The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness — John Shaqi
The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-MindednessGoddard, Henry Herbert
Science
The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness
Goddard, Henry Herbert
Heredity, Human; Mental retardation; People with mental disabilities
In 1907,--and here comes the most infamous part of the story,--a minister
married Guss to his own first cousin, a woman of questionable character.
The witnesses were Guss’s sister and her husband. Every one concerned,
except the minister, knew that around the corner, in a little street, so
near that at certain hours of the day the shadow of the church spire under
which they were standing fell upon it, was a house in which Guss’s lawful
wife was living and working to support his children. The minister, too,
might have known, had he taken the least trouble, and thus have been
spared the ignominy of uniting two such beings with this travesty of the
blessing of heaven. Soon after their union, this couple ceased to live
together--Guss going off with another woman and his wife with another man.
The field worker was not able to locate Guss, but she found that a
minister farther up the State had, in 1910, married his late wife to the
man with whom she was living. The couple, however, had gotten wind that
some one was looking for them, so when the field worker arrived, she found
that they had moved on, leaving no address.
The following story shows the continuation of these conditions into the
next generation:--
It was considered desirable to see the illegitimate son of Guss, who had
been born to the feeble-minded girl after Guss had been turned adrift by
his lawful wife. This child had had, when young, a severe attack of
scarlet fever which deprived him of his hearing. He had been admitted into
a home for deaf children, but the mother had taken him out. It was learned
that this girl had married her own cousin and that the pair were living
on the outskirts of a country town, with this deaf boy and four of their
own children.
Arrived at this place, the field worker first sought the school where
these children were supposed to go, hoping to obtain some light on the
question of their mentality and also to learn their school record. She
found that they so seldom attended school that the teacher could give very
little information regarding them. By dint of persistent inquiry, the
family was discovered living in the back shed of a dilapidated country
tenement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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