Margaret Sanger Opens the First Legal Birth Control Clinic in Harlem, NY
In 1929, 10 years before Sanger created the Negro Project, the American Birth Control League laid the groundwork for a clinic in Harlem, a largely black section of New York City. It was the dawn of the Great Depression, and for blacks that meant double the misery. Blacks faced harsher conditions of desperation and privation because of widespread racial prejudice and discrimination. From the ABCL’s perspective, Harlem was the ideal place for this "experimental clinic," which officially opened on November 21, 1930. Many blacks looked to escape their adverse circumstances and therefore did not recognize the eugenic undercurrent of ...
Governor Louis Hart Signs the ‘Alien Land Bill’ and a second “Prevention of Procreation” Statute
The 1921 session of the Washington State Legislature is not considered one of its most admirable. Lawmakers that year bestowed the state's official imprimatur on racism, xenophobia, and eugenics. Governor Louis Hart had a busy March 8, signing the Alien Land Bill and a second "Prevention of Procreation" statute. The former barred non-white immigrants from buying, owning, or leasing land in the state and mandated confiscation without compensation of any lands purchased before or after passage of the act; the latter enshrined negative eugenics (in contrast to the 1909 punitive sterilization law) in the statute books, where it would remain for 21 years ...
Espionage Act of 1917 Enacted by Congress
Congress enacted the Espionage Act of 1917 on June 15, two months after the United States entered World War I. Just after the war, prosecutions under the act led to landmark First Amendment precedents. The Espionage Act of 1917 prohibited obtaining information, recording pictures, or copying descriptions of any information relating to the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the information may be used for the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation. The act also created criminal penalties for anyone obstructing enlistment in the armed forces or causing insubordination or ...
