page_title: Race Betterment Foundation
section_title: Fitter Family Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Race Betterment Foundation / Other Activities / Fitter Family Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Battle Creek College main building, 1896
context_page_description: The Race Betterment Foundation was a eugenics and racial hygiene organisation founded in 1906 at Battle Creek, Michigan by John Harvey Kellogg due to his concerns about what he perceived as ” race degeneracy.“ The foundation supported conferences, publications, and the formation of a eugenics registry in cooperation with the ERO. The foundation also sponsored the Fitter Families Campaign from 1928 to the late 1930s and funded Battle Creek College. The foundation controlled the Battle Creek Food Company, which in turn served as the major source for Kellogg’s eugenics programs, conferences, and Battle Creek College.
context_section_description: The Fitter Family campaign was evolved from Better Babies contests, which was popular during pre-World War I years. The latter was associated with eugenics at the Kansas Free Fair in 1920, and was developed into "Fitter Families for Future Firesides" competitions under the direction of Mary Tirrell Watts and Florence Brown Sherbon. The initial sponsor of the competition was the Red Cross (1920-1924), then Rockefeller and Eastman (1924-1926), and then was transferred to Race Betterment Foundation under Luther S West's direction in 1928. The campaign was a prime example of a positive eugenics program, focusing on teaching young adults familiar with their personal eugenical history how to choose their mates more prudently, and thus leading to a “fitter humanstock.”
caption: Battle Creek College main building, photo from the Twenty-first Annual Calendar of Battle Creek College, published in 1896.[23][24]
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