This past July, a 90-year-old woman sterilized involuntarily by the state when she was a homeless teenager died as officials continued to drag out the process of approving compensation for the sterilization victims. She and a younger sister, both of whom lived in Winston-Salem, were among more than 7,600 people rendered barren by order of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina from 1929 through 1974. Some are still suffering from mental and physical ills brought on by the operations. Others are dying off.
“I think the state should definitely do something for them,” the granddaughter of the 90-year-old told me last week.
