Defectives in the Land: Disability and Immigration in the Age of Eugenics

186 Pages·2016·1.52 MB·English

by  Douglas C. Baynton

Defectives in the Land

Defectives in the Land
Disability and Immigration in the Age of Eugenics
douglas c. baynton
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Douglas C. Baynton is professor of history at the University of Iowa, where he also
teaches courses in the American Sign Language program.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2016 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
Printed in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 36416- 2 (cloth)
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 36433- 9 (e- book)
doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226364339.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Baynton, Douglas C., author.
Title: Defectives in the land : disability and immigration in the age of eugenics /
Douglas C. Baynton.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: lccn 2015036867| isbn 9780226364162 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isbn 9780226364339 (e- book)
Subjects: lcsh: Immigrants— Medical examinations— United States. | Eugenics—
United States— History. | People with disabilities— Legal status, laws, etc.— United
States. | United States— Emigration and immigration— Government policy.
Classifi cation: lcc jv6485 .B395 2016 | ddc 363.9/20973— dc23 lc record available
at http:// lccn .loc .gov/ 2015036867
∞This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1 992 (Permanence
of Paper).
For Katy and Anna

Contents
Introduction 1
1 Defective 11
2 Handicapped 48
3 Dependent 79
4 Ugly 106
Conclusion 133
Notes 139
Index 171

Introduction
Race and ethnicity have long been at the center of American immigration
policy history, and understandably so. The formative years of federal immi-
gration law were bracketed at one end by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882,
and at the other by the National Origins Acts of the 1920s, which greatly re-
duced immigration from the “less desirable” nations of southern and eastern
Europe. In the intervening years, however, a series of less controversial but
historically critical laws were enacted that restricted immigration on the basis
of disability, or what was commonly known at the time as “defect.” Dur-
ing these fi rst four decades of federal immigration law, restriction advocates,
members of Congress, and Immigration Bureau offi cials identifi ed defective
immigrants as a dire threat to the nation. The menacing image of the defec-
tive was the principal catalyst for the rapid expansion of immigration law and
the machinery of its enforcement.1
A great variety of disabled immigrants were refused entry, among them
the deaf, blind, epileptic, and mobility impaired; people with curved spines,
hernias, fl at or club feet, missing limbs, and short limbs; those who were un-
usually short or tall; people with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities; her-
maphrodites (intersexuals); men of “poor physique” and men diagnosed
with “feminism”—a hormonal defi ciency, relatively common at the time,
that caused underdeveloped sexual organs. Others entering the country tem-
porarily for work or pleasure were detained until some individual or organi-
zation was willing to assume legal responsibility for their oversight, support,
and eventual departure. These included freak-s how performers such as Jug-
gernaut the Armless and Legless Mite, Hassan Ali the Egyptian Giant, and
Miss Delphi the Orange-H eaded Girl; and visiting lecturers such as Robert