The heads of several U.S.-based philanthropic organizations say they are reckoning with their groups’ legacies of eugenics as they seek to help domestic and international grantees overcome systemic racism and other prejudices that could impact their projects.
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Ford Foundation President Darren Walker and John Palfrey, president at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, spoke about the philanthropy sector’s early involvement in the eugenics movement during a virtual event hosted by the Anti-Eugenics Project on Thursday. The Anti-Eugenics Project is a network of academics and others who study the legacies of eugenicist ideologies.
Eugenics propagates the belief in a hierarchy among humans, with some people ranked above others based on certain features such as skin and eye color. Whites, generally, are seen as superior to other races, according to many followers of the modern movement.
The Ford Foundation is among a slew of U.S.-based philanthropies that helped fund the eugenics movement during the early 20th century. The foundation was started in 1936 by Edsel Ford — the son of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford, who is widely known for “his descent into anti-Semitism,” as The Henry Ford institution writes.
Walker, who is the foundation’s second Black leader, said he and members of the Ford Foundation “deeply regret” its involvement.
“If you look across philanthropy, certainly the legacies, no one is left unscathed — not Ford, [Theodore] Roosevelt, [Andrew] Carnegie, [John D.] Rockefeller, [Russell] Sage,” according to Walker, who also was previously vice president at The Rockefeller Foundation.
“All of the great names of legacy philanthropy are implicated in this movement,” he said.
Eugenics research boomed in the United States during the 1920s and greatly influenced Nazi ideololgy in Germany. Palfrey said the MacArthur Foundation, founded in 1970, did not have direct connections to the movement. But he acknowledged that the insurance industry from which the MacArthur family made the bulk of its fortune relied on statistical modeling that has been linked to eugenics. Statistician Ronald Fisher, who is commonly referred to as “the father of modern experimental design,” was a eugenicist.
Palfrey said he had familial connections to eugenics as the great-great-grandson of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who he said supported eugenics.
The MacArthur Foundation president said it is time for philanthropies to come to grips with these complicated legacies and use them to inform their domestic and international work. Both the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation provide grants to nonprofits throughout the global south — including in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
“We have the ability to say we see a different kind of world, whether that’s in the United States or the work that many of us do as global foundations — in our case, in Nigeria or India,” he said. “We see a better way. We see a better path.”
Palfrey said philanthropies should figure out how to “support those who are crafting more equitable systems so that the liberty part isn’t up here and the equity part is down there.”
The Rockefeller Foundation also “is currently reckoning with our own history in relation to eugenics,” President Dr. Rajiv Shah wrote in a statement Tuesday that appeared on the anti-eugenics event page. The foundation helped fund eugenics research, according to historical accounts. Shah said his foundation has launched an internal investigation to uncover more details about its involvement.
“All of the great names of legacy philanthropy are implicated in this movement.”
— Darren Walker, president, Ford FoundationMeanwhile, The Rockefeller Foundation will center equity and inclusion in its projects, Shah said. Those projects include efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, to promote green energy transitions and end poverty, and to combat hunger and food insecurity, among others, he said. And the foundation will help grantees overcome “hateful legacies” built into laws, structures, and systems, according to Shah.
“Of course, we understand that the work we engage in today does not absolve us of yesterday’s mistakes,” he wrote. “However, our past does inform our present efforts to bolster humanity with advances in science and technology, and to reimagine the future.”
The anti-eugenics conversation among some foundations comes as other U.S.-based nonprofits also grapple with legacies connected to such movements. Devex reported that two board members for Pathfinder International — a leading reproductive health NGO that provides services in low-income settings worldwide — resigned this week, citing disagreements about how to address founder Clarence Gamble’s ties to eugenics, among other issues.
About the author
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
