This course is a history of immigration and ethnicity in the United States from colonial times to the present. We examine the changing immigration patterns and the effects of major events in U.S. history (American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, Civil War, Progressive Movement, two World Wars, the Cold Ward, and the Civil Rights Movement) upon those changes. The course also places U.S. immigration in the wider global context of urbanization and industrialization during from the 19th through the 21st century. Along with these larger historical forces, the course examines the “immigrant experience” and the ways race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion and other factors shaped the lives of immigrants and their communities. In addition, the course explores the history of “nativist” and anti-immigration movements through to the present, including the issues of migration and the southern border.
