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{{Short description|American medical professor and eugenicist (1856–1938)}}
'''Charles Fremont Dight''' (1856–1938) was an American medical professor and promoter of the human [[eugenics]] movement in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Minnesota]].<ref name = MPR2011>Collins, Bob, [https://www.mprnews.org/amp/story/2011/08/01/minnesotas-eugenics-past "Minnesota’s eugenics past"], Minnesota Public Radio News. August 1, 2011.</ref> Dight Avenue, a street in [[Minneapolis]], was named for him until the city re-designated it as [[Cheatham Avenue]] in 2022.<ref name=Buchanan>{{cite news|url=https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2016/03/down-syndrome-awareness-day-dight-ave-and-persistence-intolerance|first1=Nicholas|last1=Buchanan|first2=Petra|last2=Buchanan|date=March 21, 2016|newspaper=Minnpost|accessdate=July 4, 2018|title=Down syndrome awareness day, Dight Ave., and the persistence of intolerance}}</ref><ref name=Welter>{{cite news|url=http://www.startribune.com/oct-14-1914-dight-avenue-s-hitler-connection/153894385/|first1=Ben|last1=Welter|date=June 22, 2015|newspaper=[[Star Tribune]]|title=Yesterday's News — Oct. 14, 1914: Dight Avenue's Hitler connection}}</ref>
== Biography ==
In 1856, Dight was born in [[Mercer, Pennsylvania]], to parents of [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch]] [[Germanic peoples|German]] heritage. He grew up on a farm.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Welter|first=Ben|date=2015-06-15|title=Oct. 14, 1914: Dight Avenue's Hitler connection|work=[[Star Tribune]]|url=https://www.startribune.com/oct-14-1914-dight-avenue-s-hitler-connection/153894385/|access-date=2015-06-15}}</ref> Dight married Dr. [[Mary A. G. Dight|Mary A. Crawford]] in 1892, but they divorced in 1899. Dight had no children or heirs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dight, Charles Fremont, 1856-1938 - Social Networks and Archival Context|url=https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w69c8nt2|access-date=2022-01-04|website=snaccooperative.org}}</ref> Dight resided in a [[tree house]] home dwelling at 4818 39th Avenue in Minneapolis, which has since been demolished.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Welter|first=Ben|date=2015-06-15|title=Oct. 14, 1914: Dight Avenue's Hitler connection|work=[[Star Tribune]]|url=https://www.startribune.com/oct-14-1914-dight-avenue-s-hitler-connection/153894385/|access-date=2015-06-15}}</ref>
Dight was born in [[Mercer, Pennsylvania]] and graduated from the [[University of Michigan Medical School]] in 1879. He was a health officer in [[Holton, Michigan]] from 1879-1881. He then worked at the university under professor [[Alonzo B. Palmer]]. Dight taught at the [[American University of Beirut]] (1883-1889). Upon returning to the United States, he was the resident physician and teacher of physiology and hygiene at the [[Shattuck-Saint Mary's|Shattuck School]] in [[Faribault, Minnesota]]. He later taught at the medical school at [[Hamline University]] which became part of the [[University of Minnesota]] in 1907. In 1914, Dight was a member of the [[Socialist Party of Minnesota]] when he was elected an alderman from 12th district of [[Minneapolis]], which he represented until 1918.<ref name="mnhspapers">{{cite web|url=http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P1628.xml?return=q%3D%2522public%2520ownership%2520party%2522|title=CHARLES FREMONT DIGHT: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society|publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]]|accessdate=14 April 2016}}</ref> During his time in office, Dight was instrumental in passing an ordinance requiring the pasteurization of milk.<ref name="Phelps">{{cite news|url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/49/v49i03p099-108.pdf|title=The Eugenics Crusade of Charles Fremont Dight|last=Phelps|first=Gary|date=Fall 1984|publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]]|accessdate=14 April 2016}}</ref> He left the Socialist Party in 1917, prior to beginning his eugenics efforts.<ref name="Phelps"/>▼
▲Dight
Dight became a proponent of eugenics during the 1920s, though it is unknown from where he developed his ideas. He founded the [[Minnesota Eugenics Society]] in 1923 and persuaded the Minnesota legislature to pass a [[Sterilization (medicine)|sterilization]] law in 1925.<ref name=Buchanan /> When he died in 1938, he gave his estate to the [[University of Minnesota]] to create the Dight Institute for Eugenics Research.<ref name=Buchanan /> The institute was renamed the [[Dight Institute for the Promotion of Human Genetics]] and was in operation until the late 1960s when it was divested, and later closed in the 1990s.<ref name=Buchanan /> Dight actively pursued the same type of eugenics as [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] medicine.<ref name="Phelps"/> In 1933, Dight wrote a letter to [[Adolf Hitler]] praising his efforts to "stamp out mental inferiority."<ref>{{cite web|title=Letter to Hitler from Charles Dight|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724235202/http://chgs.umn.edu/histories/letterHitler.pdf|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|accessdate=15 May 2021}}</ref>▼
{{Eugenics sidebar}}
▲Dight became a proponent of eugenics during the 1920s
In 1918, the Minneapolis city council named a nine-block long street in the [[Longfellow, Minneapolis|Longfellow community]] "Dight Avenue" for him in recognition of his efforts to promote food safety.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Welter|first=Ben|date=2015-06-15|title=Oct. 14, 1914: Dight Avenue's Hitler connection|work=[[Star Tribune]]|url=https://www.startribune.com/oct-14-1914-dight-avenue-s-hitler-connection/153894385/|access-date=2015-06-15}}</ref> The street name drew periodic criticism from the public and by [[Editorial board|editorial boards]] of newspapers, such as by the ''[[MinnPost]]'' in 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Buchanan|first=Nicholas|last2=Buchanan|first2=Petra|date=2016-03-21|title=Down syndrome awareness day, Dight Ave., and the persistence of intolerance|work=[[MinnPost]]|url=https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2016/03/down-syndrome-awareness-day-dight-ave-and-persistence-intolerance/|access-date=2016-03-21}}</ref> The legacy of Dight Avenue became part of a wave of statute removals and official re-designations in the [[Aftermath of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul|aftermath]] of [[George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul|protests]] following [[George Floyd]]'s murder in 2020.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Brooks|first=Jennifer|date=2021-12-25|title=Minneapolis will change infamous street name to honor trailblazing firefighter|work=[[Star Tribune]]|url=https://www.startribune.com/the-long-road-to-a-better-street-name/600130300/|access-date=2021-12-25}}</ref> In light of his views on eugenics, in 2021 a [[petition]] drive led by disability activist [[Noah McCourt]] requested that the City of Minneapolis rename the street, which received support from residents and city officials.<ref name=":0" /> In 2022, Dight Avenue was renamed after [[John Cheatham (firefighter)|John Cheatham]], one of the first [[African Americans|Black]] firefighters in Minneapolis.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jennifer Brooks: Minneapolis will change infamous street name to honor trailblazing firefighter|url=https://www.startribune.com/the-long-road-to-a-better-street-name/600130300/|access-date=2021-12-27|website=Star Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-06-01|title=Petition asks to rename Minneapolis street named after eugenicist who praised Hitler|work=[[Bring Me The News]]|url=https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/petition-asks-to-rename-minneapolis-street-named-after-eugenicist-who-praised-hitler|access-date=2021-06-01}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Croman|first=John|date=2021-12-28|title=Minneapolis street renamed for city's first Black firefighter|work=[[KARE-TV]]|url=https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/minneapolis-street-renamed-for-citys-first-black-fireman/89-9f70d9ce-628d-491c-b7d8-efca89e2825a|access-date=2021-12-28}}</ref>
== Publications ==
*1935: ''History of the Early Stages of the Organized Eugenics Movement for Human Betterment in Minnesota''
*1936: ''Call for a New Social Order''
== See also ==
* [[2020–2022 Minneapolis–Saint Paul racial unrest]]
* [[List of name changes due to the George Floyd protests]]
* [[Nazi eugenics]]
* [[Eugenics in Minnesota]]
== References ==
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== External links ==
*[http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P1628.xml Personal Papers of Charles F. Dight, Minnesota Historical Society]
*[https://www.mnopedia.org/multimedia/charles-fremont-dight-s-treehouse-residence Charles Fremont Dight’s treehouse residence], Minnesota Historic Society
{{Authority control}}
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