Able to Be American: Disability in US Immigration Policy and the American Jewish Response - Couverture souple

Zaves-Greene, Hannah E.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1469697777 ISBN 13 : 9781469697772

Editeur : The University of North Carolina Press, 2026

Synopsis

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.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Hannah E. Zaves-Greene is a scholar-in-residence at Brandeis University’s Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and an expert in American Jewish history and disability studies.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: The University of North Carolina Press
• Date d'édition: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1469697777
• ISBN 13: 9781469697772
• Reliure: Paperback
• Nombre de pages: 304
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible