Eugenics as an explicit social program went mostly out of favor in the United States after the Second World War, […]
“What Must That Sound Like?”: The Trauma of Family Separation
On June 22, 2018, US Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California’s 33rd District, stood on the floor of the […]
A Kick for a Bite; Or, Review Upon Review Upon Ten Babies on the Floor
On April 18, 2018, the United States Senate voted unanimously that both male and female senators could bring infants up […]
From Mooktie to Juan: The Eugenic Origins of the “Defective Immigrant”
On a Monday in November 1905, a “little deaf and dumb … 10-year old Eurasian girl” called Mooktie Wood arrived […]
Sex, Death, and Atole at the Royal Indian Hospital
Mexico City, 18th Century For the wounded, diseased, and ailing of Mexico City, just about anything was better than the […]
Deconstructing the Stonewall Myth (Brick by Brick)
If you’ve been on social media at all during the month of June, you’ve probably seen Marsha P. Johnson’s name […]
What Will Today’s Immigration Detention Centers Look like to Future Americans?
This piece originally appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2016 and is reprinted here with permission of the author. Janet Golden’s latest book is Babies […]
The Discovery of the Mental Institution – With Apologies to David J. Rothman
On February 15, 2018, President Donald Trump spoke about the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, […]
Do This One Thing: Curing Symptoms not the Disorder
This spring, as I was preparing for my wedding, recovering from what was my fourth illness of the year, and […]
Thrown Open to the Public: Medicine, Modernity, and Disabled Veterans on National Hospital Day in the Interwar Years
On May 12, 1923 hundreds of visitors poured into United States Veterans Hospital 81 for insane soldiers in the Bronx […]