211-216 are advanced seminars, mainly for juniors and seniors in the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program. All other students need permission from the instructor to enroll in these courses.
HIST 214 The Immigration Debate: A View from History
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
SEM | Permit May Be Required: See above
In the years since the 1965 repeal of nationality based quotas, immigration to the United States has surged. Not only has the number of immigrants reached record highs, they have come from different places. During the last great wave of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, immigrants came largely from southern and eastern Europe. Today, they come from Latin America and Asia. Formerly, they usually settled in cities, moving outward as their prosperity increased; today, many bypass cities, heading straight for suburbs where a majority of immigrants now live. This new immigration has touched off a fierce national political debate that makes arguments about immigration which often contain assumptions or assertions about the history of immigration – often inaccurate – that influence positions on policy. There are few public issues in which history matters as much as it does for immigration. This seminar will provide the historical background essential for framing discussions of immigration today. It will consider the origins, demography, and geography of immigration and will pay special attention to the history of immigration policy. Requirements include reading approximately one book per week, writing several short commentary papers on readings, and leading workshops on the primary sources for the study of immigration history.
Course Syllabus (PDF)
