From Barren to Infertile
Part 1 and Part 2
Complete audio of the public radio feature.

LISTEN links
Audio illustrations found throughout this site.

Audio is RealAudio 2.0 14.4 kbps.

Fertility Race Home
Access to other installments in the series.

THE STIGMA ASSOCIATED with being infertile has troubled Americans since colonial times. Women were usually blamed. In From Barren to Infertile, this first installment of The Fertility Race, Stephen Smith explores how, historically, American society has regarded and treated the infertile.

Begin the nine-page historical overview:
1. Barren in the New World

In these 1848 illustrations, a young couple is portrayed a day after marriage and a year after marriage. [Library of Congress]