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California sterilized men and women that didn’t even know what was happening to them. The people gave no consent and they had no idea what the surgery was doing to them.

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While many states passed eugenics laws in the 20th century, Ohio did not. Five attempts to pass a sterilization law in the state between 1915 and 1963 were unsuccessful.

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The founding principle of eugenics is the idea that intelligence (or any intellectual capabilities, for that matter) is hereditary and therefore inherent to people at birth. This gives context to the center's unwavering commitment to collecting as many people as possible, seeing there is nothing that can be done to 'fix' them.

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She has had many of her poems published in some of the biggest newspapers including but not limited to The Paris review, The Yale review, and The Guardian.

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In the U.S eugenics led to forced sterilization people considered inferior as violence in there rights these discriminatory programs were warn against eugenics.

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This act was able to happen because of medical superintendents, legislators, and other social reformers, motivated by theories that certain humans possess such "undesirable" traits, and confining and not allowing them to reproduce was the best thing for the country. While overlooking that these people are human as well, and doing procedures without their consent.

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iMolly McCully Brown is a graduate of Bard College at Simon's Rock, Stanford University, and the University of Mississippi, this gives context as to the level of her writing.

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Between 1909 and 1979, around 200,000 sterilizations had taken place in state facilities, and this happened in 32 states. It continued in 2006 and 2010, where women inmates were being sterilized, and this cost around $147,460

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Mccully was an american poet and known for exploring themes of disability,religion and the body of her work.

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Molly McCully Brown is diagnosed with cerebral palsy: a condition she's had since birth. While she was originally able to walk--having received a nerve-clipping surgery at the age of four--her muscles gradually lost strength over time.

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Forced Sterilization took place in 32 states were the government controlled "unwanted" population such as immigrants, people of color, poor people, unmarried mothers, disabled, and mentally ill. The most Sterilization took place in California where about 20,000 sterilization of men and women took place.

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It was an institution in Virginia that practiced eugenics sterilization in the 20th century.

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The Virginia State Epileptic Colony was a center for supporting the eugenics movement in America.

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Its last name was known as the Central Virginia training center, which closed April 2nd 2020. The institution still faced problems with patients, a 2008-2011 case found unnecessary admission, as well as bad treatment in diets and overall health of patients.

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Molly McCully Brown is a highly accomplished poet; her work has been published in numerous well-known publications. She won awards such as the 2016 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize and was even named one of The New York Times' Critics' Top Books of 2017.

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Was located in Colony,Virginia it was more than just a treatment place and it was a community with its own farm, workshops and school. They was trying to provide therapeutic environment for people with epilepsy but it also became a site for eugenics practice and sterilization.

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“A strong community is a place of joy and belonging." Display the power that community has over humankind. Also gives context as to what may be the motivation of people in the story.

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She has books not only published in the United States but also in other countries as the United Kingdom. In 2016, she won an award for one of her books and was name New York Times Critics' Top Book in 2017.

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According to apa.org, it is human nature for humans to strive for place and community. Humans had to be social in primitive times to hunt together and reproduce correctly. Today, those genes are passed down for a humans strive to be apart of a community and to have a role/place in it.

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The Virginia State Epileptic Colony was first authorized by a bill passed in 1906 that was written by a eugenicist and social welfare advocate named Aubrey Strode. They received their first patients in 1911, and by the end of that year, they had over 15 men.

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Brown is an American poet who has an disability that she was born with. She has written Places I’ve Taken my Body and The Virginia State Colony For Epileptics and Feebleminded. She has won a 2016 Lexi book prize and was named New York Times critics, Top book of 2017.

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Even accounting for their inhumane eugenics practices, the Virginia State Colony was nonetheless segregated to white patients only. The state of Virginia only created a separate colony for black people in 1939, two decades after the founding of the former.

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"Used as a means of controlling “undesirable” populations – immigrants, people of color, poor people, unmarried mothers, the disabled, the mentally ill – federally-funded sterilization programs took place in 32 states throughout the 20th century." This act of "correction" was very clearly targeted to anybody that was not a traditional, white individual that was of working class. These government institutions were attempting to purge the country of anything that opposed their view of what was "correct."

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This was a state institution that was known primarily for playing a part in the Supreme Court Case Buck v Bell, which upheld forced sterilization laws.

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"Community is first of all a quality of the heart," is a quote by Henri Nouwen, which describes how community grows from the knowledge that we are not just alive for ourselves, but rather for another. Community is a place for our capacity to make the interests of others as well.

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Virginia State Epileptic Colony is located near Lynchburg. It opened in 1910 where many people where taken who were deemed "feeble-minded."

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Place and community play a huge role in shaping who we are. Where we come from gives us a sense of belonging, support, and understanding that goes beyond just one person. Places carry history and meaning that connect generations, while communities bring people together to support one another, solve problems, and grow stronger through shared experiences.

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Personal familiarity with both place and the people in it is essential in developing community. In structures of power, a general lack of regard to strive for familiarity is a telltale sign that prejudice and discrimination will follow suit. Notice the intentional avoidance of communion between doctor and patient as this story develops.

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A lot of McCully's work seems to have a central theme of the body, more specifically, the physical and spiritual aspects of the human body. With her work, she sheds light on the many layers of the individual, or in this story's case, the body is the focus to shed light on a broader issue.

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PBS reported an Unwanted sterilization in the United States, where a woman was held in immigration detention facilities were subjected to medically unnecessary sterilization procedures as recently as the 2010s.

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“California prisons are said to have authorized sterilizations of nearly 150 female inmates between 2006 and 2010. The Center for Investigative Reporting reveals how the state paid doctors $147,460 to perform tubal ligations that former inmates say were done under coercion.”

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Sterilization is still taking place in America today. A filmmaker went out of their way to expose the abuse coming from women’s immigration prisons where they were happening so often there was a segment called “surgeries of the month”.

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Place is location with distinct attributes while community is a social group sharing identities or interests. You can find your place in a community but a place is an area like a neighborhood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_place#:~:text=A%20community%20of%20place%20or,loyalties%20as%20well%20as%20appreciation.

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Molly McCully Brown makes it her duty to not let cerebral palsy stop her. The essays she writes are a purposeful log of the places she’s explored and visited.

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Molly McCullyu Brown is a trained essayist and critic, she has published nonfiction essays in major literary outlets. where she writes explicitly about disability, language, consent, and representation, expanding her influence beyond poetry.

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It was initially built on an enormous amount of land. As the buildings that were originally part of the colony fell into disrepair, they were largely just moved out of, and new buildings were built on the accompanying land, but those original buildings were not necessarily torn down. So the place itself is this really strange combination of a functioning facility and a ghost town of everything that it has been.

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Place and Community are intertwined. Anyone can find community anywhere they decide to shift their place too. You’re place is your self sense of belonging and community is the byproduct of reward even when you finally find your place.

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As of 2025, the buildings stand abandoned, and the land is in the planning stages of redevelopment into a medium-density urban hub for the neighboring town of Madison Heights.

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Community helps us form relationships, find support and gain opportunities we might not otherwise have.

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The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, opened in 1910, played a key role in Virgina's eugenics program by confining prople, often from scoail reasons like poverty or low IQ scores.

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Eugenics made its first official appearance in American history through marriage laws.

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Because of the Supreme Court Ruling in Buck V. Bell in 1927, the federal government was allowed to sterilize about 65,000 Americans from 1920s to the 70s on account of their "Mental Illnesses" and "Developmental Issues". Although the ruling was made nearly 100 years ago, the case still stands today as of 2026.

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The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded shaped both the physical landscape and social life of the surrounding community by isolating people labeled as unfit from the rest of society. The colony's presense reflects how communities were built around exclusion and how state power reshaped lives through institutions.

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Her writing feels personal and honest. She talks about disability and the body in a way that makes me think about how society treats people who are different.

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The Eugenics Movement is disturbing because it shows how science was misused to justify discrimination and control people.

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If Molly McCully Brown would’ve been born in a different era, she might have been sent to the "Virginia State Colony," an early landmark of the U.S. eugenics movement

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Some of Brown's work have been included in places such as The Paris Review, Tin House, The Guardian, Virginia Quarterly Review, The New York Times, and The Yale Review. Still in Education today, Brown teaches in Laramie, Wyoming as Director of Creative writing as well as Editor in Chief of Image Journal.

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Brown's essays and poems have appeared in multiple places such as The Yale Review and Virginia Quarterly.

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Sterilization was used as a means of controlling “undesirable” populations like immigrants, people of color, poor people, unmarried mothers, the disabled, and the mentally ill.

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She is from Virginia and has attend Stanford and Bard. She has won numerous poetry awards and her work has been featured in many articles.

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Buck v. Bell: In 1927, Carrie Buck, a poor white woman, was the first person to be sterilized in Virginia under a new law

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Buck v. Bell: In 1927, Carrie Buck, a poor white woman, was the first person to be sterilized in Virginia under a new law

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Molly McCully Brown Brown recieved the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship and many other awards. She shows passion for education, she graduated from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Stanford University, and the University of Mississippi. She also recieved MFA.

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She is a graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Stanford University, and the University of Mississippi.

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Molly McCully Brown poems and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, Tin House, The Guardian, Virginia Quarterly Review, The New York Times, The Yale Review and elsewhere.

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Sterilization was used to stop certain people from being able to have kids, usually without their choice. This mostly happened to people who were disabled or seen as "unfit." I think this is really messed up and unfair because everyone should have the right to control their own body. It shows how serious and dark this part of history is and how badly people were treated.

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Molly McCully Brown was born in 1988 and grew up with cerebral palsy which is a condition that has strongly shaped both her personal life. Her literary work as a poet explores disability and how institutions shape identity.

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After looking at Molly McCully Brown's website, I learned that she is a poet who writes about her life and experiences, especially living with epilepsy. Her writing feels very personal and honest. It made me realize that the story we're about to read probably connects to real history and real people, not just something made up. It also shows how people with disabilities were treated differently and unfairly in the past.

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McCully is a great author and talks about many topics in her writing 

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McCully is a great author and talks about many topics in her writing 

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Place and community shape who we become because they influence what we’re exposed to and what we believe is normal.

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Unwanted sterilization and eugenics programs in the United States were based on the false belief that society could be improved by preventing certain people especially those with disabilities, mental illness, or from marginalized communities from having children. These programs violated autonomy and caused lasting harm. About 32 U.S. states passed eugenic sterilization laws in the early 20th century. Many of these laws were not fully repealed until the mid to late 20th century.

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Molly McCully Brown is a writer and poet who's published several books, including essays and poetry collections . She's won awards and fellowships for her work, and writes for top publications like The Paris Review and The New York Times. She teaches creative writing in Wyoming and edits Image Journal.

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Raised in rural Virginia, she is a graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Stanford University.

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California prisons are said to have authorized sterilizations of nearly 150 female inmates between 2006 and 2010. The Center for Investigative Reporting reveals how the state paid doctors $147,460 to perform tubal ligations that former inmates say were done under coercion.

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This Supreme Court case led to the sterilization of 65,000 Americans with mental illness

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Some of the Key founders of the Colony included Eugenicists Aubrey E. Strode, Albert Priddy, and Joseph DeJarnette. It was authorized in 1906 through a bill written by the three main founders and received its first patients in 1911.

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The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded was established in 1910 and became one of the most big sites of forced sterilization. Under Virginia’s eugenics laws, thousands of residents were sterilized without consent which was a practice later upheld by the Supreme Court in Buck v. Bell.

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Doctors were paid over 147000 to perform the sterilization procedures. Some surgeires were of tubal ligations. Many former inmates say they were forced to actually do these surgeries and there were no consequences directed toward the doctors. On the other hand Native Americans also had to undergo sterilization in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Molly Mccully Brown is a well qualified poet and essayist, she graduated from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Stanford University, and the University of Mississippi, where she received her MFA. Brown also grew up in rural Virginia making her poem The Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded a personal work.

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Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded (later renamed the Central Virginia Training Center), officially closed down on April 2, 2020.

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The Virginia State Epileptic Colony was a place where people with epilepsy and other disabilities were sent to live. At first it was supposed to help them, but it ended up being a place where a lot of people were treated unfairly. Many of them didn't get to leave, and some were even sterilized without a choice. This shows how messed up the system was and how people like this were seen as less important.

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The colony was authorized by a 1906 bill and opened in 1910-1911 near Lynchburg, in Madison Heights, Virginia.

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Sterilization in California 1909 was continued on for 70 years and was done on men and women usually without consent or without them fully knowing. Approximately 20,000 sterilizations took place inside of state institutions.

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Place and Community are two essential parts of life that can make or break a person. Where and who people grow up with will shape how they develop into adults and how they will make choices since our environment often dictates the people we become.

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I think "place and community" means how where you live and the people around you can affect your life. In this story, the colony is supposed to be a community, but it doesn't really feel like a good one because people don't have freedom. It shows how a place can either make people feel safe or make them feel trapped.

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Eugenics made its first official appearance in American history through marriage laws.

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Eugenics made its first official appearance in American history through marriage laws.

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Eugenics earned it’s negative association mostly form Adolf Hilter and his attempts to create an advanced Aryan race.

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The Virginia State Epileptic Colony was not only an institution where eugenics and sterilization emerged, it caused many woman to be placed into a shadow of doom and despair. They were taking essential pieces of who woman who were struggling were, and stripped away in this gruesome place. Source: https://www.mollymccullybrown.com/colony

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Eugenics was a way people tried to "protect" society by stopping certain groups like poor folks, people with disabilities, those with mental illness, criminals, and people of color from having kids, 'cause they were seen as "inferior" or "dangerous". It was about controlling who got to reproduce.

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In the setting of the The Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, place is used as a form of control because the colony’s physical isolation separated residents from society. The colony was also a community where state authority became more important than personal identity, allowing harmful practices like forced sterilization to be normalized.

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These are some of the things that I found interesting while reading.

1. Eugenics isn't new: The idea of "improving" humans through selective breeding goes back to ancient philosophers like Plato.

2. Eugenics shaped US laws: In the early 1900s, some US states banned marriages for people with certain conditions, like epilepsy.

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100,000 to 150,000 poor people were being sterilized each year under federally-funded programs.

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Brown was born an identical twin. Her sister died in the NICU 36 hours after their birth. She often stated that the feeling of a missing sister she barely knew led her to believe in a spiritual world. The loss of her sister is also seen as a central theme in her works.

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It's shocking to know that such inhumane practices were not only legal but also funded by the federal government in the 20th century. It gives me questions about the value society places on different groups of people and how that changes (or doesn't change) over time.

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"Community is much more than belonging to something; it's about doing something together that makes belonging matter" - Brian Sollis

When loooking at any historical movements or pushes for a better society, we see people moving coming together to do something to initiate belonging and community. Community coming together is how change can be made.

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Molly McCully Brown was raised in Virginia and was a graduate of Bard college at Simon's Rock, Stanford university, and University of Mississippi where she received her MFA. This shows how talented she is in her writing. Now she lives in Wyoming.

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The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded essentially progressed the eugenics movement. They enforced ideologies from eugenics through the use of pseudoscience and the backing of the Buck v. Bell Supreme Court decision of 1927, which allowed sterilization for the cause of "genetic hygiene". This institution was used for social and population control to wipe out populations with "undesirable traits" rather than cure them.

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Eugenics was used to justify sterilizing tens of thousands of people in the US, Canada, and other countries, often targeting vulnerable groups like poor folks, people with disabilities, and people of color. It also shaped laws and policies, like immigration restrictions, based on ideas of "improving" society.

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"Make a bed for the children of other people in the place where your own children sleep," a Moroccan folk saying. You should still help others in their time of need, even if they are not your family or someone you know. Community is built through compassion and caring for others. When you disregarded that you will be left fruitless.

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Eugenics once targeted marginalized groups to control their reproduction, affecting reproductive rights today. Today, reproductive justice includes access to abortion, birth control, and help for women in immigration detention. Groups like the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health fight for every woman to have the right to make choices about her body.

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From 1909 to 1979, around 20,000 sterilizations happened in California state mental institutions.

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For over 70 years, California led the country in having the most sterilization procedures performed on men and women. State institutions completed approximately 2,000 sterilizations, which contributed to one-third of the total number performed in states where it was legal. In addition, the Center for Investigative Reporting reveals that in California, doctors were paid $147,460 to perform tubal ligations, in which many had previous experience, said to have been done under force and without their full knowledge.

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in 1910, Virginia State epileptic Colony opened, this institution was known for various things, but the most recognizable was its part in Buck v Bell. A very famous Supreme Court case in which it upheld sterilization laws.

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The Virginia State colony was a center for white people only. Black people were not allowed into the colony throughout its early years.

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Concept of place influences our identity by allowing us to adapt to the place and it eventually becoming apart of us.

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32 states legalized forced sterilization throughout the 20th century and it was used as a social control particularly groups with "undesirable traits", including people of color, poor people, and immigrants. Forced sterilization was justified through the claim that it was necessary to protect society.

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"In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it. – Marianne Williamson

While every nation has faced some form of injustice and harm, change and healing is possible when individuals of a community take responsibility to make that change happen and move forward.

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Molly McCully Brown is currently the Director of Creative Writing at the University of Wyoming and Editor in Chief of Image Journal. Along with be recipient of numerous scholarships and fellowships and has been recognized and featured in various new magazines and outlets.

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Virginia State Epileptic Colony was a state institution established for isolating individuals with mental disabilities, where famously becoming the site where Carroe Buck was forcibly sterilized, and was an epicenter of the American eugenics movement in the first half of the twentieth century.

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A community's collective actions and attachments to a place reinforce social bonds, fostering a sense of belonging, collective action, and well-being, making the place meaningful and vibrant.

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i believe that one of the most venerable of her achievements is the inclusion of her poems in The Paris Review, Tin House, The Guardian, Virginia Quarterly Review, The New York Times, The Yale Review and elsewhere.