Q: WHAT HAPPENED IN NORTH CAROLINA?
A. Under the state's eugenics program, which began in 1929, more than 7,600 people underwent sterilizations. Some procedures were forced to weed out the "feebleminded" while others were a voluntary form of birth control. Up to 1,800 people who were sterilized in North Carolina may be alive. The state has verified 146 living victims.
Unlike most states, the North Carolina program expanded after World War II, and shifted toward targeting poor black women.