Eugenic reports classified most Eastern and Southern European immigrants as feebleminded

Evidence

Due in part to their religious beliefs, Catholics from Ireland, Italy, and Germany and Jews from Eastern Europe were assigned racial traits inferior to those of Anglo-Saxons. One report, for example, found that “83 percent of the Jews, 80 percent of the Hungarians, 79 percent of the Italians, 87 percent of the Russians were classified as Feebleminded.” Sixty percent of Jews were classified as Morons. Political elites of the time also believed Jews were unfit for citizenship because they were antisocial and antidemocratic by nature. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 237 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Early 20th-century US reports classified most Eastern European immigrants as feebleminded — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 237; European immigrants’ racial difference had to be intellectually manufactured — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 768; Early-1900s American intellectuals classified Southern and Eastern European immigrants as racially inferior — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 239 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Early 20th-century US reports classified most Eastern European immigrants as feebleminded #expands (0.94) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 237