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Epilepsy. Heart disease. Varicose veins. “Feeble-mindedness.” In 1891, Congress unambiguously codified the popular sentiment that “defects” like these should preclude admission to the United States. Expanding the eugenics-rooted restrictions of the 1882 Immigration Act, the new law conflated illness, poverty, and disability with criminality and “moral turpitude,” starkly revealing Congress’s vision of the “ideal” American. Simultaneously, American Jews sought security and acceptance in the United States. In confronting this American culture of exclusion, they boldly asserted that they too had the right, knowledge, and ability to shape the meaning of American national belonging and, indeed, the fabric of the country itself.
Able to Be American explores this tension, revealing how eugenic theories about illness and disability fundamentally shaped American society, government, and everyday life. As Jewish communal leaders contested the thorny relationship between perceived able-bodiedness and the ability to become American, they strove to reform federal immigration law and its implementation according to their own visions for what the United States could become. Hannah E. Zaves-Greene’s groundbreaking and richly sourced analysis weaves together archival documents, government records, and captivating case studies to expose enduring truths about exclusion, belonging, democracy, and citizenship at this watershed moment in US history.
Epilepsy. Heart disease. Varicose veins. “Feeble-mindedness.” In 1891, Congress unambiguously codified the popular sentiment that “defects” like these should preclude admission to the United States. Expanding the eugenics-rooted restrictions of the 1882 Immigration Act, the new law conflated illness, poverty, and disability with criminality and “moral turpitude,” starkly revealing Congress’s vision of the “ideal” American. Simultaneously, American Jews sought security and acceptance in the United States. In confronting this American culture of exclusion, they boldly asserted that they too had the right, knowledge, and ability to shape the meaning of American national belonging and, indeed, the fabric of the country itself.
Able to Be American explores this tension, revealing how eugenic theories about illness and disability fundamentally shaped American society, government, and everyday life. As Jewish communal leaders contested the thorny relationship between perceived able-bodiedness and the ability to become American, they strove to reform federal immigration law and its implementation according to their own visions for what the United States could become. Hannah E. Zaves-Greene’s groundbreaking and richly sourced analysis weaves together archival documents, government records, and captivating case studies to expose enduring truths about exclusion, belonging, democracy, and citizenship at this watershed moment in US history.
Coles is renowned for its outstanding customer service and great selection of books. Along with the vast array of magazines, stationary, audio-books, children's literature, fiction, non-fiction and reference books, you can find accessories to make your reading experience more pleasurable. We can recommend the very best in reading today. We will help you search our titles for exactly what you need, and if we do not have it in stock, we will order it for you.
