The Orphans of Davenport - Eugenics and the War over Children's Intelligence

In the 1930s, America believed that some children were born too stupid to ever learn.  If your IQ was low, the science of the day said it was hopeless—your blood was “bad.”

Thousands of orphans were locked away in institutions, labeled “feebleminded,” and forgotten. But two young researchers at an Iowa orphanage decided to test that idea… and what they discovered would tear down one of the darkest chapters in American science.

This is the true story of the Orphans of Davenport.

Sources:

Iowa Childrens Home: https://web.archive.org/web/20101230011824/http://www.qcmemory.org/Default.aspx?PageId=243&nt=207&nt2=239 

Book: The Orphans of Davenport: Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the War over Children's Intelligence by Marilyn Brookwood-  Buy Book: https://amzn.to/4oS9D2r 

https://www.byuradio.org/won-2021-10-14-the-davenport-orphans

https://medium.com/leading-brains-review/two-hopeless-little-girls-abandoned-to-a-mental-institution-with-astounding-results-c9ac9a06ec28 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-iowa-orphans-who-helped-resolve-the-fight-over-childrens-intelligence/2021/08/11/51bde2d6-de75-11eb-b507-697762d090dd_story.html 

Interview with Researchers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0bQFsodlf4  

https://time.com/archive/6780590/education-nature-v-nurture/ 

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-11958-020 

Papers written by the doctors: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Harold-M-Skeels-2047761714 

1939: https://time.com/archive/6760602/medicine-feeble-minded-love/ 

https://origins.osu.edu/read/sterilization-carrie-buck 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eugenics-finding-carrie-buck/ 

https://libguides.davenportlibrary.com/c.php?g=757345&p=5430552 

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