Draft:Samuel Christian Schmucker

Samuel Christian Schmucker (1850–1928) was an educator and eugenicist known for his work at West Chester Normal School (now West Chester University in 2024). He was a figure in the early 20th-century eugenics movement, which sought to improve the genetic quality of the human population through selective breeding and other means.

A renaming controversy took place in 2023 in which many of his problematic writings about Eugenics were uncovered.

The trustees of West Chester University decided to remove his namesake from the Schmucker Science Center in 2023.

Schmucker's contributions included writing and teaching about eugenics, which was influenced by the social and scientific attitudes of his time. He advocated for policies that reflected eugenic principles, emphasizing the importance of heredity and the supposed superiority of certain traits. His work often intersected with educational practices, as he sought to incorporate eugenic ideas into school curricula.

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