Eugenics in the United States

The United States is one of many nations that participated in eugenics research for the purpose of sterilizing individuals with "undesirable" traits and advising people with certain pedigrees on whether they should marry or not. Often, these traits were linked to individuals who were non-white or non-upper class, and eventually more than 60,000 Americans were legally sterilized.  

"There were two types of eugenics: positive and negative. Positive eugenics had the goal of improving the human race by encouraging those with desirable traits to breed. In contrast, negative eugenics focused on reducing degenerate offspring by preventing those that had undesirable traits from breeding. [N]egative eugenics was endorsed by American eugenicists."

~Brooke Carlaw