Mumtaz Khan Mrs. Shavchak Soc.

110 1/11/13 Social Darwinism A belief that the strongest and fittest people should survive in society is called Social Darwinism. They are against helping to poor, sick, or needy. If someones ill, they should be left to die. The person who considers being the father of the Social Darwinism theory is Herbert Spencer. Social Darwinism relates to eugenics movements, because most of theologian used Darwin ideas. Michigan was the first state to legalize the forced sterilization and they legalize it in 1897. Now there are thirty five states that have legalized the forces sterilization. The judge who wrote forces sterilization decision was Oliver Wendell Holmes. His decision was in favor of Bell for legalizing forces sterilization. The estimated people that were sterilized in North Carolina were 7600. Later on it was banned from North Carolina in 1976. North Carolina was the first state to apologize to victims of sterilization. http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/eh4.shtml http://creation.com/herbert-spencer http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/559249/Herbert-Spencer

Mumtaz Khan Mrs. Shavchak Soc. 110 1-15-13 Tuskegee Syphilis Study The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a tragic for the 399 black men that were diagnosed with syphilis. I feel that the reason why these men were chosen for the study was because they were illiterate sharecroppers that were from the poorest area in Alabama. If one were to really think logically about the population you would be shocked to find that because these men couldnt read and were poor the researchers took advantage of them. The way they did this was by studying them knowing that these men had no idea what was going on. They use this to their advantage and told these poor men that they were being treated for bad blood but that wasnt the case at all. They just needed to shut their mouths. The researchers real intentions were not to cure these men of syphilis but to see how syphilis affected black men verses white men. These researchers didnt care if these black men died as long as they saw the effects of syphilis. Another part of the research that is morally wrong which I mention above was these men were poor. The researchers used this information to help them with the study. They told the black men that they would get treated for syphilis free of charge. The 399 black men were happy to know that they would be cure but little did they know that they were being deceived. The so called free medical care was used as a cover up but in reality the total

opposite was happening. These men were being tortured everyday of their life and to the researchers their life was meaningless. If they died the researchers claimed the men were useless. The purpose of the black men were to participate in their study and then die. I feel that the black people were in a sense dehumanized. They werent treated as humans but as animals. How can someones life be more important compared to another persons. To these researchers collecting data was way more important than losing the lives of these men. Another unjust aspect of this study was that it was racist. These researchers theory was that whites experienced more neurological complications from syphilis while the blacks were more likely to develop cardiovascular damage. Just because of the different skin tones these researchers came up with such a ridiculous theory that makes absolutely no sense. I would understand if the black population may have been in worse conditions than whites because of living conditions, food shortages, no medical care access but they made such accusations just based on skin color which has nothing to do with ones symptoms. These researchers I assume were white. In conclusions this study was morally unjust. The 399 black men that were part of this study lived a life of torture till they died. Their life had no meaning to these researchers. I have sympathy for all these men and hope that the government will make sure nothing like this would ever happen again. No one has the right to use peoples weakness for their advantage and not caring for ones is so heartless. http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/medicine/The%20Tusk egee%20Syphilis%20Study.htm http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmtuskegee1.html