Curiously Cured by Sterilization: Charles Carrington and the Sterilization of African American Men in Virginia, 1902–1910

Abstract

This article examines the roles race, gender, and disability played in the medical sterilization of African American men in Virginia during the opening decade of the twentieth century. Using the experimental work of Dr. Charles Carrington as a window into the negative eugenics movement, it describes how state actors worked to create a barrier between Blackness and white society. Highlighting the cases of Hiram Steele, Frank Baylor and Richard Mills, this article looks closely at how African American men were characterized by medical professionals. Further, it analyzes medical professionals' strategic use of racialized and gendered stereotypes to legitimize their actions. Finally, it places African American men at the forefront of the state's first sterilization program.