Which Face? Whose Nation?

Abstract

This article examines medical inspections of immigrants arriving to U.S. ports and borders from the period 1891 to 1928. Comparing the activities of the U.S. Public Health Service at four immigration stations, the authors emphasize the importance of regional differences in the history of immigration and public heath. In addition, they argue that categories of medical exclusion emerged in conjunction with early-20th-century attitudes toward skin color and nationality, increasing stringent citizenship laws, and immigrant groups' varying relationships to the labor market. Finally, the authors argue that medical labels became more flexible over time, moving from clearly infectious and quarantinable diseases to more chronic conditions of physical and/or mental disability.