The Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded by Molly McCully Brown by

Jameson Owens

2026-01-07 14:02:51 UTC

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.

Kirk Pinnock

2026-01-07 14:05:07 UTC

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.

Owen Pennington

2026-01-07 14:06:05 UTC

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.

Jameson Owens

2026-01-07 14:07:34 UTC

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.

Tiana Benton

2026-01-07 14:07:45 UTC

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

Namrata Phuyel

2026-01-07 14:08:07 UTC

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.

Kirk Pinnock

2026-01-07 14:08:30 UTC

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.

Juan Green

2026-01-07 14:09:29 UTC

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

Tiana Benton

2026-01-07 14:09:50 UTC

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

Owen Pennington

2026-01-07 14:10:16 UTC

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.

Desirae McLin

2026-01-07 14:10:47 UTC

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.

Tiana Benton

2026-01-07 14:11:23 UTC

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

Kirk Pinnock

2026-01-07 14:11:43 UTC

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

Jameson Owens

2026-01-07 14:11:53 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 14:12:15 UTC

"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."

Namrata Phuyel

2026-01-07 14:12:53 UTC

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.

Tiana Benton

2026-01-07 14:14:45 UTC

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.

Kirk Pinnock

2026-01-07 14:14:55 UTC

“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.

Juan Green

2026-01-07 14:15:29 UTC

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.

Jameson Owens

2026-01-07 14:15:47 UTC

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.

Namrata Phuyel

2026-01-07 14:15:58 UTC

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.

Desirae McLin

2026-01-07 14:16:28 UTC

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.

Owen Pennington

2026-01-07 14:18:17 UTC

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.

Juan Green

2026-01-07 14:18:29 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 14:18:56 UTC

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.

Namrata Phuyel

2026-01-07 14:20:09 UTC

"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.

Desirae McLin

2026-01-07 14:20:19 UTC

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

Juan Green

2026-01-07 14:21:15 UTC

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.

Owen Pennington

2026-01-07 14:21:39 UTC

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.

AbdulBaasit Tadese

2026-01-07 14:24:42 UTC

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.

Modern Day Sterilization

2026-01-07 14:25:22 UTC

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”.

Desirae McLin

2026-01-07 14:26:55 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 14:27:23 UTC

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.

Molly McCully Brown

2026-01-07 14:28:12 UTC

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.

AbdulBaasit Tadese

2026-01-07 14:29:40 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 14:31:15 UTC

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.

Abandoned

2026-01-07 14:34:40 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 14:36:12 UTC

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

AbdulBaasit Tadese

2026-01-07 14:51:49 UTC

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.

Amari Weathers-Lane

2026-01-07 14:53:14 UTC

“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.”

2026-01-07 14:54:38 UTC

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

Andrew Guerra

2026-01-07 14:56:49 UTC

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.

AbdulBaasit Tadese

2026-01-07 14:57:01 UTC

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.

Jamal Kelani

2026-01-07 14:59:02 UTC

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.

Jamal Kelani

2026-01-07 15:00:56 UTC

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

2026-01-07 15:01:12 UTC

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

Andrew Guerra

2026-01-07 15:03:09 UTC

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.

Camille Jenkins

2026-01-07 15:05:23 UTC

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

Sophia Mazzei

2026-01-07 15:06:36 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 15:06:42 UTC

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.

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

2026-01-07 15:07:06 UTC

Mayar Abdelhady

2026-01-07 15:07:52 UTC

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.

Sophia Mazzei

2026-01-07 15:08:46 UTC

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

Amelia Charon-Wilhoite

2026-01-07 15:09:05 UTC

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.

Da’Naria Perkins

2026-01-07 15:10:23 UTC

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.

Tasneema Shaik

2026-01-07 15:10:55 UTC

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.

Da’Naria Perkins

2026-01-07 15:12:14 UTC

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.

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

2026-01-07 15:12:29 UTC

Jamal Kelani

2026-01-07 15:12:33 UTC

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

2026-01-07 15:13:28 UTC

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.

Ornela Sifa

2026-01-07 15:13:30 UTC

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.

Amari Weathers Lane

2026-01-07 15:13:42 UTC

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

Amelia Charon-Wilhoite

2026-01-07 15:13:55 UTC

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.

Jamal Kelani

2026-01-07 15:14:24 UTC

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

Andrew Guerra

2026-01-07 15:14:42 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 15:14:43 UTC

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.

Mayar Abdelhady

2026-01-07 15:14:57 UTC

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.

Khylie Ocacio

2026-01-07 15:16:25 UTC

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.

Sophia Mazzei

2026-01-07 15:16:33 UTC

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

Da’Naria Perkins

2026-01-07 15:16:47 UTC

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.

Amari Weathers Lane

2026-01-07 15:16:51 UTC

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

Gregory Brownlee

2026-01-07 15:17:37 UTC

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.

Andrew Guerra

2026-01-07 15:17:53 UTC

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.

Da’Naria Perkins

2026-01-07 15:18:46 UTC

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.

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

2026-01-07 15:19:03 UTC

2026-01-07 15:19:13 UTC

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

Mayar Abdelhady

2026-01-07 15:19:28 UTC

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

Ornela Sifa

2026-01-07 15:19:41 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 15:19:53 UTC

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.

Ornela Sifa

2026-01-07 15:21:24 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 15:21:48 UTC

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

Safa Bahadur

2026-01-07 15:22:22 UTC

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.

Jameela Henderson

2026-01-07 15:24:01 UTC

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.

Mayar Abdelhady

2026-01-07 15:24:04 UTC

"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.

Gregory Brownlee

2026-01-07 15:24:34 UTC

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.

Khylie Ocacio

2026-01-07 15:26:21 UTC

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.

Ornela Sifa

2026-01-07 15:26:29 UTC

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.

Sophia Mazzei

2026-01-07 15:26:37 UTC

"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.

Safa Bahadur

2026-01-07 15:26:46 UTC

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.

Camille Jenkins

2026-01-07 15:26:48 UTC

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

Junfeng Wu

2026-01-07 15:26:52 UTC

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.

Gregory Brownlee

2026-01-07 15:28:03 UTC

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.

Camille Jenkins

2026-01-07 15:39:24 UTC

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

Camille Jenkins

2026-01-07 15:54:22 UTC

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

Khylie Ocacio

2026-01-07 16:45:37 UTC

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.

Khylie Ocacio

2026-01-07 16:52:22 UTC

"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.

Junfeng Wu

2026-01-07 17:36:58 UTC

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.

Junfeng Wu

2026-01-07 17:41:03 UTC

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.

Junfeng Wu

2026-01-07 17:46:05 UTC

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.

2026-01-07 23:41:26 UTC

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.

2026-01-08 01:05:17 UTC

given the concept of humans being social creatures, that we quite literally cannot survive with community, it is both a complex and simple idea. the simplistic is that it is needed and fulfilled with even just nearness.

2026-01-08 01:09:15 UTC

The selection says sterilization laws were promoted by alliances of medical administrators, legislators, and social reformers.

2026-01-08 01:10:18 UTC

largely, the history of the colonial is under moral scrutiny. with odd cases of improper treatment and so forth.

Alyssa Fluellen

2026-01-08 01:56:14 UTC

Eugenics was a means of protecting society from the offspring. In Buck v. Bell, Carrie Buck, a poor white woman, was the first person to be sterilized in Virginia under a new law. Her mother was institutionalized for being “feeble minded” and “promiscuous.” They believe Carrie inherited these traits, and they sterilized after giving birth.

Alyssa Fluellen

2026-01-08 01:57:03 UTC

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

She is the author of an essay collection. She is also the Director of Creative Writing at the University of Wyoming and Editor in Chief of Image Journal.

Safa Bahadur

2026-01-08 01:58:19 UTC

The Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded kept detailed family records on residents, tracking relatives across generations to support the belief that traits like poverty or immorality were inherited

Safa Bahadur

2026-01-08 01:59:41 UTC

The Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded was built like a small, contained town, with its own farms and buildings, which kept its residents isolated from the outside community.

Alyssa Fluellen

2026-01-08 02:02:00 UTC

The Virginia State Colony for the Epileptics and Feeble Minded was for people considered to be “feeble minded.” The colony opened in 1910. Their goal was to isolate those with mental disabilities.

Alyssa Fluellen

2026-01-08 02:06:55 UTC

Place and community means to feel that you belong and have connections. When you have place and community you should be confident and feel you have a purpose.

Kalen Powell

2026-01-08 03:25:24 UTC

Place and community ultimately intertwine with each other. In this case, the environment at which the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded was established in a place that felt unwelcoming. Moreover, it was a place made to separate people; practically involuntarily imprison them. The community at which it was placed clearly was surrounded with people who lacked morals.

Kalen Powell

2026-01-08 03:31:08 UTC

The Virginia State Epileptic Colony isolated individuals with mental disabilities and other traits deemed unfit for reproduction from society. (Some people were falsely kept and involuntarily committed there).

Kalen Powell

2026-01-08 03:36:00 UTC

In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that forced sterilization of the handicapped does not violate the U.S. Constitution. In the words of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, “…three generations of imbeciles are enough.” In 1942, the ruling was overturned, but not before thousands of people underwent the procedure. This decision led to a significant increase in sterilizations across the United States with approximately 60,000 procedures performed in various states.

Amelia Charon-Wilhoite

2026-01-08 03:38:35 UTC

The Virginia State Colony for the Epileptics and Feeble Minded was a state run institution for those considered to be “Feeble minded” or those with severe mental impairment. The colony opened in 1910 near Lynchburg, Virginia, in Madison Heights with the goal of isolating those with mental disabilities and other qualities deemed unfit for reproduction away from society.

Amelia Charon-Wilhoite

2026-01-08 03:41:10 UTC

Restrictive immigration laws, such as the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 in the U.S., were directly influenced by eugenics-driven fears of "race suicide" and aimed to limit immigration from non-Nordic countries.

Kalen Powell

2026-01-08 03:42:35 UTC

Molly McCully Brown is the author of the essay collection Places I’ve Taken My Body and the poetry collection The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded.

Jonathan Parker Jr

2026-01-09 04:06:03 UTC

Sterilization was used as a way to stop certain people from having children, often without their knowledge or consent. At the Virginia Colony, thousands of these procedures were carried out under the belief that it would protect society. Many victims were misled about what was happening to them, or pressured into agreeing to a surgery they didn’t fully understand.

Jonathan Parker Jr

2026-01-09 04:08:06 UTC

She has cerebral palsy, a reality that deeply shapes how she understands disability, the body, and history. Her work weaves together personal experience and historical research, especially focusing on how disabled people were treated in the early 20th century. She writes about the colony as a place that was physically close to her childhood home yet emotionally unsettling because of the suffering that occurred there. Through her poetry, she gives voice to people who were silenced, ignored, or mistreated.

Jonathan Parker Jr

2026-01-09 04:10:44 UTC

This state institution is best known for its role in the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell, which ultimately upheld the legality of forced sterilization laws.

Jonathan Parker Jr

2026-01-09 04:12:01 UTC

The places we grow up in and the communities around us have a powerful influence on who we become. Our surroundings give us a foundation, a sense of identity, comfort, and connection that stretches beyond just ourselves. Places hold stories and histories that tie generations together, while communities create networks of support where people learn from one another, face challenges together, and build strength through shared experiences.

Payton Reed

2026-01-09 14:04:16 UTC

Founding and Mission: Authorized in 1906 and opened in 1910 near Lynchburg, Virginia, the colony aimed to isolate individuals with epilepsy and other mental disabilities to prevent reproduction. Initially, it housed only men from prisons and state hospitals.

Payton Reed

2026-01-09 14:04:51 UTC

Segregation: The institution was for white individuals only in its early years. A separate, poorly-funded work camp for Black individuals was created in Petersburg in 1939.

Payton Reed

2026-01-09 14:05:38 UTC

Molly McCully Brown joined the UW faculty in 2023 as Director of Creative Writing. She is the author of the essay collection Places I've Taken My Body (Persea Books, 2020) and the poetry collection The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded (Persea Books, 2017).

Payton Reed

2026-01-09 14:07:05 UTC

California led the country in the number of sterilization procedures performed on men and women, often without their full knowledge and consent.

Alanna Taylor

2026-01-09 14:39:51 UTC

"A place becomes a community the moment people choose to care for one another within it." Meaning the location itself is just another place, but the transformation into a community is through the relationships that are built with human connection and care. Eugenics and sterilization policies have removed the care, choice, and sense of community. Eugenics treats those that are seen to be "unfit" to be controlled through forced sterilization. A form of dehumanization to try to create THE "perfect" community of people living in places like the Virginia Colony.

Delona Trice

2026-01-13 13:33:32 UTC

“If you are sterilizing someone, you are saying, if not to them directly, ‘Your possible progeny are inassimilable, and we choose not to deal with that.’” This means that they are saying you being able to reproduce or you being allowed to have kids is dangerous because you could be bringing another “feeble mind” into the world and they don’t want that.

Delona Trice

2026-01-13 13:42:02 UTC

Brown’s poetry often times correlates to women struggles when it comes to certain topics such as assault or possible rape. Her poetry includes things relating to her body and how she has been physically impacted.

Delona Trice

2026-01-13 13:59:21 UTC

The Virginia State Epileptic Colony is an institution where people were getting sterilized in order to put a restriction on reproduction for those they thought would be of concern.

Molly McCully Brown, who has cerebral palsy, grew up near the former Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded

2026-01-13 16:56:51 UTC

Alanna Taylor

2026-01-14 06:04:51 UTC

The supreme court case Buck v Bell (1927) had ruled that states could sterilize those who are considered to be "unfit". The ruling has never been overturned. Groups that were considered to be "unfit" were people with disabilities, poor people, black, native, and Latina women, people incriminated, and "undesirable" immigrants.

Alanna Taylor

2026-01-14 06:12:05 UTC

In the Field Between Us is a collaborative series of poems and letters in which Molly McCully Brown and Susannah Navision reflect on disability, medical trauma, and the correlation of physical and emotional aspects that shapes their lives. They explore how the body remembers pain and how friendship creates space, a connection to grow from distance.

Alanna Taylor

2026-01-14 06:22:25 UTC

The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics was an institution designed to house the individuals that were labeled to be "unfit," including those with epilepsy, intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses, poor people, immigrants, orphans, or socially marginalized. The colony had become a central location for forced sterilization in Virginia. This company had a desire to get rid of the "undesirable traits" in order to make the "perfect" population. This represents how science, law, and government policy were abused to control human's bodies.

Shaniya jones

2026-01-16 16:04:37 UTC

many of her poems were published in some of the biggest newspapers. Her book the Virginia colony for epileptics and feebleminded has won the 2016 Lexi Rudnitsky first book prize and was named new York rimes critics top book of 2017

Shaniya jones

2026-01-16 16:24:01 UTC

They thought that eugentics could save them from the off spring of the ones deemed inferior. 20,000 steralizations took place in state institutions

Rmahni Wickmiller

2026-01-21 04:58:30 UTC

Molly McCully Brown often wrote about living within and beyond the limits of a body with cerebral palsy, a permanent and often painful movement disorder.

Rmahni Wickmiller

2026-01-21 05:14:11 UTC

California led the country in the number of sterilization procedures performed on men and women, often without their full knowledge and consent. Approximately 20,000 sterilizations took place in state institutions in California.

Rmahni Wickmiller

2026-01-21 05:22:15 UTC

The Virginia State Colony for the Epileptics and Feeble Minded was a state run institution for those considered to be "Feeble-minded” or those with severe mental impairment. The colony opened in 1910 near Lynchburg, Virgina in Madison Heights, to isolate those with mental disabilities and other qualities deemed unfit for reproduction away from society.

Rmahni Wickmiller

2026-01-21 05:35:37 UTC

Institutions such as hospitals, schools, prisons, and colonies were often built in specific locations to remove people from public life. This affected the community by breaking family connections and isolating people from society.

Jayla Gaines

2026-02-06 21:15:00 UTC

Looking at Molly McCully Brown’s work, I notice how much her writing connects place, the body, and history. It makes me think about how personal identity can be shaped by things we don’t choose, like where we’re from or what systems affect us.

Jayla Gaines

2026-02-06 21:16:12 UTC

Sterilization was used as a tool to prevent groups labeled “undesirable” from reproducing. Targeted populations included immigrants, people of color, poor people, people with disabilities or mental illness, and unmarried mothers

Jayla Gaines

2026-02-06 21:17:09 UTC

The Virginia State Epileptic Colony was established in 1910 in Amherst County, Virginia, as part of the early 20th-century eugenics movement. Its purpose was to isolate and control people labeled as “epileptic,” “feebleminded,” or otherwise “unfit,” though many residents were simply poor, disabled, orphaned, or seen as socially undesirable.

Jayla Gaines

2026-02-06 21:18:19 UTC

In a historical context, place can also reflect power and inequality. Institutions like the Virginia State Epileptic Colony show how certain communities were isolated and controlled based on where they were placed, separating them from society and stripping them of identity and voice. Community can either protect people through support and connection or harm them when it is shaped by fear, discrimination, or exclusion

Ja’Zhiya Freeman

2026-02-17 07:25:51 UTC

While reading about the eugenics movement in the United States, I learned that it was based on the idea that some people were “genetically unfit” and shouldn’t have children. This belief led to laws that allowed forced sterilization especially targeting people with disabilities, epilepsy, mental illness, and people living in poverty. What stands out to me is that these actions were supported by doctors, lawmakers, and even the Supreme Court.

Ja’Zhiya freeman

2026-02-17 07:29:39 UTC

Reading about these topics makes me think differently about the idea of place and community. A place can shape someone’s identity, but it can also restrict it. For the people at the Virginia Colony, the institution wasn’t just where they lived it determined their futures.

Community usually has a positive meaning, but in this case, it was controlled by people in power who believed certain lives were less worthy than others. That challenges the way I think about belonging. It makes me wonder how history would look different if the voices of the people inside the colony had been heard at the time. Just like the us now when it comes to the government.

Jazhiya f

2026-02-17 07:31:41 UTC

Her poetry gives voices to people who were silenced in these institutions. Instead of just giving historical facts, she writes in a way that makes you feel what it might have been like to live there. I think that makes the history more real and harder to ignore. Especially We start to see her changing throughout the story. It shows how place and community can shape people’s lives especially when they are trapped somewhere against their will

Ja’Zhiya freeman

2026-02-17 07:32:55 UTC

After the Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924 was passed, the colony began sterilizing patients. Thousands of people there were sterilized over the years. The colony was also connected to the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell, which made these sterilizations legal.

2026-03-13 14:16:44 UTC

poet Molly McCully Brown explores themes of disability, eugenics and faith.

2026-03-13 14:39:49 UTC

Learning about eugenics and forced sterilization in the United States made me realize how policies based on discrimination targeted groups like people of color, the poor, and people with disabilities, showing how important it is to protect everyone’s rights to make their own decisions about their bodies.

2026-03-13 14:40:41 UTC

shows how people labeled as “unfit” were isolated and controlled by the government, which highlights how dangerous it can be when science and policy are used to justify discrimination.

2026-03-13 14:41:45 UTC

place and community were used to decide who belonged and who didn’t, which helped justify unfair treatment and discrimination against certain groups.