"Racism was part of the problem but not the whole problem," said Johanna Schoen, whose doctoral work on the Eugenics Board of North Carolina played a key role in "Against Their Will," the Winston-Salem Journal's series about sterilization.

The eugenics board ordered the sterilizations of more than 7,600 people from 1929 through 1974, often against the wishes of the women and their families.

The board sterilized increasing percentages of black women as it progressed, but Schoen said that it is important to not forget about how the program took advantage of poor women.

The eugenics program showed that a great number of people appeared to believe that women shouldn't have children while they are on welfare - attitudes that were reflected in some of the reactions to the Journal's series, Schoen said. It goes along with some people's belief that some women have more children to receive more welfare benefits, she said.

"I would argue that public attitude … has changed very little over the decades," Schoen said. As examples, she pointed to President Clinton's welfare reform that instituted financial penalties for women on welfare who have children and President Bush's emphasis on abstinence education. "Rights are only as strong as we are willing to tolerate the choices of others, even if we disagree with them," Schoen said. Gov. Mike Easley apologized for the eugenics program in December and appointed a committee to consider reparations and other forms of compensation for those sterilized. The committee hopes to submit its recommendations to Easley in June.

Easley is expected this week to sign a bill that would remove a law allowing the involuntary sterilization of the mentally ill.

Another committee - this one appointed by Dr. William Applegate, the dean of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine - is looking into the university's role in the eugenics program. "We're generally focusing on what if any institutional role was there in this," Applegate said.

A "very experienced faculty member" is leading the committee, Applegate said. Applegate declined to say how many people are on the committee or the members' names.

The committee should be done sometime this spring, and will send the report to him, Applegate said.

• Theo Helm can be reached at 727-7481 or at thelm@wsjournal.com

• Journal reporter Danielle Deaver contributed to this story.

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