Testimony of Virginia Beard from Hearing on Appeal of Order to sterilize Carrie Buck
11/18/1924
This document comes from the case file for Buck v. Bell, concerning the issue of involuntary sterilization. This statement of Evidence from Hearing on Appeal of Order to sterilize Carrie Buck includes testimony from Virginia Beard, a teacher from Charlottesville, Virginia. Her testimony begins at the top of page 58 of this filing.
In her testimony, Virginia is asked about Roy Smith, a half-brother of Carrie Buck. She describes the 14-year-old Roy as "below the grade of other boys his age" (he was currently in the 4th grade) and as one that "tried to be funny--tried to be smart."
At 17 years old, Carrie Buck became pregnant (later reported to have been the result of rape, allegedly by a relative of her foster parents). Shortly after the birth of her child, her foster parents had her committed to the “Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded” on the grounds of feeble-mindedness, incorrigible behavior and promiscuity. Buck was declared mentally incompetent and her daughter was taken away from her.
Albert S. Priddy, the superintendent of the “Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded,” used Carrie to test the legality of Virginia’s involuntary sterilization law. John H. Bell replaced Priddy after his death in 1925.
On May 2, 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state’s statute allowing for the sterilization of people who were thought of as “unfit,” including the intellectually disabled. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. delivered the majority opinion of the Court, including: “It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind….Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” (This referenced the fact that Buck’s mother had been committed to a state institution, Buck’s diagnosis, and the assumption in the Court’s opinion that Buck’s children would be “socially inadequate.”)
Bell performed Buck’s sterilization on October 19, 1927. She was the first person involuntarily sterilized under Virginia’s Laws for the sterilization of persons considered “unfit” — an estimated 8,300 Virginians were sterilized under the state law from 1927 to 1972.
Transcript
91**MISS VIRGINIA BEARD,
a witness of lawful age, having been first duly sworn, testified as fol-
lows:
Direct Examination
BY COL. STRODE:
Q Miss Beard, where do you live?
A Charlottesville.
Q What is your occupation?
A Teacher.
Q Do you know Doris Buck?
A No.
Q Do you know Roy Smith? I am speaking of the boy that is half-brother of Carrie Buck?
A I know Roy Smith.
Q Do you know his relation to Carrie Buck?
A I don't know anything about that.
Q How old is Roy?
A Fourteen.
Q He is fourteen. What sort of boy is he at school?
A Well, he didn't do passing work in the fourth grade.
Q What sort of behavior has he?
A Well, he tried to be funny--tried to be smart.
Q How does he compare mentally with other boys of his age in school?
92*
*A Well, he is below the grade of other boys of his age in school.
Q Basing your reply on experience as a school teacher, would you consider him weakminded?
A Well, I don't know.
Cross Examination
BY MR. WHITEHEAD:
Q Miss Beard, this boy, Roy Smith, has he any record that would lead you to believe he had criminal tendencies?
A No, sir, not that I know of.
Q Does he lie or steal?
A No, I never found it out.
Carrie Buck vs. Dr. J. H. Bell 59
Q You say he is below boys, mentally, of about the same age? How old is he?
A Fourteen.
Q What grade is he in?
A Fourth.
Q Is that about the same grade for boys of his age?
A Boys of fourteen are usually in first grade of high school.
Q What grade is that?
A That would be the eighth.
Q That is the average, isn't it?
A I think so.
(Witness stands aside.)
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