Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson talks about the way politicians used the 1890 Census in order to justify the stipulations of the 1924 Immigration Act and limit the number of "undesirables" from Russia and Italy.
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson explains that there was significant opposition to the 1924 Immigration Act, but Franz Boas and others who opposed the legislation were not powerful enough to block its passage.