This collection contains materials focusing on the forced sterilization of women and efforts to resist this practice. Forced sterilizations have been used for hundreds of years as a method to exercise control over women and their bodies and continue to be used to attack women, their dignity and their legal and reproductive rights.

In addition to our archival holdings, the Freedom Archives has published a curriculum that one can use to inform their communities and classrooms about the historical and contemporary practice of forced sterilization. We have created this curriculum in order to provide historical context for forced sterilization, illuminate the voices of those directly affected by forced sterilization, and generate community discussion and activism around women’s liberation and reproductive justice. This curriculum is highly flexible and can be used in a variety of educational settings. We suggest a number of options that help develop different skill sets, such as critical thinking, active reading, active listening and expository or persuasive essay writing, all with the intention of deepening understanding of this recent history and its lessons. It can be downloaded for free by following the links below.

http://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC46_scans/46.SterilizationCurriculum.Nov2016.pdf

http://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC46_scans/46.SterilizationResourcesComplete.pdf