In the early 1900s, the people of the New Jersey Pine Barrens were labeled as outcast deviants and criminals. As such they came under attack from the science of eugenics and its supporters in the political movement known as the progressives. The cornerstone of the progressive philosophy was that government could and should regulate society and improve it.

In 1911, progressives focused on two remedies to the situation: segregation of the unfit and their sterilization to prevent their…