Explore histories of migration, citizenship and belonging in Germany and the U.S. over the centuries.
During the first decades of the twentieth century the eugenics movement rose in popularity, advocating for immigration restriction, racial segregation, and the sterilization of people with disabilities, prisoners, and other populations they deemed “unfit” to reproduce.
With its roots in the scientific racism of the nineteenth century, eugenics refers to a philosophy and set of principles that promote selective reproduction and reproductive control with a goal of genetic improvement. Immigration laws passed in this period convey the widespread, popular influence of this pseudo-scientific movement that was supported by influential individuals and organizations in the U.S. such as the Carnegie Institute and Margaret Sanger, a leader of the birth control movement, as well as by the Nazis during World War II
American Philosophical SocietyEdwin Black. War against the Weak. New York: Dialog Press.
Wendy Kline. Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom. California: University of California Press.
Daniel Jo Kevles. In the name of eugenics: Genetics and the uses of human heredity. New York: Penguin Books Limited.
Emily de Araujo. A Summary History of Eugenic Theories and Practices in the United States. New York: Autonomedia.
Race and Membership in American History: The Eugenics Movement (A Facing History Resource Book). Brookline, MA: Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation, 2002.
