Welcome back! It’s the 10th week of First Sentence Friday/Free Book Friday!
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About the Book
Accused of “promiscuity” in 1940s North Carolina, a young woman unjustly incarcerated and subjected to involuntary medical treatment at The State Industrial Farm Colony for Women decides to fight back in this powerful, shockingly timely novel based on the long-buried history of the American Plan, the government program designed to regulate women’s bodies and sexuality throughout the first half of the 20th century.
The day Ruth Foster’s life changes begins the same way as many others—with a walk through her North Carolina hometown toward the diner where she works. But on this day, Ruth is stopped by the local sheriff, who insists that she accompany him to a health clinic. Women like Ruth—young, unmarried, living alone—must undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease.
Though Ruth has never shared more than a chaste kiss with a man, by day’s end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Some, like 15-year-old Stella Temple, are brought in at their family’s request. For Stella, even the Colony’s hardships seem like a respite from her nightmarish home life.
Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she’s transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women’s medical treatment and “training” until they’re deemed ready for parole. Sooner or later, everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker’s rule book or face the consequences—solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse.
But some refuse to be cowed. Against Mrs. Baker’s dogged efforts and the punishing weight of authority, Ruth and other inmates find ways to fight back, resolved to regain their freedom at any cost . . .
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First Sentence Friday Thoughts
While researching this book/topic, I couldn’t believe some of what I uncovered. As mentioned in a previous post, the effort to round up women, hold them in facilities, and make them endure medical treatment against their will began decades before the timeline of my story. I set it in 1941 on purpose because this was right before penicillin was used for treatment. I could have set it in 1918 just as easy, because it was during WWI these efforts to control the “diseased” began, and continues to this day, to some degree.
Consider this statement from a simple Google search of the law passed by Congress, originally known as the Chamberlain-Kahn Act:
“While the act itself was passed in 1918, its enforcement and influence extended into the World War II era, and even into the 1950s. The American Civil Liberties Union did not oppose the use of the law during World War II, and its founder actually encouraged local branches to utilize it. The law’s impact during World War II remained consistent with its initial application, primarily targeting women suspected of prostitution or engaging in behaviors deemed “promiscuous”. These women faced involuntary examinations, detention in facilities resembling prisons, and forced treatments for STIs like syphilis and gonorrhea. “
But rather than calling it the Chamberlain-Kahn Act, it was referred to as “the American Plan.” The American Plan sounds more inclusive, more patriotic, a good thing to have. It’s often the way of our history. Paint it different, paint it so it looks nice, sounds nice and appealing. Ensure it appears to serve the greater good.
Also from Google: “The term “American Plan” in 1918 most commonly refers to a public health program” <– this raised my eyebrows — “enacted through the Chamberlain-Kahn Act. This act’s primary goal was to combat the spread of venereal diseases, particularly among soldiers during World War I.”
And, if you go a little farther in your reading, you’ll see this:
- Treatment and Incarceration: The forced “treatment” for STIs during this era often involved toxic and painful compounds like arsenic and mercury, according to WHYY. These detention centers functioned more like prisons than medical facilities, where women faced harsh conditions and lacked due process.
- Scope and Duration: The American Plan was a widespread and long-lasting program, with many states adopting similar laws. It continued in various forms into the 1950s and even into the 1960s and 1970s in some locations, according to History.com.
It was as if once I had certain key words, or the actual name of this law, only THEN could I find out more about what took place. Some of these laws still exist today in correlation to prostitution, now referred to as “sex work.” The difference is anyone who is charged with the crime of being a sex worker gets their due process – for the most part. Corruption exists, after all. As an aside, the only state that doesn’t prosecute sex workers is Nevada.
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Chapter 10
Baker
The American Plan is on the up and up, once again.
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Question of the Week!
Well? What do you think so far? Are you learning a lot? Are you shocked? Has anyone ever heard of any of this? Share your thoughts!
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Free Read!
I’ll choose one individual who answers the question/s to win a signed copy of one of the backlist books. It’s reader’s choice out of the following: The Education of Dixie Dupree, The Road to Bittersweet, The Forgiving Kind (with the original cover versus what’s shown here), The Moonshiner’s Daughter, The Saints of Swallow Hill, or When the Jessamine Grows.
The winner is selected and announced here by Monday a.m.
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PRE-ORDER Information
Pre-orders gauge the interest and signal to the publisher readers are eager for an author’s next work. If you’re holding out because you might win an ARC or a finished copy from First Sentence Friday, remember you can always give away the extra as a gift to a reader friend. 😉
Pre-order links for your convenience:
- Bookshop.org
- Kensington Publishing Corporation
- Barnes & Noble
- Books-A-Million
- Amazon
- Hudson Booksellers
- Target
- Walmart
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Social Media
Last, but not least, don’t forget to:
- Add Women of a Promiscuous Nature to your Goodreads “To Read” shelf
- Share this post with your reader friends
- Follow me on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Bookbub, or my blog!
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I am shocked by all of this! I know a bit about the eugenics movement, but this is on another level. I shudder when I think of how we couch things by giving them names that sound so positive, while hiding the cruelty and inhumanity. Women always seem to bear the brunt of misdeeds and crimes perpetrated against them, and to this day they are some who still want to treat women as lesser than.
I was familiar with eugenics, sterilizations, the categorizations of mental capacity, and even the Tuckesegee case story, but not about this. It’s true, about women, as history shows. And, just when you think we’ve uncovered all that’s happened, something like this comes along, which I’m glad it did – I needed a story!😉
Wow! This is something all new to me! It’s so hard to imagine what women have endured during our country’s history! Thank you for bringing it into the light.
It was all new to me, too! I’m glad I landed on it – but it was literally like a domino effect when I was researching.
Dear Group: I live in the Sandhills area of NC and pass Samarcand a lot, where the women’s sterilization reformatory was; it is now Samarcand Training Academy for law enforcement and juvenile justice officers. In fact, I researched the area back in 2017 because of Raphael Pumpelly’s (1881-1949) peach-phase and history in that region. It was named Samarcand after his father’s Raphael Pumpelly, Sr.’s favorite geology/mining site in Uzbekistan (Samarkand, with a ‘K’) where he did a lot of exploration. Anyway, the Wayward Girls of Samarcand (McLaurin) is a great book too along with the already mentioned Bad Girls of Samarcand (Zipf). I am so glad that Donna is covering this topic and writing this book. We need a refresher and a reminder that woman’s rights and prejudices are not that all far behind us as we still fight for women’s bodily autonomy today. Thank goodness for an increased awareness. I am learning a bunch. The WWI posted Donna found is otherworldly, in a way, but not surprising. – Angela
Hi Angela,
Great to hear from you. I recall reading about that other name, Samarkand. I believe Pine Straw Magazine might have written about it. Thank you for sharing some of the backstory on how it came to be – I just know when I saw it, I thought, wow, that’s a weird name – particularly for this area. Fascinating stuff.
I learned a lot while writing this book as well. I’m sharing as much as I can through these posts because it was an expansive effort and encompassed many varying social issues of the time. Everything from reform, to eugenics, to sterilizations, to white supremacy (in the South), to the incarceration of women, forced medical treatments, and on and on. Unbelievable, all in all.
This is all shocking to me, but can’t wait to read your book and learn more!
I hope all of this will be helpful when you all finally get to read it!
Good morning, Wow, I had never heard of any of this, this is pretty shocking and it sounds inhumane! Your book sounds like a great read and that I will learn alot more of this . Have a great weekend.
When I first came across some of these topics I asked both my agent and editor if they’d ever heard of any of it, and they said “no.” And that’s the answer I still get most often. Most have no idea this happened. Btw – you won a book last week! 😉
I was unfamiliar with this shocking history. Your writing is fascinating, and I appreciate the valuable lessons it gives me, even when the subject matter is
uncomfortable; history absolutely needs to be shared.
Thank you! And it’s true, I have a tendency to write from a complicated or difficult perspective, but the truth isn’t always pretty, that’s for sure. Thank you for reading my work! 😊
new to me
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It was such a strange, and unreal thing to discover.
What I already knew about this was only the tip of the iceberg, whereas your research has provided a veritable avalanche of information.
That’s how I felt once I had landed on certain key topics, like I was caught up in an avalanche. I couldn’t read fast enough and then it became almost overwhelming. I had to decide how to tell the story to make it the most impactful. Fingers crossed readers will feel that I did.
I am not shocked at any of this. I grew up in Rural NC. My mother age 15 became pregnant with my oldest brother in 1942, thankfully the father stepped up and married her before it was revealed to the state she was unmarried and pregnant, but I heard her tell of the fear she had. She and her husband had three more children and then he passed when my sister was six in 1957. Four years later she was a widow and became pregnant with me, again she feared the state would label her, take her children and do Lord only knows to me as she had not given birth yet. There was an understanding country doctor in the little town I grew up in that protected her and did not report her, my Father would not step up and do the right thing and my mother actually sued him in 1962 for Bastardry and she won, he had to pay child support AFTER he served six months in prison, I think that was the turning point and men were starting to be held accountable. Her sister also became pregnant at 15 and the father would not step up so his brother did marry her to protect her from be “sent away”.
Oh my word! As I live and breathe, I felt someone or someone’s family had to have experienced this, and here it is. Thank you for sharing your family’s story, Vera.
In my own family, my Dad’s youngest sister, my Aunt Linda, had Downs Syndrome. I remember my mother talking to my grandmother about these “people” who were pressuring my grandmother to send her away to a mental institution. She refused. As I wrote this, I thought my grandmother was brave for standing up for what she felt was right. I still talk to my other aunt (my Dad’s other sister) and she said, “Mama always said she won’t about to send Linda away. She was her daughter, and that was all there was to it.”
A different story, but in those days, there was little tolerance for your own family’s situation, or those who were viewed as mentally deficient.
I knew a little about this, but I am truly shocked about what these girls went through. I had no idea it was that bad.
I think they were thinking “the ends justify the means.” (they meaning local health officials, law enforcement, and the ones in government who created these programs) Crazy stuff!