Black Pastors Want Bust of Margaret Sanger Removed from the Smithsonian

Their argument is that Sanger supported eugenics and was a racist — but the evidence is shaky on both. It’s always dangerous to apply modern morality to previous eras, but that’s what you have to do to paint her as a horrible person. There’s a good article here giving more context to her beliefs, but for what it’s worth, Sanger opened up an integrated birth control clinic in the 1930s, a time when even those were segregated. And in 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America gave its inaugural “Margaret Sanger Award” to — wait for it — Martin Luther King, Jr. You can read his full acceptance speech here, but I would excerpt this bit:

There is a striking kinship between our movement and Margaret Sanger’s early efforts. She, like we, saw the horrifying conditions of ghetto life. Like we, she knew that all of society is poisoned by cancerous slums. Like we, she was a direct actionist — a nonviolent resister. She was willing to accept scorn and abuse until the truth she saw was revealed to the millions. At the turn of the century she went into the slums and set up a birth control clinic, and for this deed she went to jail because she was violating an unjust law. Yet the years have justified her actions. She launched a movement which is obeying a higher law to preserve human life under humane conditions. Margaret Sanger had to commit what was then called a crime in order to enrich humanity, and today we honor her courage and vision; for without them there would have been no beginning. Our sure beginning in the struggle for equality by nonviolent direct action may not have been so resolute without the tradition established by Margaret Sanger and people like her. Negroes have no mere academic nor ordinary interest in family planning. They have a special and urgent concern.

Black Pastors Want Bust of Margaret Sanger Removed from the Smithsonian