Timelines

Migration is a natural part of living systems, and human history is no exception. Yet it remains one of the most debated public issues of our time.

Both people and borders move. Who is allowed to move, and who is granted rights, lies at the heart of how nations define belonging. In Germany and the United States alike, these debates have been deeply intertwined with evolving ideas of race and ethnicity.

These timelines trace how citizenship and belonging have been constructed, challenged, and redefined through laws, social movements, global events, and cultural works — and how those histories continue to shape the present.

1915

Eugenics Movement Fuels Nativism and Racism

The eugenics movement, rooted in 19th-century pseudo-scientific racism, influenced early 20th-century U.S. immigration policy, including the 1921 and 1924 quota acts that restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia.

In the early 20th century, the eugenics movement, rooted in 19th-century pseudo-scientific racism, gained prominence, advocating immigration restrictions, racial segregation, and sterilization of perceived "unfit" groups. This influence can be seen in legislation such as the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which restricted immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, and the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924, which extended the ban on Asians, as well as the various state-level sterilization laws that mandated the sterilization of specific populations. Supported by the Carnegie Institute, Margaret Sanger, and the Nazis during World War II, eugenics left a significant mark on U.S. politics and world history.

American Philosophical Society

A poster from the Second International Eugenics Conference in 1921 depicting eugenics as a tree uniting various fields of study.

United States

Sources

Edwin Black. War against the Weak. New York: Dialog Press.
Wendy Kline. Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom. California: University of California Press.
Daniel Jo Kevles. In the name of eugenics: Genetics and the uses of human heredity. New York: Penguin Books Limited.

Additional Resources