Eugenic States: A Contextual ArchiveMain MenuIntroductionCritical Themes in the History of EugenicsEugenic Practices in California, Iowa, and North CarolinaWhat We Can Say with DataAcknowledgementsGianna May Sanchez52f70e8243b469d8015c7550a8cc718bc4460376Jacqueline D. Wernimont74f0121b4969a68798926bffef58ce29410a6b81Alexandra Minna Stern890e264c2ef7645d038bfeae8ec718e694c9c9ee
Heatmap of Known Eugenic Sterilizations by States
12025-10-01T19:37:20+00:00John Bell95368f97d82dceffed8038b36e9c51da6c29afe335plain2026-08-19T00:55:15+00:00Digital Justice Lab at DartmouthJacqueline D. Wernimont74f0121b4969a68798926bffef58ce29410a6b81
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12026-08-19T01:02:33+00:00A Patchwork of Practices8plain2026-08-19T01:36:42+00:00Eugenic ideas were widely contested across the United States, including within the states where sterilization was legal. The heat map below helps makes visible where in the country ideas made it into practice. By visualizing the per capita rates of known sterilizations, the heat map method allows us to see the nation not as a unified area of practice, but as a patchwork of different rates of sterilizations including zero (the grey states had no legal sterilizations, the lightest had legalized sterilization but conducted none to very few). By looking at the sterilization numbers as rates per capita we can control for the highly variable population densities across the United States, both at the beginning of the 20th century and over time. The population numbers used for developing this heat map come from the US Census Bureau.
