C.C. Little, Eugenics, and the Calvinism of Wellness

C.C. Little Buidling. Photo by Michael Barera.

In order for the wheel to turn, for life to be lived, impurities are needed, and the impurities of impurities in the soil, too, as is known, if it is to be fertile. Dissension, diversity, the grain of salt and mustard are needed: Fascism does not want them, forbids them, and that’s why you’re not…

Looking a Little More Deeply into C.C. Little

Clarence Little served as University President 1925-1929. Courtesy of Bentley Historical Library

I’ve been both pleased and concerned to see the recent attention to Clarence Cook Little, president of the University of Michigan from 1924 to 1929.  Pleased, because while in my own research I have found him both admirable and objectionable, I have always found him fascinating.   Concerned, because the recent attention to Little seems less…

Why the C.C. Little Building Should be Renamed

This post was originally published on April 12, 2017. In January 1928, Clarence C. Little delivered an address at the Third Race Betterment Conference in Battle Creek, Michigan, on the strides being made by scientists committed to the ideas and objectives of eugenics. Espousing the belief that society could and should be improved by stimulating…