Buck, Carrie (d. 1983)
Buck, Carrie (d. 1983)
American icon. Born Carrie Buck in Charlottesville, Virginia; died in 1983 in Waynesboro, Virginia; only dau. of Emma and Frank Buck; m. William Davis Eagle, May 14, 1932 (died); m. Charles Albert Detamore, April 25, 1965; children: Vivian Elaine, born out of wedlock (d. 1932).
First American woman to be sterilized under the Virginia Compulsory Sterilization Law, was operated on at the State Colony for Epileptics and the Feebleminded in Lynchburg, Virginia (Oct 19, 1927), an operation which was performed without her understanding or agreement and sanctioned by the US Supreme Court. The procedure ultimately altered the lives of 60,000 in the States, and, arguably, had worldwide implications, influencing the German policy of eugenics or "Aryan cleansing" under the Nazi regime, causing the sterilization of over 2 million. The State of Virginia issued an apology (2002).
See also David J. Smith and K. Ray Nelson, The Sterilization of Carrie Buck (New Horizon, 1989); and Women in World History.