by Adam Cohen
His father, Henry Aubrey Strode: Jerome V. Reel, The High Seminary: 1: A History of the Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina, 1889–1964 (Clemson, SC: Clemson University Digital Press, 2011) 1:77; Strode letter (no addressee), Aug. 19, 1907, box 24, Strode Papers; Historical Catalogue, University of Mississippi, 1849–1909, http://archive.org/stream/historicalcata lo00univ/historicalcatalo00univ_djvu.txt, 19.
Strode’s maternal grandfather: Mark Hughes, The New Civil War Handbook: Facts and Photos for Readers of All Ages (New York: Savas Beatie, 2009), 33.
He would later say: Strode letter (no addressee), Aug. 19, 1907.
Strode’s father, Henry, attended: Historical Catalogue, University of Mississippi, 1849–1909, 19.
In 1872 Henry Strode married: Historical Catalogue, University of Mississippi, 1849–1909, 19; Paul A. Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia: Aubrey Strode and the Case of Buck v. Bell” (Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 1982), 37.
The Kenmore School: J. Damiel Pezzoni, Amherst County Historic Resources Survey Report (Amherst, VA: County of Amherst, 2010), 47.
respected training ground: Ibid.
He graduated in 1887: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 38
After the Civil War: John D. Wright, The Routledge Encyclopedia of Civil War Era Biographies (New York: Routledge, 2013), 346; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 38.
Henry Strode closed: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 38.
he moved to South Carolina: Historical Catalogue, University of Mississippi, 1849–1909, 19.
His presidency ended abruptly: Ibid.
He left college: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 38.
Aubrey studied political economy: Ibid., 38–39; University of Virginia Catalogue, 1895–96 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1896), 66.
Aubrey, who was twenty-two: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 38–39.
The 1897–98 catalog: Kenmore High School, Amherst, Va., Catalogue for 1897–98 (Lynchburg, VA: J. P. Bell, Book and Job Printers, 1898), box 35, Strode Papers.
The school promised: Pezzoni, Amherst County, 47.
“Mr. Strode has been familiarized”: Kenmore High School, Amherst, Va., Catalogue for 1897–98.
Sprague Correspondence School of Law: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 39; “Study Law at Home” (advertisement), Law Student’s Helper, Feb. 10, 1911, 208.
But given his early interest in education: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 39.
Strode had to commit his parents: Historical Catalogue, University of Mississippi, 1849–1909, 19; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 39–40, 64–65; letters of condolence to Aubrey Strode, box 5, Strode Papers.
He set up a law office: Henry Little to Aubrey Strode, Jan. 15, 1899, box 6, Strode Papers; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 39–40.
Strode’s legal career: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 40–41.
In 1903 he married: Ibid., 42; receipt from W. D. Diuguid Funeral Directing and Embalming, July 1923, for Mrs. Rebekah Davies Brown Strode, box 88, Strode Papers; “Biography,” handwritten notes in a folder titled “Ca. 20,000 items, papers of Judge Aubrey Ellis Strode,” Strode Papers.
Strode continued to help: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 41.
“Miss Alice Burke”: Aubrey Strode to William King Junior, Feb. 21, 1907, box 65, Strode Papers.
In 1903 Strode participated: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 42–44; “Judge Cowhides a Minister,” Los Angeles Herald, July 6, 1902; William Asbury Christian, Richmond: Her Past and Present (Richmond, VA: L. H. Jenkins, 1912), 487–88.
Campbell inflicted “painful injuries”: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 42–44; “Judge Cowhides a Minister”; Christian, Richmond, 487–88.
The victory helped: Christian, Richmond, 487–88; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 42–46.
He gave his first political speech: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 40–41, 46–47.
In 1905 Strode announced: Aubrey Strode Campaign Leaflet 1 (1905), box 21, Strode Papers.
He printed up campaign leaflets: Ibid.
Strode billed himself: Aubrey Strode to W. E. Allen, May 1, 1916, box 31, Strode Papers; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 48–49.
“Rotation in Office”: Aubrey Strode Campaign Leaflet 2–3 (1905), box 21, Strode Papers.
“We are reaping in illiteracy”: Aubrey Strode Campaign Leaflet 4–5 (1905), box 21, Strode Papers; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 53.
Strode also called for improving Virginia’s roads: Aubrey Strode Campaign Leaflet (1905) 2–3.
Strode also supported election reform: Aubrey Strode Campaign Leaflet 2–3 (1907), box 48, Strode Papers.
When a black man: Aubrey Strode to Charles Clark, May 3, 1926, box 20, Strode Papers; Kristina DuRocher, Raising Racists: The Socialization of White Children in the Jim Crow South (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2011), 21.
the “grandfather clause”: Nicholas J. Swartz and Liliokanio Peaslee, Virginia Government: Institutions and Policy (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2013), 16–17.
In his campaign leaflets: Aubrey Strode Campaign Leaflet (1905), 3.
When blacks went to the polls: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 50–51.
With the electorate essentially all white: Aubrey Strode Campaign Leaflet (1905), 3.
Strode won the primary: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 55–56.
Progressives across the country: Rothman, Conscience and Convenience, 294.
for more personal reasons: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 63–64.
According to the bill: “Chap. 48 of Acts 1906—An Act to Establish an Epileptic Colony on Land of the Western State Hospital, in Amherst County,” Pollard’s Code Biennial, 1908 (Richmond, VA: E. Waddey, 1908), 434; First Report of Virginia State Epileptic Colony at Lynchburg, Virginia, 1.
bring about improved treatments: “Chap. 48 of Act of 1906,” 434.
Strode’s bill passed: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 76; First Report of Virginia State Epileptic Colony at Lynchburg, Virginia, 1.
A colony for epileptics: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 75–76.
The most likely site: Ibid., 74; Julian C. Houseman, “Department History: 1766 to 1968,” in Board of the Department of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals of the Commonwealth of Virginia, special edition, Mental Health in Virginia 18, no. 2 (Winter 1968): 23, box 7, Central Virginia Training Center Papers, Library of Virginia; Report of the Attorney General to the Governor of Virginia (Richmond, VA: Division of Purchase and Printing, 1910), 26; W. I. Prichard, “History—Lynchburg Training School and Hospital,” Mental Health in Virginia 11 (Summer 1960): 40.
When the Murkland land parcel: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 77–79.
On April 22: Richard Hamm, Murder, Honor, and Law: Four Virginia Homicides from Reconstruction to the Great Depression (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003), 97.
Estes, who was the son: Newspaper clipping, New York American, June 2, 1907, box 25, Strode Papers; Hamm, Murder, Honor, and Law, 97, 103–4.
Estes dropped Elizabeth off: Hamm, Murder, Honor, and Law, 97, 104, 108.
Loving said no power: Ibid., 106; newspaper clipping, New York American, June 2, 1907.
The Martin Organization: “Thomas Staples Martin,” Encyclopedia Virginia, available at http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Martin_Thomas_Staples_1847-1919.
Loving and Strode were part: Hamm, Murder, Honor, and Law, 112–13.
“As might be supposed”: “St
rode Deserves Thanks,” Union Star, April 7, 1916, box 26, Strode Papers.
Strode was joined by lawyers: Hamm, Murder, Honor, and Law, 126; newspaper clipping, New York American, June 2, 1907.
the “unwritten law”: Hamm, Murder, Honor, and Law, 100; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 58.
Early news reports: Hamm, Murder, Honor, and Law, 108.
As the trial approached: Ibid., 117, 121.
Popular opinion: Ibid., 132–33.
“I do not undervalue life”: Ibid., 136.
“Mr. Strode spoke”: Newspaper clipping, New York American, undated, box 25, Strode Papers.
After deliberating: Hamm, Murder, Honor, and Law, 137.
One news report: Ibid., 147.
In 1907 Strode ran for reelection: Strode Senate Re-election Pamphlet, Democratic Primary, August 24, 1907, box 48, Strode Papers; “Elections. Status of Contesting Candidate at a Void Election,” Sec. 145a, Va. Code 1904, in Virginia Law Register, vol. 11, no. 2 (June 1905), 147.
In his campaign literature: Strode Senate Re-election Pamphlet, Democratic Primary, August 24, 1907.
In a letter: Strode letter (no addressee), Aug. 19, 1907.
He left the legislature: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 96.
Henry D. Flood: Aubrey Strode to J. M. Miles, May 16, 1916, box 26, Strode Papers.
his old state senate seat: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 96.
On August 3 he won: Aubrey Strode to J. B. Woodson, May 5, 1915, box 26, Strode Papers.
received “a good deal”: Strode to Allen, May 1, 1916.
That June: Guinn and Beal v. United States, 238 U.S. 347 (1915).
Given the “rapid education”: Aubrey Strode to W. N. Ruffin, Feb. 15, 1916, box 31, Strode Papers.
single bathroom for black men and women: Aubrey Strode to Capt. R.W.B. Hart, Jan. 30, 1940, box 29, Strode Papers.
restriction on black doctors: Aubrey Strode to Dr. Belle Boon Beard, April 10, 1940, box 29, Strode Papers.
“We have here in the South”: Ibid.
“it would be impossible”: Aubrey Strode to S. R. Church, Feb. 17, 1916, box 31, Strode Papers.
In 1910 Strode introduced a bill: Ibid.; Samuel C. Shepherd Jr., Avenues of Faith: Shaping the Urban Religious Culture of Richmond, Virginia, 1900–1929 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama, 2001), 191.
There was substantial opposition: “Open Letters from Alumni,” University of Virginia Alumni News, Jan. 21, 1914, 109–12.
“We have seen”: Campaign leaflet, Aubrey Strode for State Senate, Aug. 3, 1915, box 26, Strode Papers.
After he was elected: Strode to Church, Feb. 17, 1916.
They succeeded in getting: Anne Hobson Freeman, “Mary Munford’s Fight for a College for Women Co-ordinate with the University of Virginia,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Oct. 1970, 481, 483.
the legislature voted: Shepherd, Avenues of Faith, 192–93.
It would take many years: Freeman, “Mary Munford’s Fight,” 490.
When Strode returned: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 95.
He continued to serve: Albert Priddy to Aubrey Strode, Feb. 2, 1916, box 31, Strode Papers.
When Dr. Priddy wanted to buy: Aubrey Strode to Albert Priddy, Feb. 11, 1920, box 147, Strode Papers.
When Dr. Priddy had trouble: Albert Priddy to Aubrey Strode, May 1, 1922, box 147, Strode Papers.
When Dr. Priddy wanted advice: Aubrey Strode to Albert Priddy, Sept. 2, 1921, box 147, Strode Papers.
He sponsored bills: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 99–100; Priddy to Strode, Feb. 2, 1916.
In May 1918, in the waning months of World War I, Strode applied: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 139–40.
He secured the appointment: Ibid.
Strode began his service: Ibid., 141.
Strode drew up two bills: Ibid., 143–44; Aubrey Strode to Dr. Don Preston Peters, July 19, 1939, box 29, Strode Papers.
In 1922, Strode: “Rep. Henry Flood Dies in Washington,” Ellensburg Daily Record, Dec. 9, 1921.
The Democratic Party scheduled: Aubrey Strode to W. C. Barker, Feb. 29, 1922, box 83, Strode Papers; Aubrey Strode to C. E. Jones, Dec. 13, 1921, box 83, Strode Papers; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 146–47.
Dr. Priddy and Irving Whitehead: Aubrey Strode to Irving Whitehead, Dec. 20, 1921, box 83, Strode Papers; Aubrey Strode to Irving Whitehead, Jan. 17, 1922, box 83, Strode Papers; Aubrey Strode to Albert Priddy, Jan. 5, 1922, box 83, Strode Papers; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 147–48.
Strode was left: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 148; receipt from W. D. Diuguid Funeral Directing and Embalming, July 1923.
Louisa Dexter Hubbard: Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 149–50.
After Rebekah’s death: Ibid.
“I am widowed and she is single”: Aubrey Strode to Clerk of the Circuit Court of Bedford County, Bedford, Va., Dec. 22, 1923, box 84, Strode Papers.
Strode delivered: Strode to Peters, July 19, 1939; Lombardo, “Eugenic Sterilization in Virginia,” 166.
CHAPTER SEVEN: AUBREY STRODE
Laughlin had stated: “Interrogatories of Harry H. Laughlin,” in “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 1–50” (2009), 34–35, 40-41, Buck v. Bell Documents, Paper 31, http://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/buckvbell/31.
He visited the colony: Paul A. Lombardo, Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 111.
and traveled across: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100” (2009), 81, Buck v. Bell Documents, Paper 31, http://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/buckvbell/31.
He had concluded: Ibid., 81, 83.
Estabrook would also provide: Ibid., 25.; Aubrey Strode to Harry Laughlin, Sept. 30, 1924, box 3, folder 8, Arthur Estabrook Papers, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University at Albany, State University of New York (hereafter cited as Estabrook Papers); “Interrogatories of Harry H. Laughlin,” 33
Wilhelm had instructed Dr. Priddy: Caroline Wilhelm to Albert Priddy, Oct. 15, 1924, box 11, Central Virginia Training Center Papers, Library of Virginia.
Laughlin was still citing her: “Interrogatories of Harry H. Laughlin,” 31.
reached the conclusion: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 82–83.
In a letter to Dr. Priddy: Aubrey Strode to Albert Priddy, Oct. 29, 1924, box 11, Central Virginia Training Center Papers.
he sent out word: Court summons, unnamed folder, Carrie Buck and Doris Buck Figgins Sterilization, ca. 1920s–1980s file, Central Virginia Training Center Papers; Strode to Priddy, Oct. 29, 1924.
Requiem for a Nun: William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun (New York: Vintage, 1994), 32; Paul T. Hellmann, Historical Gazetteer of the United States (New York: Routledge, 2006), 1133.
In Amherst County: Harry Bruinius, Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America’s Quest for Racial Purity (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 63.
Its most prominent ornamentation: Lombardo, Three Generations, 112.
“You will Do well”: R. A. Brock, History of Virginia from Settlement of Jamestown to Close of the Civil War (Richmond, VA: H. H. Hardesty, 1888), 54–55; David Koplow, Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 62.
Strode started the testimony: Bruinius, Better for all the World, 63.
Harris was a district nurse: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 1–50,” 42–43.
“absolutely irresponsible”: Ibid., 43–44.
“Well, I don’t know anything”: Ibid., 44.
“mentally normal children”: Ibid.
&n
bsp; Carrie’s sister, Doris: Ibid., 45.
“She told me”: Ibid., 46.
Eula Wood: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 48–49.
Whitehead chose not to cross-examine: Ibid., 49.
Virginia Beard: Ibid., 49–50.
Whitehead did a better job: Ibid., 50.
Hopkins said he did not know: Ibid., 52–53.
Caroline Wilhelm: Ibid., 57.
In her testimony: Ibid.; Lombardo, Three Generations, 116.
Wilhelm followed the colony’s script: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 57–58.
On October 15: Wilhelm to Priddy, Oct. 15, 1924.
“not quite a normal baby”: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 58–59.
The only explanation: Ibid.
“Mrs. Dobb[s’s] daughter’s baby”: Ibid., 59.
Whitehead’s cross-examination: Ibid., 60–61.
“Your idea”: Ibid., 61.
Strode’s next witness: Ibid., 57; Homer Richey to Albert Priddy, Mar. 10, 1924, box 11, Central Virginia Training Center Papers.
Duke described: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 61–62.
Duke recounted: Ibid.
extremely limited contact: Ibid., 62; Lombardo, Three Generations, 119.
He estimated: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 63.
Dr. DeJarnette testified: Ibid., 64.
“differential fecundity”: Ibid., 67.
feeblemindedness was hereditary: Ibid., 65.
discourse on Mendel’s hereditary theory: Ibid., 66.
The Virginia law: An Act to Provide for the Sexual Sterilization of Inmates of State Institutions in Certain Cases, Virginia Acts of Assembly, chap. 394 (1924); “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 69.
if a patient in a state hospital: “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 69.
The overall “standard”: Ibid.
Strode asked if he had heard: Ibid., 70.
On cross-examination: Ibid., 71–75.
most unusual line of questioning: Ibid., 72–73.
“fire-ship”: Francis Grose, The Vulgar Tongue: Buckish Slang and Pickpocket Eloquence (Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Summersdale Publishers, 2004) 121; “Carrie Buck Trial Transcript, 51–100,” 73.