Buck v. Bell – Virginia, 1925 (130 S.E. 516), affirmed, 274 U.S. 200 (1927); Brewer v. Valk – North Carolina, 1933 (167 S.E. 638); In re Moore’s Sterilization – North Carolina, 1976 (221 S.E.2d 307)
| “The purpose of the legislation was not to punish but to protect the class of socially inadequate citizens named therein from themselves, and to promote the welfare of society by mitigating race degeneracy and raising the average std of intelligence of the people of the State.” – Justice Jesse West, in Buck
“Measured by its injurious effect upon society, the state may limit a class of citizens in its right to bear or beget children with an inherited tendency to mental deficiency, including feeblemindedness, idiocy, or imbecility. It is the function of the Legislature, and its duty as well, to enact appropriate legislation to protect the public and preserve the race from the known effects of the procreation of mentally deficient children by the mentally deficient.” – Justice Dan Moore, in Moore |
EMPIRE OF LAWS - The Legal History of the 50 American States > 3. OLD SOUTH LEGAL HISTORY > 3.6. Old South: Depression, War and the Demise of Jim Crow (1920-1965) > 3.6.1 Old South (1920-1965): The Slow Death of Jim Crow > 3.6.2 Old South (1920-1965): Cracks in the Color Line > 3.6.3 Old South (1920-1965): Holding the Racial Line > 3.6.4 Old South (1920-1965): Reaction to Brown > 3.6.6 Old South (1920-1965): Struggling with the Depression >