Full Description
Americans have come from every corner of the globe, and they have been brought together by a variety of historical processes-conquest, colonialism, the slave trade, territorial acquisition, and voluntary immigration. A thoughtful look at immigration, anti-immigration sentiments, and the motivations and experiences of the migrants themselves, this book offers a compact but wide-ranging look at one of America's hottest issues. Historian David Gerber begins by examining the many legal efforts to curb immigration and to define who is and is not an American, ranging from the Naturalization Law of 1795 (which applied only to "free-born white persons") to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, and the reform-minded Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which opened the door to millions of newcomers, the vast majority from Asia and Latin America. The book also looks at immigration fromthe perspective of the migrant-farmers and industrial workers, mechanics and domestics, highly trained professionals and small-business owners-who willingly pulled up stakes for the promise of a better life. Throughout, the book sheds light on the relationships between race and ethnicity in thelife of these groups and in the formation of American society, and it stresses the marked continuities across waves of immigration and across different racial and ethnic groups. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Contents
Introduction Section One The Law of Immigration and the Legal Construction of Citizenship Chapter One Unregulated Immigration and Its Opponents: from Colonial America to the Mid-Nineteenth Century Chapter Two Regulation and Exclusion Chapter Three Reform in the Mid- Twentieth Century: Removing Barriers, Debating Consequences Section Two Emigration and Immigration: From the International Migrants' PerspectiveIntroduction Chapter Four Mass Population Movements and Resettlement, 1820-1924 Chapter Five Mass Population Movements and Resettlement, 1970 to the Present: Continuity and Change Section Three The Dialogue of Ethnicity and AssimilationChapter Six The Widening Mainstream Chapter Seven The Future of Assimilation Conclusion Further Reading
