Hist. of American Immigration ((3 Credits))

Catalog description

This course will examine the history of voluntary and involuntary immigration to the United States from the colonial period to the present day. Students can expect to cover key turning points within this scope of history, focusing on important legislation, economic factors, and political debates which have shaped the immigrant experience in the U.S. In addition, students will also learn how that experience has been shaped by questions centered on race, fitness for citizenship, gender, sexuality, nativism, class, and labor. Emphasis will be placed upon providing a meaningful context for better understanding contemporary policies and issues via the exploration of the origins of "legal" vs. "illegal" immigration, the exclusion and inclusion of various groups, the complexities of racial construction, and how immigrants have been perceived and have perceived themselves, namely the ways in which particular communities have been stigmatized, demonized, and valorized.