The Grio
By Stephanie Guerilus
July 22, 2020
A North Carolina eugenics program sought to breed out the “Black population” in the 20th century and that may be the reason for the state’s disproportionate effect on its citizens, according to a new study.
Duke University recently conducted a study that showed the North Carolina Eugenics Board, studying the reports from 1958 to 1968 which showed that Black people were specifically targeted. The goal was to “breed out” African Americans in the 20th century through sterilization.
The latest data from the U.S. Census has the current Black population in North Carolina at 22.2%. The white population is 70.6%.
Gregory N. Price, Rhonda V. Sharpe, and William A. Darity Jr. compiled the research and wrote the study which appears online in the American Review of Political Economy. The lead author is Price who is an economics professor at the University of New Orleans.
Sharpe is the founder and president of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race. Danity is a professor of public policy, African and African American Studies and economics at Duke University