This 1934 anti-sterilization melodrama is an entertaining and thought-provoking period piece. A welfare worker informs Mr. and Mrs. Mason that their family must either accept sterilization or forfeit welfare checks because most of their children are in jail, physically handicapped, or “feeble-minded”.. Included in the sterilization order is eldest daughter Alice, a seemingly healthy young girl, engaged to a young man named Jim. 

Perhaps because the filmmakers never quite made it clear where they stood regarding forced sterilization, Tomorrow's Children was banned outright in many areas by the Catholic Legion of Decency. Directed and co-written by Crane Wilbur, a silent screen leading man who starred opposite Pearl White in the historic serial The Perils of Pauline (1914), Tomorrow's Children was produced and released on the States' Rights market by Bryan Foy. Leading lady Diane Sinclair, reportedly a mulatto hailing from Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana (Suriname), delivered a fine performance.  Comedian Sterling Holloway provided comedy relief to the grim proceedings as a sleepy intern. All but forgotten, Tomorrow's Children was re-released on video in 1994.

Filled with old-fashioned speechmaking and stereotypical characters, the film’s arguments about eugenics prompt audiences to consider what society’s views are today.  What is eugenics?  What are the arguments for and against eugenic practices like sterilization?  How can we tell the difference between “nature” and “nurture”?  Have society’s views about eugenics changed since we have mapped the human genome?  If so, how?  Could prenatal testing be our equivalent of sterilization eugenics?  What does the disability movement have to say about these techniques?

The history of eugenics and eugenic thinking in the United States, both historically and in the present, is complex and challenging.  Like many other states, North Carolina had a state Eugenics Board from 1929 until 1977. In 2003, North Carolina became the first state to officially address the state’s role in forced sterilizations, when Governor Easley appointed a Eugenics Study Committee to consider reparations for the nearly 8000 people sterilized by order of the Board.  The expert panel made recommendations later that year.

After the movie, Matthew DeCamp will lead a brief discussion on the science and ethics involved in the film.

For more information on North Carolina and eugenics, see:

(1) the Winston Salem Journal’s special report , Against Their Will, at http://againsttheirwill.journalnow.com/

(2) The eugenics archive at the Library of the State of North Carolina, with documents from the Eugenics Board, at <http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/iss/eugenics/eugenicsinnc.htm>

[Film description adapted from  Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide.]