The orphans of Davenport : eugenics, the Great Depression, and the war over children's intelligence
Book
First edition.
"The fascinating-and eerily timely-tale of the forgotten Depression-era psychologists who overthrew long-accepted racist and classist views of childhood development. "Doomed from birth" was how psychologist Harold Skeels described two toddler girls at theOrphans' Home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1934. Following prevailing eugenic beliefs, Skeels and his colleague Marie Skodak assumed that the girls had inherited their parents' low intelligence and sent them to an institution for the "feebleminded" to be caredfor by "moron" women. To their astonishment, under the women's care, the children's IQ scores became normal. This revolutionary finding, replicated in eleven more "retarded" children, infuriated leading psychologists, all eugenicists unwilling to acceptthat nature and nurture work together to decide our fates. Recasting Skeels and his team as intrepid heroes, Marilyn Brookwood weaves years of prodigious archival research to show how after decades of backlash, the Iowans finally prevailed. In a dangeroustime of revived white supremacy, The Orphans of Davenport is an essential account, confirmed today by neuroscience, of the power of the Iowans' scientific vision"--
Available copies
- 7 of 7 copies available at Westchester Library System.
Current holds
0 current holds with 7 total copies.Location | Call Number / Shelving Location |
Barcode | Status / Due Date |
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Chappaqua Library | 305.231 BROOKWOOD (Text) Nonfiction |
31005600104485 |
Available - |
Greenburgh Public Library | 305.231 B (Text) Nonfiction |
31009154867117 |
Available - |
Larchmont Public Library | 305.231 B (Text) Nonfiction |
31014152973545 |
Available - |
Mount Pleasant Public Library | 305.231 B (Text) Nonfiction |
31024153252716 |
Available - |
North Castle Public Library | 305.231 B (Text) Nonfiction |
31001151997120 |
Available - |
Rye Free Reading Room | TIMES - 305.231 BROOKWOOD (Text) Nonfiction |
31028153304963 |
Available - |
The Field Library | 305.231 B (Text) Nonfiction |
31022152293483 |
Available - |