News of Marilyn Halter’s graduate seminar on immigration
GRS HI 755: American Immigration History. More immigrants from the most diverse set of origins spanning the longest sustained period of time have made the U.S. their home than any other nation in the history of the world. In this seminar, we examine the history of that immigration with particular emphasis on the mass migrations from the 19th century to the present and how they have transformed American society demographically, culturally, economically, and politically. Americans have long been preoccupied with their diversity, worried about whether the centrifugal forces of race, religion, language, and national origin would eventually split the country apart. The class will address this question of inclusion and exclusion—of who is allowed to become an American, an issue that has dominated the public agenda of the U.S. for decades and continues to do so today. The seminar includes training in the methods of oral history and covers registration fees to attend the spring Massachusetts Historical Society conference on recent immigration, “What’s New about the New Immigration?” HI 755 meets Tuesdays 12:30-3:30 p.m.