J.S. Woodsworth publishes <i>Strangers Within Our Gates</i>

J.S. Woodsworth publishes Strangers Within Our Gates

1909. J.S. Woodsworth's Strangers Within Our Gates was published in 1909. In the work, Woodsworth provides a hierarchy of races and ethnicities based on their ability to assimilate into Canadian society. The organization of the book reflects Woodsworth's "hierarchy" with early chapters focusing on "Great Britain", "the United States", "Scandinavians," "Germans," and later chapters focusing on the "Italians," "Levantine races," and "Orientals," ending with a chapter titled "the Negro and the Indian" (see table of contents).

In the preface he writes "this little book is an attempt to introduce the motley crowd of immigrants to our Canadian people and to bring before our young people some of the problems of the population with which we must deal in the very near future" (Woodsworth 1909, p.5). Later in the work he explains what he believes to be the main challenge posed by immigration, stating "English and Russians, French and Germans, Austrians and Italians, Japanese and Hindus - a mixed multitude, they are being dumped into Canadian by a kind of endless chain. They sort themselves out after a fashion, and each seeks to find a corner somewhere. But how shall we weld this heterogeneous mass into one people? That is our problem." (Woodsworth 1909, p. 203)

Woodsworth's concern over the "problem of the immigrant" was echoed by a number of Canadian reformers. The open door policy of immigration in place at the turn of the twentieth century concerned many Canadians who felt that Canada was being used as a dumping ground for the socially “undesirable,” particularly those who were “mentally defective,”or “feeble-minded,” terms associated with crime, alcoholism, prostitution, and other ills. This concern resulted in many reformers calling for immigration restriction, and racial purity through eugenic interference with the proliferation of immigrant families

The publication is available online here.

-Amy Samson

J.S. Woodsworth publishes <i>Strangers Within Our Gates</i>

J.S. Woodsworth publishes Strangers Within Our Gates

1909. J.S. Woodsworth's Strangers Within Our Gates was published in 1909. In the work, Woodsworth provides a hierarchy of races and ethnicities based on their ability to assimilate into Canadian society. The organization of the book reflects Woodsworth's "hierarchy" with early chapters focusing on "Great Britain", "the United States", "Scandinavians," "Germans," and later chapters focusing on the "Italians," "Levantine races," and "Orientals," ending with a chapter titled "the Negro and the Indian" (see table of contents).

In the preface he writes "this little book is an attempt to introduce the motley crowd of immigrants to our Canadian people and to bring before our young people some of the problems of the population with which we must deal in the very near future" (Woodsworth 1909, p.5). Later in the work he explains what he believes to be the main challenge posed by immigration, stating "English and Russians, French and Germans, Austrians and Italians, Japanese and Hindus - a mixed multitude, they are being dumped into Canadian by a kind of endless chain. They sort themselves out after a fashion, and each seeks to find a corner somewhere. But how shall we weld this heterogeneous mass into one people? That is our problem." (Woodsworth 1909, p. 203)

Woodsworth's concern over the "problem of the immigrant" was echoed by a number of Canadian reformers. The open door policy of immigration in place at the turn of the twentieth century concerned many Canadians who felt that Canada was being used as a dumping ground for the socially “undesirable,” particularly those who were “mentally defective,”or “feeble-minded,” terms associated with crime, alcoholism, prostitution, and other ills. This concern resulted in many reformers calling for immigration restriction, and racial purity through eugenic interference with the proliferation of immigrant families

The publication is available online here.

-Amy Samson