Immigration, Intelligence, and the Public Health Service
Immigration, Intelligence, and the Public Health Service
This chapter examines the issues of immigration and intelligence that had arisen in the United States between 1880 and 1912, a period of increasing public clamor and concern that mentally deficient emigrants, particularly from countries in southern and eastern Europe, were gaining admission to the United States. The most important point of arrival in the United States was the Port of New York. In October 1911, Howard Andrew Knox, a physician, sought an appointment in the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service in New York City. The following year, he was assigned to work under the direction of Senior Surgeon George W. Stoner in the immigration station at Ellis Island. This placed him at the center of the controversy about whether the island’s physicians were capable of identifying emigrants suffering from mental deficiency.
Keywords: immigration, intelligence, United States, emigrants, Port of New York, Howard Andrew Knox, Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, Ellis Island, physicians, mental deficiency
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