History 327: American Immigration and Ethnic History

Goshen College

Spring 2007; MWF, 1:00 pm

Wyse Hall, Room 318

Prof. Steve Nolt

Office: Wyse Hall 312

Telephone: (office) 535-7460; (home) 534-6438

E-mail: stevemn@goshen.edu

Web site: http://blackboard.goshen.edu

"Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.” —Oscar Handlin, 1951

Course overview:

This course of study introduces major events and interpretations related to immigration and ethnicity in American history. Historians of immigration have not made volition an immigration criteria, thus immigrants include those who crossed legal borders on their own accord as well as those who had no choice in the matter. Historians of ethnicity recognize that ‘race’ and ethnicity are not identical, but they are connected frequently enough that ethnic history very often overlaps with the history of race. Four themes will be particularly important in our study:

(1) Immigration—the movement of people across legal borders, and often across cultural boundaries—is best understood in comparative and/or international perspective.

(2) Ethnicity as a sense of peoplehood is a social construction arising from the interaction of contrasting cultures and traditions, and growing out of a dialectic of self-identification and ascriptive definitions put forward by others.

(3) “Ethnicization” and “Americanization” nearly always have been two sides of the same phenomenon. These processes have produced conflict not only between groups, but also within groups—not so much over the possibility, but more often the means, of Americanization.

(4) Dominant attitudes and ideas about American identity, race, and ethnicity have evolved throughout U.S. history, and have produced varying patterns of inclusion, exclusion, assimilation, and discrimination, as well as changing legal standards and practices.

Course goals:

(1) To gain knowledge of the events, people, and issues around this topic, especially related to the themes, above.

(2) To identify various perspectives on a given event or topic and consider what historical sources tell us about the past and how we can use them to understand history.

(3) To think historically, evaluate sources, consider contexts, and construct arguments and raise and answer counter-arguments.

(4) To improve written and oral communication skills.

Grading and other requirements:

Evaluation will be based on 450 possible points:

Short quizzes on/responses to reading 50 points

Family paper 50 points

Primary source analysis 50 points

Research paper 150 points

Midterm and Final examinations 75 points (each)

Final letter grades are figured at 100-93%, A; 92-90%, A-; 89-87%, B+; 86-83%, B; 82-80%, B-; 79-77%, C+; 76-73%, C; 72-70%, C-; 69-67, D+; 66-60%, D.

Attendance: Attendance is expected. Notice of excused absences for athletic or school-related functions should be presented in advance. Quizzes given on days of unexcused absences cannot be made up. Extensions on written assignments are granted only in unusual circumstances, but do consult with me if you think you will be facing such a situation. The grade for any late written work, other than for medical reasons or otherwise cleared with the instructor in advance, will be reduced ten percent per day for each day late. Assignments due on days when a student has a school-related activity must be handed in by the due date.

Academic integrity: Plagiarism (the undocumented use of words or ideas from the work of others) is not acceptable. Plagiarized assignments receive no credit and are not eligible for make-up. All cases of plagiarism are reported to the Office of the Associate Academic Dean for processing.

Academic support: Goshen College wants to help all students be as academically successful as possible.  If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor or the Director of the Academic Support Center, Lois Martin, early in the semester so that your learning needs may be appropriately met.  In order to receive accommodations, documentation concerning your disability must be on file with the Academic Support Center, KU004, x7576, lmartin@goshen.edu.   All information will be held in the strictest confidence.  The Academic Support Center offers tutoring and writing assistance for all students.  For further information please see www.goshen.edu/studentlife/asc.php.

Assignments:

(1) A four-page (minimum) paper that situates your family and/or ancestry in a wider immigration and ethnic history context is due Monday, 29 January. Details are on the course web site under “Assignments.”

(2) A five-page (minimum) primary source analysis of first person accounts from Thomas Dublin, ed., Immigrant Voices is due Friday, 23 February. Details are on the course web site under “Assignments.”

(3) A major research paper (fourteen page minimum) on an approved topic of your choice is due Monday, 9 April. As a part of this assignment, a research topic and annotated bibliography are due Monday, 5 February, and a sentence outline (including thesis) is due Wednesday, 7 March. Details are on the course web site under “Assignments.”

(4) As a means of building accountability for the reading assignments, there will be five short quizzes on the reading. These will be given at the beginning of class on five random days, and will consist of five questions about the day’s reading. On five other days a one-page (maximum) reading response will be due. These responses will center on a question given by the instructor in advance.

(5) A midterm examination and a final examination are scheduled for Monday, 5 March and Tuesday, 24 April. Both written exams will include short-answer identification questions and two essay questions.

Textbooks:

Thomas Dublin, ed., Immigrant Voices: New Lives in America, 1773-1986 (Illinois, 1993).

Nancy Foner, From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration (Yale, 2000).

David A. Hollinger, Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, 3d. ed. (Basic Books, 2005).

Mae M. Ngai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America (Princeton, 2004).

George J. Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945 (Oxford, 1993).

Readings marked with (*) are on reserve: Good Library circulation desk and/or E-reserve.

Date Preparation for Class Class

Getting Oriented; Identifying Issues

W Jan 10		Course introduction, themes, goals, assumptions, assignments.
F Jan 12	Read *Dublin, Becoming American, Becoming Ethnic: College Students Explore Their Roots, 20-28; 45-51; 92-101; 108-111; 183-86; 193-97.	Topic: Immigration—themes, terms, contexts, & historiography.
M Jan 15	Martin Luther King, Jr. Study Day attend film and discussion, 2:00 pm, Umble Center
W Jan 17	Read *Conzen, Gerber, Morawska, Pozzetta, and Vecoli, “The Invention of Ethnicity: A Perspective from the USA.”	Topic: Ethnicity—themes, terms, contexts, & historiography.
F Jan 19	Read Hollinger, ix-50. Look for family paper resources.	Topic: Assimilation theory— themes, terms, approaches.
M Jan 22	Read Hollinger, 51-104. Look for family paper resources.	Discussion: Hollinger, ix-104.
W Jan 24	Read Hollinger, 105-72. Look for family paper resources.	Discussion: Hollinger, 105-72.
F Jan 26	Read Hollinger, 173-242. Look for family paper resources.	Discussion: Hollinger, 173-218.
M Jan 29	Finish family paper	Discussion: Hollinger, cont.; Share papers. Family paper due.

The Sweep of U. S. History

W Jan 31	Read *Fogleman, “From Slaves, Convicts, and Servants to Free Passengers: The Transformation of Immigration . . . .”	Topic: Free and coerced labor in British colonial North America.
F Feb 2	Read Dublin, 1-26, 69-86 (Introduction and Hollingworth family).	Topic: A Century of Immigration, 1820-1920, Part I.
M Feb 5	Read Dublin, 87-109 (William and Sophie Frank Seyffardt).	Topic: A Century of Immigration, 1820-1920, Part II. Research paper topic & bibl. due
W Feb 7	Read Dublin, 110-45 (Rosa Cassettari).	Discussion: Dublin, 69-145.
F Feb 9	Read Dublin, 146-72 (Rose Gollup); and *Henry L. Feingold, A Time for Searching, 35-61.	Topic: The experience of American Jews.
M Feb 12	Read Dublin, 173-202, 234-59 (Mary Paik and Kazuko Itoi).	Topic: Chinese exclusion and American thinking about race.
W Feb 14	Read Dublin, 203-33 (Galarza family).	Topic: Chinese exclusion and American thinking about race, cont.
F Feb 16	Read *Strong, Our Country, 41-58, 200-18.	Topic: The drive to restrict immigration (to the 1920s).
M Feb 19	Read *Higham, “The Transformation of the Statue of Liberty”; and Dublin, 260-74 (Piri Thomas)	Topic: American identity in the 20^th century.
W Feb 21	Read Dublin, 275-97 (Nguyen Family).	Topic: Immigration and ethnicity since 1965.
F Feb 23	Finish Dublin primary source paper.	Topic: Current issues; Census 2000. Primary source paper due

Spring Break

M Mar 5

Study for midterm exam.

Midterm examination.

Immigration Law, American Identity, and Ethnic Conflict

W Mar 7	Read Ngai, xix-14.	Topic: Patterns of nativism. Research paper outline due.
F Mar 9	Read Ngai, 15-55	Discussion: Ngai, xix-55.
M Mar 12	Read Ngai, 56-90.	Discussion: Ngai, 56-90.
W Mar 14	Read Ngai, 93-166.	Discussion: Ngai, 93-166.
F Mar 16	Read Ngai, 169-224.	Topic: Japanese Internment and ethnic identity.
M Mar 19	Read Ngai, 227-70.	Guest speaker: Issues in immigration law today.

Perspectives on the Latino/a Experience

W Mar 21	Read Sánchez, 3-83.	Discussion: Sánchez, 3-83.
F Mar 23	Read Sánchez, 85-125,	Topic: Immigration to Canada and Mexico—brief comparisons.
M Mar 26	Read Sánchez, 127-206.	Topic: Immigration to Canada and Mexico—brief comparisons.
W Mar 28	Read Sánchez, 207-74.	Discussion: Sánchez, 127-274.
F Mar 30	Work on research paper.	Guest: Chicana reflections—from Texas to Colorado to Goshen, Ind.
M Apr 2	Work on research paper.	Guest: A recent immigrant story.
W Apr 4	Work on research paper.	Guest: The Latino community in Goshen today.
F Apr 6	Good Friday

Assimilation and Ethnicization Yesterday and Today

M Apr 9	Finish research paper.	Guest: A recent immigrant story. Research paper due.
W Apr 11	Read *Nolt, “A ‘Two-Kingdom’ People in a World of Multiple Identities: Religion, Ethnicity, and American Mennonites.”	Topic: Mennonites and ethnicity.
F Apr 13	Read Foner, 1-69.	Topic: Affirmative action and immigration.
M Apr 16	Read Foner, 70-141.	Discussion: Foner, 1-141.
W Apr 18	Read Foner, 142-87.	Film and discussion: “Fuerza.”
F Apr 20	Read Foner, 188-243.	Discussion: Foner, 188-243. Where does this place us in 2007?

Monday, 23 April: Reading Day

Final Exam: Tuesday, April 24, 10:30 am.