Alexandra Minna Stern

Her research focuses on the history of eugenics,{{cite web |date=2016-12-18 |title=On a 'Eugenic Registry,' A Record of California's Thousands of Sterilizations |url=https://www.npr.org/2016/12/18/505000554/on-a-eugenics-registry-a-record-of-californias-thousands-of-sterilizations |access-date=2017-03-08 |website= |publisher=NPR |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Novak |first1=Nicole L. |last2=Lira |first2=Natalie |last3=O'Connor |first3=Kate E. |last4=Harlow |first4=Siobán D. |last5=Kardia |first5=Sharon L. R. |author5-link=Sharon Kardia |last6=Stern |first6=Alexandra Minna |date=May 2018 |title=Disproportionate Sterilization of Latinos Under California's Eugenic Sterilization Program, 1920-1945 |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=108 |issue=5 |pages=611–613 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2018.304369 |issn=1541-0048 |pmc=5888070 |pmid=29565671}} the uses and misuses of genetics, and the extremism of the far right in national and international contexts.{{Cite web |last=Stern |first=Alexandra Minna |title=Current Research |url=http://www.minnastern.com/current-research.html |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Alexandra Minna Stern Professor. Historian. Public Scholar |language=en}} She has also written about the history of public health, infectious diseases, and tropical medicine.{{Cite web |last=Stern |first=Alexandra Minna |title=Publications |url=http://www.minnastern.com/publications.html |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Alexandra Minna Stern Professor. Historian. Public Scholar |language=en}} Through these topics, she explores the dynamics of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, social difference, and reproductive politics.

In 2013, Stern founded the Sterilization and Social Justice Lab (SSJL), an interdisciplinary research team studying the history of eugenic sterilization in the United States.{{Cite web |title=Sterilization and Social Justice Lab |url=https://www.ssjlab.org/ |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Sterilization and Social Justice Lab |language=en}} Stern currently co-directs the SSJL with Nicole Novak, and Natalie Lira.{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.ssjlab.org/about-us.html |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Sterilization and Social Justice Lab |language=en}} In January 2017, Stern and co-authors Nicole Novak, Natalie Lira, Kate O'Connor, Sharon Kardia, and Siobán Harlow published an article in the American Journal of Public Health entitled, "California's Sterilization Survivors: An Estimate and Call for Redress" which estimated the likely living number of survivors of California's 20th century eugenic sterilization program.{{Cite journal|last1=Stern|first1=Alexandra Minna|last2=Novak|first2=Nicole L.|last3=Lira|first3=Natalie|last4=O'Connor|first4=Kate|last5=Harlow|first5=Siobán|last6=Kardia|first6=Sharon|date=January 2017|title=California's Sterilization Survivors: An Estimate and Call for Redress|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=107|issue=1|pages=50–54|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2016.303489|issn=1541-0048|pmc=5308144|pmid=27854540}} This research received extensive media coverage in The New York Times,{{cite news |title=California Today: Wrestling With a Legacy of Eugenics |newspaper=The New York Times |date=20 December 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/us/california-today-eugenics-sterilization.html |access-date=2017-03-08 |last1=McPhate |first1=Mike }} The Atlantic,{{cite web |date=2017-01-03 |title=A Long-Lost Data Trove Uncovers California's Sterilization Program |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/california-sterilization-records/511718 |access-date=2017-03-08 |publisher=The Atlantic}} and NPR. It inspired and informed a Los Angeles Times editorial urging the State of California to seriously consider reparations for survivors of eugenic sterilization.{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-eugenics-california-20170122-story.html|title=California needs to do more than apologize to people it sterilized|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2017-03-08}} In 2021, California passed the California Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program,{{cite web | url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1007 | title=Bill Text - AB-1007 Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program }}{{Cite web |title=California Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program |url=https://victims.ca.gov/fiscp/ |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=CA Victim Compensation Board |language=en-US}} which provides compensation to survivors of eugenic sterilization laws from 1909 to 1979 and survivors of involuntary sterilizations in women's prisons after 1979.{{Cite web |title=Bill Text - AB-1007 Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program. |url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1007 |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=leginfo.legislature.ca.gov}} The SSJL's research helped inform this effort, and the lead author of the bill was Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo.{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Amanda |date=2021-07-11 |title='You Just Feel Like Nothing': California to Pay Sterilization Victims |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/11/us/california-reparations-eugenics.html |access-date=2022-06-30 |issn=0362-4331}} The bill was co-sponsored by the Back to the Basics Community Empowerment, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ), and California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), in collaboration with the Sterilization and Social Justice Lab and with contributions from the Belly of the Beast film team. The SSJL was the source for demographic information and contextual historical research to identify survivors from the historic era.{{Cite web |title=Survivors |url=https://www.ssjlab.org/survivors.html |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Sterilization and Social Justice Lab |language=en}}

Stern has written over 50 books and articles,{{Cite web |title=Publications |url=http://www.minnastern.com/publications.html |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Alexandra Minna Stern Professor. Historian. Public Scholar |language=en}} and contributes to popular media stories about gender, medicine, and health in venues such as The New York Times Magazine,{{Cite news |last=Villarosa |first=Linda |date=2022-06-08 |title=The Long Shadow of Eugenics in America |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/magazine/eugenics-movement-america.html |access-date=2022-06-30 |issn=0362-4331}} The Daily Beast,{{Cite news |last=Hay |first=Mark |date=2021-11-14 |title=The Sneaky, Disturbing World of White-Nationalist Wellness |language=en |work=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-sneaky-disturbing-world-of-white-nationalist-wellness |access-date=2022-06-30}} NPR,{{Cite web |title=A Tale Of 2 Radicalizations |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/03/15/972498203/a-tale-of-2-radicalizations |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=NPR.org |language=en}} The Washington Post,{{Cite news |last1=Witte |first1=Griff |last2=Craig |first2=Tim |last3=Whoriskey |first3=Peter |last4=Ruble |first4=Kayla |date=January 16, 2021 |title=State Capitols Tighten Security and Brace for the Unknown as Far-Right Groups Plot Shows of Strength |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/state-capitals-national-guard-inauguration/2021/01/16/d010a97a-5833-11eb-89bc-7f51ceb6bd57_story.html}} and The Guardian.{{Cite web |date=2021-07-19 |title=Survivors of California's forced sterilizations: 'It's like my life wasn't worth anything' |url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/19/california-forced-sterilization-prison-survivors-reparations |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}

Stern is the author of Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America (University of California Press, 2005),{{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Alexandra Minna |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520285064/eugenic-nation |title=Eugenic Nation |publisher=University of California Press |year=2015 |isbn=9780520285064 |edition=2nd |language=en}} which won the Arthur Viseltear Award for outstanding contribution to the history of public health by the American Public Health Association.{{Cite book |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520285064 |title=Eugenic Nation |language=en}} Eugenic Nation is now in its second edition (University of California Press, 2015).{{Cite book|url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520285064|title=Eugenic Nation|language=en}}

Stern is also the author of Telling Genes: The Story of Genetic Counseling in America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012),{{Cite book |last1=Stern |first1=Alexandra Minna |url=https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/telling-genes |title=Telling Genes |date=2012-08-31 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9781421406671 |language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Allen|first=G. E.|date=2013-11-01|title=Telling Genes: The Story of Genetic Counseling in America|journal=Journal of American History|volume=100|issue=3|pages=878–879|doi=10.1093/jahist/jat373|issn=0021-8723|doi-access=}} which Choice Reviews named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title.{{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Alexandra Minna |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/72083 |title=Telling Genes: The Story of Genetic Counseling in America |date=2012 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-1-4214-0748-7 |location=Baltimore}}

Stern's latest book, Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right is Warping the American Imagination (Beacon Press, 2019), applies the lenses of historical analysis, feminist studies, and critical race studies to deconstructing the core ideas of the alt-right and white nationalism.

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