Birth Control Pioneer Makes First Visit South

 

MargaretSanger

When Margaret Sanger came to speak on family planning in Elizabeth City on November 2, 1919, contraception had been illegal in the United States since the enactment of the Comstock Act of 1873 and birth control was a yet unfamiliar term in the American language.

Sanger’s visit to North Carolina was facilitated by William Oscar Saunders, publisher of the Elizabeth City Independent. The two had met in New York City while Saunders was visiting there. The November 7, 1919 issue of the Independent reported that over 800 people attended Sanger’s talk, in the “first public meeting for the discussion of the subject of birth control ever held in the south.”

Sanger would go on to be arrested in November, 1921 in New York City for disorderly conduct as she prepared to give a speech at the First American Birth Control Conference, an event she organized. Sanger is a well-known social reformer and sex educator, and is credited with helping create the modern birth control movement.

One thought on “Birth Control Pioneer Makes First Visit South”

  1. Here’s a lovely quote from Mrs. Sanger:

    “Birth Control is not contraception indiscriminately and thoughtlessly practiced. It means the release and cultivation of the better racial elements in our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extirpation of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”

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