The Wisconsin-Madison And The Eugenics Movement

Topic: Eugenics and Immigration Research Question: To what extent did the internal eugenics movement of the University of Wisconsin-Madison contribute to restrictive American policies and ideologies concerning early 20th century immigration? Description: The United States eugenics movement advocated for the implementation of restrictive policies and ideology concerning its established hierarchy of humanity. It was through this hierarchy that ethnic, racial, and intellectual divides across global populations became propagated through scientific trains of thought. Though the eugenics movement became a widespread and popular ideology acknowledged as having scientific basis, it would later be proven pseudoscientific. Prior to this debunking, academics, …show more content…
& Co. “Sterilization: A Progressive Measure?” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 43, no. 3 (1960): 190–202. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4633515. Author Rudolph J. Vecoli reflects on the University of Wisconsin’s coinciding movements of eugenics and progressive reform. As Vecoli outlines the progressive reform movement being in the name of the betterment of society, he insightfully implicates the eugenics movement as being a key piece of this history. This specifically occurs as he notes the eugenics movement rooting itself into the progressive movement as well as promoting itself as being in the name of both establishing and maintaining a better society. Vecoli provides an extensive list of professors, their own works, and timelines of their discourse in his discussions of these movements. This discussion centralizes the University of Wisconsin Madison in the previously mentioned movements, as well as the policies that ensued as a result of them. Vecoli primarily focuses on sterilization as a primary mode of eugenics policy across this timeline, as well as how its implementation was a direct result of the progressive movement’s quest for societal betterment. As sterilization was viewed as a method to eradicate social problems across generations, Vicoli establishes a critical connection intertwining both the progressive and eugenics movements of the time. Though the nature of this work is primarily concerned with sterilization, it also provides important …show more content…
A. “ E. A. Ross: The Progressive as Nativist” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 50, no. 3 (1967): 242–53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4634255.html. Author Julius Weinberg discusses the works of E. A. Ross, University of Wisconsin Professor, eugenicist, and nativist. Ross’s work in the field of eugenics, specifically through the lens of his nativism, is outlined in its anti-immigrant sentiment as well as how such ideology was concocted with racial and societal preservation in mind. Weinberg discusses how Ross held a professorship at Stanford prior to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was dismissed for his views on eugenics and nativism. The University of Wisconsin, being a promoter of these two ideologies, hired Ross on as a professor following his dismissal. Ross soon became a prominent academic within the university, primarily due to his staunch positions on the importance of eugenics and nativism to the future of “fit” races within the United States. As Ross rose up through the ranks of the eugenics movement, he became well acquainted with prominent figures in both academia and government; including President Woodrow Wilson. It was through these connections that Ross was able to lobby in favor of restrictive immigration policy, most notably the requirement of literacy tests for immigrants upon entry to the United States. Weinberg also highlights how Ross was able to instill a great deal of his nativist values into the UW eugenics movement,

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The Wisconsin-Madison And The Eugenics Movement

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