Episode 198: Mark Torres: Long Island and the Legacy of Eugenics

The Long Island History Project

The science of genetics took a wrong turn in the early 20th century and it ran through Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. Here overlooking a former whaling port, Dr. Charles Benedict Davenport created the Eugenics Record Office and served as director of the Carnegie Institution’s Station for Experimental Evolution. From these posts he promoted and pushed the Eugenics Movement in the US and throughout the world.

Historian and attorney Mark Torres has explored the far reaching and sinister influence of Davenport’s activities in his new book Long Island and the Legacy of Eugenics: Station of Intolerance (Arcadia Press). It is not the story of a fringe movement but of “the rage of the age.” Eugenics, which sought to control the development of the human race through such means as selective breeding, segregation, and forced sterilizations, was touted by politicians, intellectuals, academics, and even Supreme Court justices.

In his work, Torres traces a sinister strategy that included legislative control, the trappings of academic credentials, and partnerships with like-minded movements like the emerging Nazi Party in Germany. On today’s interview you’ll hear more about the people involved, the power they wielded, and their surprising, ultimate fate.

Further Research

• Mark Torres
• Long Island and the Legacy of Eugenics (Arcadia Publishing)
• Eugenics Record Office Collection (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
• Audio Footnotes:
  • Episode 138: Long Island Migrant Labor Camps with Mark Torres
• Music
  • Intro music: https://homegrownstringband.com/
  • Outro music: Capering by Blue Dot Sessions CC BY-NC 4.0