The researchers with the Eugenics Record Office began their fieldwork among the Amherst Indians in February 1923. No records suggest exactly why Amherst was chosen as the research site, one can speculate that as the least economically and socially stable native community—the majority of residents subsisted as tenant farmers and the group reported a high incidence of illegitimacy—they were believed to best exemplify the deleterious effects of racial mixture. Charles Davenport, head of the Eugenics Record Office, appointed Arthur Estabrook lead researcher on the project. A zoologist by training, Estabrook made a name for himself through his investigations into the traits of mixed-race groups and the rural poor. Just prior to beginning work on the Amherst group Estabrook had completed a study of another racially mixed group, the Ishmaelites of Indiana. He was also the author of updated eugenic family studies, The Jukes in 1915, and The Nam Family: A Study in Cacogenics (1912). Estabrook’s research emphasized the role of genetic susceptibility over environment in the creation of degenerate populations. His studies framed the degenerate behavior of his subjects as justification for stringent reproductive controls including institutional segregation and sterilization.
To understand the sociological dimensions of the study,
…show more content…
He even invited Estabrook to testify on the state’s behalf in the Sorrell’s case. Although the researchers would occasionally supply Plecker with information, they appeared reticent to provide Plecker with ammunition to use against the Indians. Plecker wrote to Estabrook asking for help in the Johns’ case as well, but Estabrook informed him that he would not be able to send him any data for at least two weeks, by which time the trial would have already