WEB NEWS RELEASE
Annual Series theme ~ Diversity and Community in American Life
Paul Lombardo
COLLEGE PARK, MD (February 2009) - Should legal authorities have the power to determine or dictate whether a person is mentally fit to reproduce? For the spring 2009 colloquium of the Center for Education Policy and Leadership's (CEPAL) annual series, Diversity and Community in American Life - beginning 4:30 p.m. on March 26 at the Nyumburu Cultural Center - Professor of Law Paul A. Lombardo of Georgia State University will review this issue in his discussion, "Gender, Science, and the Legalization of Forced Human Sterilization: The Case of Buck v. Bell."
Lombardo was the last person to interview Carrie Buck, the petitioner in Buck v. Bell - a 1927 United States Supreme Court case that upheld state laws mandating eugenic sterilization of the so-called "feebleminded and socially inadequate." Buck and her family were condemned in an infamous Court opinion written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes that declared, "Three generations of imbeciles are enough." Lombardo's new book, Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court and Buck v. Bell tells the story of Buck's case. A book signing will follow the colloquium discussion.
"The goal of the speaker series is to invite leading public intellectuals to our campus to discuss the vexing issues that face us as a democratic polity," notes Steven Selden, Education Policy Studies professor and director of the CEPAL Series. "With our next speaker, Dr. Paul Lombardo, we have a scholar who has explored the history of contradictory elements in the American character - a continuing desire for personal transformation and perfection, and a willingness to remove the less desirable through programs of sterilization."
Lombardo is best known for his work on the history of the American eugenics movement. He was instrumental in the movement to solicit apologies and legislative denunciations of past state eugenic laws, which has been successful so far in seven states. Published extensively on topics in health law, medico-legal history, and bioethics, he is currently editing a book entitled, Eugenic Centennial: From the 'Indiana Experiment' to the Human Genome.
"The timeliness of Dr. Lombardo's historical analyses can be found in today's popular press," says Selden. On the one hand, one finds reports of advances in genetics which promise future parents the choice of the hair and skin color of their children. While on the other, we learn of the heightened precision in diagnosing fetuses with Down Syndrome which might lead some parents to terminate pregnancies. The issue that Lombardo's work raises is not one of the return of the positive and negative eugenics of the twentieth century - today we value individual parents autonomy, not the sate, in making these deeply personal decisions. Rather the issue, central to education policy and social justice, is how do we judge what is normal, and what is just, as we move forward in the twenty-first.
Past speakers of the CEPAL Series have tackled challenging questions ranging from social justice in relation to race, class, and gender to the meaning of evolutionary theory and social policy, feminist thought, and the history of racism in the United States. Over the years CEPAL has also collaborated with a wide range of university groups, colleges and departments, and private organizations in presenting the Annual Series. The spring 2009 colloquium has been co-sponsored by
the College of Education Alumni Chapter.
For more information on CEPAL and the 2009 colloquium, please email Professor Steven Selden at selden@umd.edu.
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