Wednesdays, September 11 - 25 | 3 weeks | 1 - 3 pm | $35

INSTRUCTOR: Jim Edelman

People have bred plants and animals to suit our purposes for thousands of years. Eugenics was a movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to breed humans. Eugenicists defined people as “fit” or “unfit” and then promoted policies to encourage some to procreate and prevent others from doing so. They also sought to protect “racial purity” by limiting immigration. Eugenics started in England shortly after the publication of Darwin’s Origin of the Species and spread to the US and elsewhere. Its supporters included Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, David Jordan (Founding President of Stanford University), and Charles Eliot (President of Harvard University). It was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation, and the Harriman Railroad Fortune. In Germany, Eugenics informed the Nazis’ efforts to protect “Aryan Blood” from “contamination.” The work of scientists cannot help but reflect their implicit and explicit biases. In this 3- week class, we will explore the history of Eugenics and its many connections to issues we face today. How can we best deploy advances in genetic screening, genetic diagnostics, and DNA modification? Who can profit from our genetic data? How does immigration impact our society?

Jim Edelman had twenty-five years in finance and then changed careers to teach math and economics at a public high school in Memphis for six years. Since retiring to Boulder in 2015, Jim has taught at Front Range Community College, Monarch High School, and the Boulder County Jail. Last fall, Jim helped to kick off EXCHANGE’s first term with a well-received course on the Reconstruction Era.

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