
Buck v. Bell
Buck v. Bell is the 1927 SCOTUS decision that upheld the constitutionality of laws allowing involuntary sterilization of people deemed to be “unfit.” Most of these laws have been repealed, but Buck v. Bell has never been directly overturned. Research: "Buck v. Bell." Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by Michael J. Tyrkus and Carol A. Schwartz, 4th ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2022, pp. 174-177. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX8276200650/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=84626437. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. “BUCK v. BELL, Superintendent of State Colony Epileptics and Feeble Minded.” https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/274/200 Brosnahan, Cori. “Finding Carrie Buck.” American Experience. 11/2/2018. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eugenics-finding-carrie-buck/ Circuit Court of Amherst County. "Judgment Against Carrie Buck (April 13, 1925)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 06 Aug. 2025 https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/judgment-against-carrie-buck-april-13-1925/ Derrig, Collin. “Buck v. Bell in the Aftermath of Dobbs v. Jackson: The Supreme Court’s Opportunity to Correct a Hundred-Year-Old Injustice.” University of Cincinnati Law Review Blog. 6/17/2025. https://uclawreview.org/2025/06/17/buck-v-bell-in-the-aftermath-of-dobbs-v-jackson-the-supreme-courts-opportunity-to-correct-a-hundred-year-old-injustice/ Disability Justice. “The Right to Self-Determination: Freedom from Involuntary Sterilization.” https://disabilityjustice.org/right-to-self-determination-freedom-from-involuntary-sterilization/ Dobbs, J.T.. "Petition to Commit Carrie Buck (January 23, 1924)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 06 Aug. 2025 https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/petition-to-commit-carrie-buck-january-23-1924/ Fair, Alexandra. “The Sterilization of Carrie Buck.” OSU.edu. https://origins.osu.edu/read/sterilization-carrie-buck General Assembly. "An ACT to define feeble-mindedness (1916)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 06 Aug. 2025. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-to-define-feeble-mindedness-1916/ General Assembly. "Chapter 46B of the Code of Virginia § 1095h–m (1924)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 06 Aug. 2025. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/chapter-46b-of-the-code-of-virginia-%c2%a7-1095h-m-1924/ Harris, Jasmine E. “Why Buck v. Bell Still Matters.” The Petrie-Flom Center. 10/14/2020. https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2020/10/14/why-buck-v-bell-still-matters/ Larson, Edward J. “Putting Buck v. Bell in Scientific and Historical Context: A Response to Victoria Nourse.” Pepperdine University. 12/15/2011. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1353&context=plr Lombardo, Paul A. "Facing Carrie Buck. (essay)." The Hastings Center Report, vol. 33, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2003, pp. 14+. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A101259980/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=46aca03c. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. Lombardo, Paul A. "Involuntary sterilization in Virginia: from Buck v. Bell to Poe v. Lynchburg." Developments in Mental Health Law, vol. 3, no. 3, July-Sept. 1983, pp. 13+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A235104880/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=aad8cdbf. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. Lombardo, Paul. “In the Letters of an ‘Imbecile,’ the Sham, and Shame, of Eugenics.’ Undark. 10/4/2017. https://undark.org/2017/10/04/carrie-buck-letters-eugenics/ Oberman, Michelle. “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Buck v. Bell: Thoughts Occasioned by Paul Lombardo’s Three Generations, No Imbeciles.” Journal of Legal Education, Volume 59, Number 3 (February 2010). https://jle.aals.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1268&context=home Smith, J., and Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Carrie Buck (1906–1983)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 06 Aug. 2025. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/buck-carrie-1906-1983/ Thompson, Philip. “Silent Protest: A Catholic Justice Dissents in Buck v. Bell.” The Catholic Lawyer. Vol. 43, No. 1, spring 2004. https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl/vol43/iss1/ Wolfe, Brendan. "Buck v. Bell (1927)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (12 Feb. 2021). Web. 06 Aug. 2025 https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/buck-v-bell-1927/ Lombardo, Paul A. “Carrie Buck’s Pedigree.” J Lab Clin Med 2001;138:278-82. doi:10.1067/mlc.2001.118091 Lombardo, Paul A. “Three Generations, No Imbeciles.” Johns Hopkins University Press. 2008. Gould, Stephen J. “Carrie Buck's Daughter.” Constitutional Commentary. 1015. 1985. https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/concomm/1015 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
20 Elo 43min

SYMHC Classics: Prison Breaks
This 2022 episode covers six highly ingenious and low-violence prison breaks from history. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
16 Elo 35min

Behind the Scenes Minis: Learned Women and Sharkey
Tracy shares a funny confusion about Unitarians and the University of Utrecht she kept having during research. Holly talks about how often escape stories to claim the escaper was never heard from again, even if that's not true.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
15 Elo 18min

William J. Sharkey’s Not-so-great Escape
William J. Sharkey was a pickpocket, a con man, a politician, and a murderer, though whether or not that murder was an accident became the question at the center of a case that gripped New York for months. And then, he vanished. Sort of. Research: “An Assassin’s Career.” New York Times. March 22, 1875. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1875/03/22/91671169.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 Asbury, Herbert. “The Escape of William J. Sharkey.” The New Yorker. Feb. 27, 1931. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1931/03/07/and the-escape-of-william-j-sharkey “Criminal’s Chances.” New-York Tribune. Nov. 20, 1873. https://www.newspapers.com/image/85393879/?match=1&terms=William%20J.%20Sharkey “The Death Penalty.” The New York Times. July 4, 1873. https://www.newspapers.com/image/20559978/?match=1&terms=William%20J.%20Sharkey The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Boss Tweed". Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 May. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boss-Tweed “The Escaped Murderer.” The Sun. Feb. 24, 1875. https://www.newspapers.com/image/51905732/?match=1&terms=maggie%20jourdan “Found Guilty.” New York Times. June 22, 1873. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/06/22/90527758.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 “Last Days of the Tombs.” New-York Tribune. May 23, 1897. https://www.newspapers.com/image/78349840/?match=1&terms=%22william%20j.%20sharkey%22 “Maggie Jourdan Bailed.” New York Daily Herald. Jan. 4, 1874. “The Murder Record: The Dunn Murder.” New York Times. June 20, 1873. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/06/20/90526851.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 “Scanlan, the Actor, Dead.” The Sun. Feb. 20, 1898. https://www.newspapers.com/image/79111299/?match=1&terms=%22william%20j.%20sharkey%22 “The Sharkey Case.” The New York Times. July 25, 1873. https://www.newspapers.com/image/20561956/?match=1&terms=William%20J.%20Sharkey%20%22writ%20of%20error%22 “Sharkey Is Still Alive.” The Evening World. March 6, 1900. https://www.newspapers.com/image/50555426/?match=1&terms=%22william%20j.%20sharkey%22 “Sharkey’s Escape.” New York Times. Nov. 20, 1873. https://www.newspapers.com/image/20503882/?match=1&terms=maggie%20jourdan “Trial of William J. Sharkey … “ New York Daily Herald. June 21, 1873. https://www.newspapers.com/image/329612596/?match=1&terms=William%20J.%20Sharkey “Why Is the Manhattan House of Detention Called the Tombs?” The New York Historical. https://www.nyhistory.org/community/manhattan-house-of-detention “Wm. J. Sharkey’s Escape.” The Sun. June 23, 1879. https://www.newspapers.com/image/78200292/?match=1&terms=maggie%20jourdan See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
13 Elo 33min

Anna Maria van Schurman, Star of Utrecht
Polymath Anna Maria van Schurman was a very well-educated woman in the 17th century, making her exceptional. She’s described as the most learned woman of her time, and she basically became a celebrity because of it. Research: Aldersey-Williams, Hugh. “’A Truer and Deeper Knowledge’: Anna Maria van Schurman’s The Learned Maid (1659).” Public Domain Review. https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-learned-maid/ "Anna Maria van Schurman." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 31, Gale, 2011. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631009647/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=cdba4228. Accessed 21 July 2025. “Anna Maria van Schurman: an academic multitalent.” Utrecht University. https://www.uu.nl/en/background/anna-maria-van-schurman-an-academic-multitalent Clarke, Desmond M. “Anna Maria Van Schurman and Women’s Education.” Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Étranger. No. 3. July-September 2013. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42773326 de Baar, Mirjam. “Elisabeth of Bohemia’s Lifelong Friendship with Anna Maria van Schurman (1607–1678).” From Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680): A Philosopher in her Historical Context, Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences 9. S. Ebbersmeyer and S. Hutton (eds.). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71527-4_2 de Baar, Mirjam. “SCHURMAN, Anna Maria van.” Online Dictionary of Dutch Women. https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Schurman,%20Anna%20Maria%20van/en 1/13/2014. Dekker, Maryse. “Anna Maria van Schurman: Brains, Arts and Feminist avant la letter.” Art Herstory. 2/23/2021. https://artherstory.net/anna-maria-van-schurman-artist-scholar-and-woman-of-letters/ Larsen, Anne R. “A Women's Republic of Letters: Anna Maria van Schurman, Marie de Gournay, and Female Self-Representation in Relation to the Public Sphere.” Early Modern Women, Fall 2008, Vol. 3 (Fall 2008). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23541520 Larsen, Anne R. “Religious Alterity.” French Forum, FALL 2018, Vol. 43, No. 2. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26762079 National Museum of Women in the Arts. “Anna Maria van Schurman.” https://nmwa.org/art/artists/anna-maria-van-schurman/ National Museum of Women in the Arts. “Anna Maria van Schurman: Self-Portrait.” https://nmwa.org/art/collection/schurman-self-portrait/ Pal, Carol. “Chapter 2 - Anna Maria van Schurman: the birth of an intellectual network.” From Republic of Women: Rethinking the Republic of Letters in the Seventeenth Century.” Cambridge University Press. 2012. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139087490.005 Project Vox. “Van Schurman (1607-1678).” https://projectvox.org/van-schurman-1607-1678/ Sint Nicolaas, Samantha. “The Correspondence of Anna Maria van Schurman.” Early Modern Letters Online. http://emlo-portal.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections/?catalogue=anna-maria-van-schurman The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Jean de Labadie". Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-de-Labadie. Accessed 25 July 2025. Van Beek, Pieta. “The first female university student: Anna Maria van Schurman (1636).” Igitur. Utrecht Publishing & Archiving Services. 2010. Van der Stighelen, Katlijne. “Chapter Title: Anna Francisca de Bruyns (1604/5–1656), Artist, Wife and Mother: a Contextual Approach to Her Forgotten Artistic Career.” From Women and Gender in the Early Modern Low Countries. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvrxk3hp.12 Weststeijn, Thijs. “Anna Maria Van Schurman’s Chinese Calligraphy.” Early Modern Low Countries 7 (2023) 1, pp. 1-25 - eISSN: 2543-1587. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
11 Elo 43min

SYMHC Classics: Sappho
This 2019 episode covers Sappho, often described as the greatest female poet of ancient Greece. Her reputation as a poet has persisted for more than 2500 years, but the overwhelming majority of her work has not.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
9 Elo 32min

Behind the Scenes Minis: Fitz Hugh and Sleepytime
Holly talks about gaining compassion for Fitz Hugh Ludlow through reading his work. Tracy discusses her training in massage school. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
8 Elo 28min