441: Willie Mallory
Protective Mother and Victim of American Eugenics
Birth and Death Dates Unknown, As Are Locations
You can still read copies of the “Willie Mallory Complaint” in a PDF format online in the category of Buck V Bell Documents under Reading Room on the Georgia State University Law School Archive. I listed the complaint below under sources.
Willie was another victim of forced sterilization without her consent, one of thousands across the United States from the early 1900’s to as late as the 1980’s.
Willie had eight children at the time and was arrested on the charge of running a brothel out of her house (which was never proven). Her husband sued the doctors for $5,000 and likened them being arrested and detained as slavery. The doctor responded with a threat of his own—sterilizing more members of the Mallory family. Luckily however, their daughter Nannie was released without being sterilized and Virginia halted their illegal sterilizations until they would become legal after the Supreme Court ruling under Buck V Bell. You can read more about the case and fallout from it by reading about Carrie Buck.
Badges Earned:
Located In My Personal Library:
Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck by Adam Cohen
Sources:
The Imbeciles book listed above