Center for Genetics and Society Receives Major Grant for “Confronting Eugenics to Build a Just Future”

The Center for Genetics and Society, a project of the Tides Center, has been awarded $751,000 by the Mellon Foundation to support activities that establish a more complete understanding of the histories and legacies of eugenics. This generous grant will make possible the launch of a new three-year initiative, Confronting Eugenics to Build a Just Future.

Confronting Eugenics will convene a core network of scholars across fields and issue advocates across sectors. The network will meet for a series of extended workshops, organize public events, and develop a robust collection of pedagogical and public resources that challenge historical and current eugenic abuses. It will better equip scholars, students, advocates, and communities with tools to recognize and resist eugenic tendencies, with particular attention to their manifestations in U.S. science, technology, medicine, and public health. 

The Center for Genetics and Society (CGS) is the only U.S. nonprofit whose primary focus is the challenges raised by the social and eugenic implications of human genetics and assisted reproduction. Over the past 25 years, CGS has served as a thought leader for a global network of advocates and scholars; facilitated collaborations to center social justice and human rights perspectives; and worked to shape narratives about the social meanings of human biotechnologies.

“Many people think that eugenics disappeared after World War II, but we’re seeing a troubling comeback,” said Marcy Darnovsky, CGS Executive Director. “Unfounded claims about biologically based hierarchies of human worth are more widespread now than at any time since the heyday of the eugenics movement a hundred years ago. Confronting Eugenics to Build a Just Future will build deeper and broader awareness of the persistence and harms of eugenics today and develop effective ways to challenge this trend.”

“CGS is excited to launch this focused anti-eugenics initiative. Our track record of successful network building, public events, and communications makes us a trusted voice on the complexities posed by human biotechnologies,” said CGS Associate Director Katie Hasson.

For more information about the Center for Genetics and Society, see geneticsandsociety.org/about-us.

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For more information, please contact Katie Hasson (khasson@geneticsandsociety.org).

The Center for Genetics and Society is a non-profit organization that brings social justice and human rights to the center of public and policy discussions about human genetics and assisted reproduction.