“American Eugenics—from Long Island to Auschwitz” New York Times Bestselling Author to Speak at FSW
Feb 8, 2016
FEBRUARY 8, 2016 – FORT MYERS, FLA – Most people associate eugenics, the idea of creating a superior race, with the Holocaust. According to an internationally acclaimed investigative author, the origins of the eugenics movement and research trials actually began in the United States.
Edwin Black, a New York Times bestselling author, has written 11 bestselling books. His work focuses on human rights, genocide and hate, corporate criminality and corruption, governmental misconduct, academic fraud, philanthropy abuse, oil addiction, alternative energy and historical investigation.
Black will present “American Eugenics -- from Long Island to Auschwitz,” at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23, in Building U, Room 102, at the Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) Thomas Edison Campus, Fort Myers. The event is free and open to the public.
In his award-winning, bestselling book “War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race,” Black writes, “Throughout the first six decades of the twentieth century, hundreds of thousands of Americans and untold numbers of others were not permitted to continue their families by reproducing. Selected because of their ancestry, national origin, race or religion, they were forcibly sterilized, wrongly committed to mental institutions where they died in great numbers, prohibited from marrying, and sometimes even unmarried by state bureaucrats. In America, this battle to wipe out whole ethnic groups was fought not by armies with guns nor by hate sects at the margins. Rather, this pernicious white-gloved war was prosecuted by esteemed professors, elite universities, wealthy industrialists and government officials colluding in a racist, pseudoscientific movement called eugenics. The purpose: create a superior Nordic race.”
In his book, Black also states, “The victims of eugenics were poor urban dwellers and rural ‘white trash’ from New England to California, immigrants from across Europe, Blacks, Jews, Mexicans, Native Americans, epileptics, alcoholics, petty criminals, the mentally ill and anyone else who did not resemble the blond and blue-eyed Nordic ideal the eugenics movement glorified. All of this churned throughout America years before the Third Reich rose in Germany. Eventually, America’s eugenic movement spread to Germany as well, where it caught the fascination of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement. Under Hitler, eugenics careened beyond any American eugenicist’s dream.”
Black has been interviewed on network broadcasts including “Oprah,” the “TODAY Show,” “CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports” and “NBC Dateline.” Many of his books have been optioned by Hollywood for film, with two in active production. His latest film is the screen adaptation “War Against the Weak,” based on his book of the same name. His best-known book, “IBM and the Holocaust” is scheduled to become a Brad Pitt blockbuster next year. Black is a leading contributor to The Times of Israel, The Cutting Edge News, and the Huffington Post.
To RSVP to this event, contact Jennifer Young, FSW Public Relations and Marketing Associate, at jennifer.young@fsw.edu or 239-489-9101.
####
Florida SouthWestern State College is Southwest Florida’s largest and one of the most affordable institutions of higher education. Annually serving nearly 22,000 students globally, FSW offers a variety of nationally-ranked, career-focused academic programs with two- and four-year degrees, and professional certifications. Students are also active in clubs and programs catered to their interests. FSW debuted its intercollegiate athletics program in January 2016. Visit www.FSW.edu for more information.
Last Updated: February 8, 2016
Back to News Archives