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‘(Re)CLAIMING US’ QUICK TALK & BOOKSIGNING - Tropes of Black Masculinity
This lecture is the third in our 2026 monthly public lecture series examining the historical identify formation of Black males against eugenic theories of pathology and represented in film and television series between 1960-2010. We analyze youth culture and its positioning as deviant against Theordore Roosevelt's "strenuous life" and eugenic theories of masculinity, immorality, crime, and social deficiency. Our highlights include the works of actors Michael K. Williams, Sidney Poitier, and 50 Cent, the construction / deconstruction of Black fatherhood, and use of the "informal economy" in Black male uplift narratives.
Saturday, 14 March
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm / Room 401-D
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library
901 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
POP-EU - POPULAR EUGENICS IN TV & FILM
Womanish: Hollywood's Fascination with Wild & Wicked Women
Unlike the fronts of yesteryear, when eugenics, the "science of better breeding," relied most heavily on public health and public education platforms to disseminate information, it now thrives most virulently through popular television, film, music, advertising, and social media. Eugenic theories related to transmittable traits for crime, morality, intelligence, and poverty, continue to inform how we frame the sexual freedom and arrested "breeding" habits of Black women redefine masculinity, patriotism, womanhood/motherhood, beauty, and social fitness. This talk examines the Hollywood scripting of fractured womanhood and its association with what eugenicists view as the social decline of the nation. We examine shows including "Happy Valley", "Wentworth," “Orphan Black,” “Top Boy,” and “Raising Kanan.”
Saturday, 4 April - 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm (EST), Room 401-D
901 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
REMEMBERING THE RELFS
Uncovering the Voices of Eugenic Sterilization Survivors
In 1974, Minnie and Mary Alice Relf -- aged 12 and 14, became the central figures in a legal battle
to hold the state of Alabama accountable for the involuntary sterilization of those they deemed "socially inept."
This included the poor, incarcerated, mentally or emotionally challenged, and those with "immoral" behaviors.
The laws and policies that governed eugenic sterilizations in Alabama continue unabated today, with its victims/survivors
seeking both understanding and compensation for the traumas they endured. This talk
examines some of those laws, social policies, and popular thoughts that inform ongoing
efforts to rid society of "weak" citizens.
TBD