From private biases to public policies, how far have we come from eugenics-era America? “The Normal”: Images from the Haunted Files of Eugenics re-presents images from the US eugenics movement to ask this question and place contemporary discourse around racism, immigration, reproductive rights, and disability in historical context. Once exhibited at museums and state fairs nationwide, the propaganda on display in this installation helped to drive popular support for eugenics-motivated legislation such as immigration restriction, mass institutionalization, and the forced eugenic sterilization of the “unfit.”
On Thursday, October 30, co-curators Jack (John Kuo Wei) Tchen and Noah Fuller and Associate Curator Mark Tseng Putterman gave attendees a tour of the installation at the NYU Kimmel Windows Gallery (a street-level gallery, visible only from the sidewalk).
Read more about “The Normal” here.