Buck v. Bell (1927) – Encyclopedia Virginia
Buck v. Bell was Carrie Elizabeth Buck. Some Buildings at the Virginia Colony for Feeble-Minded and Epileptics.Born on July 2, 1906, in Charlottesville, she was raised by foster parents John and Alice Dobbs from the age of three. In 1920, the authorities deemed Buck’s biological mother, Emma Adeline Harlowe Buck, a “low grade moron” and promiscuous for having a child out of wedlock. They committed her to the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded in Madison Heights, near Lynchburg. In 1923, Carrie Buck became pregnant, by her account as the result of rape committed by ...