In the 1930s, America believed that some children were born too stupid to ever learn. If your IQ was low, the science of the day said it was hopeless—your blood was “bad.”

Thousands of orphans were locked away in institutions, labeled “feebleminded,” and forgotten. But two young researchers at an Iowa orphanage decided to test that idea… and what they discovered would tear down one of the darkest chapters in American science.

This is the true story of the Orphans of Davenport.

Sources:

Iowa Childrens Home: https://web.archive.org/web/20101230011824/http://www.qcmemory.org/Default.aspx?PageId=243&nt=207&nt2=239

Book: The Orphans of Davenport: Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the War over Children's Intelligence by Marilyn Brookwood- Buy Book: https://amzn.to/4oS9D2r

https://www.byuradio.org/won-2021-10-14-the-davenport-orphans

https://medium.com/leading-brains-review/two-hopeless-little-girls-abandoned-to-a-mental-institution-with-astounding-results-c9ac9a06ec28

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-iowa-orphans-who-helped-resolve-the-fight-over-childrens-intelligence/2021/08/11/51bde2d6-de75-11eb-b507-697762d090dd_story.html

Interview with Researchers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0bQFsodlf4

https://time.com/archive/6780590/education-nature-v-nurture/

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-11958-020

Papers written by the doctors: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Harold-M-Skeels-2047761714

1939: https://time.com/archive/6760602/medicine-feeble-minded-love/

https://origins.osu.edu/read/sterilization-carrie-buck

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eugenics-finding-carrie-buck/

https://libguides.davenportlibrary.com/c.php?g=757345&p=5430552

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