Read “Defectives in the Land: Disability and American Immigration Policy, 1882-1924,” by Douglas Baynton in
The Journal of American Ethnic History(2005). You can find this article in the weekly folder or through the
library. Then answer the questions below, using complete sentences. Number your responses. The response
to each question should be a paragraph in length.

1. What barriers to admission are typically identified by historians?
2. Explain what immigration officials meant when they used the “defective” label.
3. Why did immigration authorities prevent such people with disabilities from entering the US?
4. Explain how people with disabilities were screened prior to arriving in the US.
5. How did these concepts about defectiveness play into the development of the quota laws?

Sample Solution