Courtesy of Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips, UTA alumnus and author, will deliver a presentation called “‘Worthless Human Silt’: Eugenics, racism and immigration in UTA History” from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Thursday at the sixth floor parlor of the Central Library.
The talk will center around former dean of the university E. E. Davis. Phillips said in an email that Davis supported eugenics, wrote a white supremacist novel and advocated for closing immigration from Mexico.
Phillips said he began researching Davis after reading a book by his mentor that mentioned Davis, but it only scratched the surface of the history.
“I thought, ‘Well, this needs to be a fuller story because he had a very long career, and frankly, a lot of it was really terrible,’” he said.
The talk will also give information on the history of eugenics in Texas.
Phillips said he thinks there is a lot to learn from the era of forced sterilization in the United States.
“They leaped way ahead of what knowledge they actually had and drew conclusions, sweeping conclusions, and that’s dangerous.”
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