U.S. Immigration History

Catalog description

U.S. immigration has become an increasingly controversial topic in the current political climate. This course will place these political, cultural, and economic discourses within a historical context . The course will begin with European settlers encounter with Native Americans, and the forced migration of African slaves. We will then trace the construction of U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada; the role of the Civil War in shaping our modern immigration system; Asian exclusion; the nativism that led to the passage of the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act; the complex legacy of the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act; refugee policies; and our current climate of immigration control which has been increasingly marked by mass detention, deportations, and border walls. We will think about how inequality informed by nationality, race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability have shaped policies and laws and drawn lines of inclusion and exclusion. We will also focus on the resiliency of immigrant communities and how they have overcome structural barriers and made important contributions to U.S. society, politics, labor force, and culture. In the course, we will draw upon the rich history of New York City to explore the immigrant experience by visiting Ellis Island and through conducting oral histories with professionals working in the field of immigration, or with friends and family members. This course will count towards the public history minor.