The Human Betterment League of North Carolina was created in 1947 on the initiative of hosiery businessman James G. Hanes of Winston-Salem, NC. He was joined by

Clarence Gamble Clarence James Gamble (January 10, 1894 – July 15, 1966) was an American medical doctor and the heir of the Procter and Gamble soap company fortune. He was an advocate of birth control and eugenics, and he founded Pathfinder International ...

, a physician and heir to the

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

fortune who previously founded Pathfinder International of Watertown, MA, an organization that promoted better family planning services in the United States and 70 other countries. Among the league's other founders were Alice Shelton Gray, a registered nurse; C. Nash Herndon, a genetics professor at the

Bowman Gray School of Medicine Bowman or Bowmans may refer to: Places Antarctica * Bowman Coast * Bowman Island * Bowman Peninsula Australia * Bowman Park, a park in South Australia * Bowmans, South Australia, a locality * Division of Bowman, an electoral district for the ...

of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem; and A.M. Jordan, a professor of psychology at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. The league has been criticized for promoting male and female sterilization for

eugenic Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the ferti ...

purposes. While the original focus of the organization was newspaper advertisements promoting sterilization and educating the public about the causes and prevention of inherited mental illnesses and handicaps, the league shifted its focus by the 1970s to promote birth control and genetic counseling. In 1984 it changed its name to the Human Genetics League, and it disbanded in 1988.

References

External links

Winston-Salem Journal article on forced sterilization in North Carolina -- Part III discusses Human Betterment League
{{Authority control Eugenics in the United States Eugenics organizations Organizations established in 1947 Organizations disestablished in 1988 1947 establishments in North Carolina