History of US Immigration
June 6 - 10 in Lincoln, Nebraska
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS
Margaret Jacobs and Jon Went
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
This syllabus includes the major topics we will be covering and discussing each day of the Institute. You will note that under each topic there is a "featured reading." It is likely that we will refer directly to and discuss the ideas in these particular documents and articles, so focus more closely on these readings. "Background readings" that are listed at the end of each day will give you a broad overview of the topic and other resources that may be helpful in teaching. We have included some poems, short stories, and memoirs that provide deeper insight into the social realities involved in the immigrant experience.
ASSIGNED READINGS
- Roger Daniels, Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life, 2nd edition (New York: Harper Collins/Perennial, 2002).
- J. Gjerde, Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998).
- Monica Sone, Nisei Daughter (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979).
- Francisco Jimenez, The Circuit (Albuquerque: University of NM Press, 1997).
- Mary Pipher, The Middle of Everywhere: The World's Refugees Come to Our Town (New York: Harcourt, 2002).
- Summer Institute Course Reader on Immigration History.
MONDAY, JUNE 6
Approaches to Immigration History
Featured Reading:
Kathleen Conzen, et. al., "The Invention of Ethnicity," in Gjerde, Major Problems,
22-29.
Major Themes in Immigration History
Featured Reading:
Daniels, Coming to America, 3-29.
Immigration in the Colonial Era
Featured Reading:
Primary Sources: "Benjamin Franklin," and "Congressional Acts,"
in Gjerde, Major Problems, 70-73, 80-81.
Secondary Source: Arthur Mann, "Creation of American Identity in the Late 18th
Century," in Gjerde, Major Problems, 89-95.
Background Reading:
Daniels, Coming to America, 30-118.
Gjerde, Major Problems, chapters 1-3.
TUESDAY, JUNE 7
19th-Century Immigrant Experience
Featured Readings:
Primary Sources: Robert Whyte, in Gjerde, Major Problems, 102-104.
Primary Sources: Robert Whyte, in Gjerde, Major Problems, 102-104.
Secondary Sources: Kerby Miller, "Irish Immigrants Who Perceive America as Exile,"
and Sucheng Chan, "The Chinese Migration to the United States," in Gjerde,
Major Problems, 113-123, 195-202;
Reception and Reaction to 19th-Century Immigrants
Featured Readings:
Primary Sources: "Samuel F. B. Morse," "Portrayals of Immigrants in Political
Cartoons," and "Lee Chew," in Gjerde, Major Problems, 136-38, 149-50, 172-74.
Secondary Sources: Dale Knobel, "The Relationship Between the Portrayal of
Irish Americans and Citizenship at Midcentury," in Gjerde, Major Problems, 160-168.
Background Reading:
Daniels, Coming to America, 121-264.
Gjerde, Major Problems, chapter 4-6.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
The Changing Face of Immigration at the Turn of the 20th Century, 1882-1924
Immigration, Urbanization, and Industrialization
Featured Readings:
Primary Sources: "Jacob Riis," "A New York Politician," in Gjerde, Major Problems,
205-07, 208-09.
Secondary Sources: Herbert Gutman, "Immigrants Adjust to Industrial Labor," in
Gjerde, Major Problems, 219-229.
Changing Gender Roles and Generational Conflict
Featured Readings:
Primary Sources: "Mexican Ballads," in Gjerde, Major Problems, 249-50; Lillian
Wald, "Reformers Condemn 'Tough Dancing,' c. 1910," and "An Immigrant
Newspaper Defends Czech Dance Halls, 1917," in Course Reader.
Secondary Sources: Vicki Ruiz, Changes Between Daughters and Parents in the
Mexican American Family," in Gjerde, Major Problems, 262-271.
Race, Americanization, and Citizenship
Featured Readings:
Primary Sources: "Samuel Gompers," "A Racialized Description of Immigrants
from Europe," "Thind v. United States," in Gjerde, Major Problems, 275-77, 281-83,
288-290.
Secondary Sources: John Higham, "The Evolution of Thought on Race" and Ian
Haney-Lopez, "The Evolution of Legal Constructions of Race and 'Whiteness,'" in
Gjerde, Major Problems, 291-305.
Background reading:
Excerpts from Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, Judy Yung, Island: Poetry and History
of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940 in Course Reader.
Gjerde, Major Problems, chapters 7-10.
Daniels, Coming to America, 265-284.
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
Immigration Between 1924-1965
Defining the Illegal Alien and the Deserving Immigrant
Featured Readings:
Primary Sources: "Documents and Reminiscences Recall the Mexican Repatriation,"
in Gjerde, Major Problems, 383-85.
Japanese-American Internment
Featured Reading:
Primary Sources: Monica Sone, Nisei Daughter; Yoshiko Uchida," in Gjerde,
Major Problems, 387-89.
Secondary Sources: Roger Daniels, "World War II and the Forced Relocation of
Japanese Americans," in Gjerde, Major Problems, 395-404.
Background Reading:
Excerpts from Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama, The Four Immigrants Manga: A
Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924, in Course Reader.
Gjerde, Major Problems, chapters 11 and 12.
Daniels, Coming to America, 287-349.
FRIDAY, JUNE 10
Immigration since 1965
Current Debates and Issues Regarding Immigration
Featured Reading:
Primary Sources: Francisco Jiménez, The Circuit.
Secondary Sources: John Higham, "The Varieties of Ethnic Pluralism in
American Thought," and David Hollinger, "An Attempt to Move Beyond
Multiculturalism," in Gjerde, Major Problems, 332-41, 440-48.
New Immigrants in Nebraska and the Midwest
Featured Readings:
Mary Pipher, Selections from The Middle of Everywhere: The World's Refugees
Come to Our Town, 69-79, 83-109.
Articles in Course Reader:
James Potter, Rodrigo Cantarero, X. Winson Yan, Steve Larrick, and Blanca
Ramirez-Salazar, "A Case Study of the Impact of Population Influx on a Small
Community in Nebraska," in Course Reader.
William Branigin, "Immigrants Shunning Idea of Assimilation," Washington Post,
25 May 1998.
"The Tuition Question," Omaha World Herald, 10 March 2005.
Cindy Gonzalez, "Dozens Rally for Immigrant Students," Omaha World Herald,
12 March 2005.
Cindy Gonzalez, "Latino Dropouts Cause Alarm," Omaha World Herald,
15 March 2005.
"Volunteers Heading to for the Border," Omaha World Herald, 31 March 2005.
Scott Bauer, "Nebraskans Fear Segregation in Schools."
Background Reading (In Course Reader):
Luis Rodriguez, "We Never Stopped Crossing Borders"; Jimmy Baca, "So Mexicans
Are Taking Jobs from Americans"; Pat Mora, "Elena"; "La Migra"; Nellie Wong,
"When I Was Growing Up"; Chitra Benerjee Divakaruni, "Indian Movie-New Jersey,"
Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry, eds., Maria
Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan (New York: Penguin Books, 1994).
Jhumpa Lahiri, "Hell-Heaven," New Yorker 80, no. 13 (May 24, 2004):72-81.
Roger Daniels, "Immigration after 9/11," in Guarding the Golden Door: American
Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882 (New York: Hill and Wang, 2004).
Gjerde, Major Problems, chapters 13 and 14.
Daniels, Coming to America, 350-459.
Mary Pipher, The Middle of Everywhere: The World's Refugees Come to Our Town.
Margaret Jacobs
Associate Professor
Department of History
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
612 Oldfather Hall
Lincoln, NE 68588-0327
Phone: (402) 472-2417
Fax: (402) 472-8839
mjacobs3@unl.edu