Diversity/Equity/Inclusion Book Club Meeting
2022-07-13 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
If you care to take part in this call, please email cstorer@imla.org.
Join us July 13th from 3-4 pm ET to discuss Laboratory of Deficiency: Sterilization and Confinement in California, 1900-1950s by Natalie Lira!
Pacific Colony, a Southern California institution established to care for the “feebleminded,” justified the incarceration, sterilization, and forced mutilation of some of the most vulnerable members of society from the 1920s through the 1950s. Institutional records document the convergence of ableism and racism in Pacific Colony. Analyzing a vast archive, Natalie Lira reveals how political concerns over Mexican immigration—particularly ideas about the low intelligence, deviant sexuality, and inherent criminality of the “Mexican race”—shaped decisions regarding the treatment and reproductive future of Mexican-origin patients.
