accusations 50 years later?

26. What were the legal problems with the hearings held at Lynchburg to determine sterilization eligibility?

27. What was the fate of Carrie Buck?

28. What was the fate of Virginia Buck, Carrie Buck's daughter?

29. What impact did the `Buck vs. Bell' US Supreme Court decision have on the future of the US eugenics movement. Be specific from the reading.