Quarantine inspectors checking children for vaccination marks, photograph by Black-Baker Photographers for U.S. Public Health Service, 1965
Courtesy of U.S. National Library of Medicine

On display at the Medical Library, from August 26th through October 4th, 2025, are six banners telling the story of immigration health in the United States. As the National Library of Medicine says, “Germs do not have a nationality,” yet throughout our history so many decisions regarding people’s health have surrounded the question: “Where are you from?”  

Between 1890 and 1924, roughly twenty million people immigrated to the United States. It wasn’t until the late 20th and early 21st centuries that real progress was made toward equitable medical care for immigrant communities. 

This exhibit will take you through the beginnings of immigration health and highlight key figures who worked toward making health care inclusive to all. This includes a German-Jewish nurse and reformer Lillian Wald who established the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service in the world’s largest immigrant neighborhood in 1893. Her work would help lead other members of the immigrant communities to take their health care into their own hands and open hospitals and clinics to push back against health care discrimination.