Page "Tay–Sachs disease" Paragraph 37

Jewish immigration to the United States peaked in the period 1880 – 1924, with the immigrants arriving from Russia and countries in Eastern Europe ; this was also a period of nativism ( hostility to immigrants ) in the United States.

Opponents of immigration often questioned whether immigrants from southern and eastern Europe could be assimilated into American society.

Reports of Tay – Sachs disease contributed to a perception among nativists that Jews were an inferior race.

Reuter writes " that Jewish immigrants continued to display their nervous tendencies in America where they were free from persecution was seen as proof of their biological inferiority and raised concerns about the degree to which they were being permitted free entry into the US.