14- Unveiling Eugenic Histories: A Digital Exploration of Injustice

“Unveiling Eugenic Histories: A Digital Exploration of Injustice” presents a collaborative digital project, “Eugenic States: A Contextual Archive,” developed by a multi-institutional team affiliated with UCLA's Sterilization and Social Justice Lab. This innovative website and digital resource aim to make the history of eugenics and sterilization accessible and engaging, drawing from demographic and social science research in California, North Carolina, and Iowa.

The project utilizes patient records, archival research, and data analysis and visualization to expose a troubling past and contextualize eugenic histories across states. It organizes narratives around thematic categories including: the State and Institutions; Families; Race and Immigration; Disability, Medicine, and Expertise; Courts and the Law; and Sexuality, Reproduction, and the Body. Through storytelling and data integration, the project challenges conventional data visualization methods to humanize stories of reproductive injustice.

Additionally, the project integrates a specific investigation into sexual stigma in physician notes. This project branch explores insights from natural language processing (NLP) techniques applied to physician notes justifying sterilization procedures. By uncovering gender and sex biases in these records and highlighting individual narratives alongside broader trends, the presentation aims to foster empathy, understanding, and awareness of historical injustices.

Attendees will be able to explore the interactive website during the session, engaging with narratives and data that prompt important questions about balancing the “right to know” with the “need to protect” in medical and health histories. Ultimately, the presentation seeks to inspire action and advocacy for social justice, empowering viewers to confront gender bias and discrimination in healthcare practices and advocate for meaningful change.