Teaching Immigration:Migration, Citizenship, and Identity in Postwar America

Kristina Shull December 4, 2013

Teaching American History InstituteUniversity of California, Irvine History Project

Overview• America’s demographics are rapidly changing.

What historical factors have caused this shift?• What are various (and often competing) ways

in which we can conceptualize the history of immigration in the United States?

• Strategies for teaching immigration:– CA State Standards– Working with Primary Sources– Fostering Critical Thinking– Making the Past “Actionable”

Immigration Before WWII• http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/ch

arts/final.immig.shtml shows the waves of immigration into the U.S.

• Immigration generally unrestricted until 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, 1907 Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan, and 1924 National Origins Act

• Immigration had been substantially cut off after the 1924 National Origins Act and the Great Depression

• Why the steady increase since WWII?

Renewed Immigration After WWII• 1952 Immigration Act: Abolished racial restrictions found in U.S.

law going back to the Naturalization Act of 1790, but still retained a quota system for nationalities and regions. The Act defined three types of immigrants: immigrants with special skills or relatives of qualifying U.S. citizens; a quota of “average” immigrants; and refugees

• Subsequent Refugee Acts:• Many anticommunist Cubans allowed into US as refugees after Fidel

Castro’s communist revolution in Cuba (1959)• Florida, especially Miami, becomes heavily Cuban

Fidel Castro

Cubans in Miami march

Immigration Reform Act of 1965• Ended “national origins” quotas on

immigration • Substituted criteria of skills, family ties, or

“refugee” status from communist countries. • Opened way for growing immigration from

Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Middle East

Lyndon Johnson signs Act

• Latin America: Quotas placed for first time

Fall of Saigon after 1975 brought growing numbers of people who had fought with the U.S. in Vietnam– Vietnamese– Hmong– Cambodian

Vietnamese American Parade in Westminster

Hmong graduates of St. Paul MN high school

Refugee Act of 1980• admitted “political” refugees from

communist countries (eg, Jews from the Soviet Union, Cubans, Vietnamese)

• banned “economic” refugees such as people fleeing Haiti, wars in Central America in the 1980s, and undocumented Mexicans seeking work

Haitian refugees in boats transferred to USCoast guard for return to Haiti.

1986 IRCA Act & Economic Boom• 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act granted large-scale

“amnesty” to undocumented migrants while placing sanctions of employers

• Economic Boom of 1980s and 1990s attracted many Mexican and Central American migrants, both legal and undocumented, who wanted work

Food truck in Chicago

Immigration in CaliforniaBetween 1970 and 2009, the number of California residents born abroad increased from 1.8 million to almost 10 million. 46% have become naturalized U.S. citizens.This large influx, together with undocumented immigration, has brought controversy. . . .

As Around the Turn of Last Century…• American life again became filled with diverse

languages and cultures

• As with the previous wave of immigrants, immigrants themselves were highly diverse in wealth, religion, political leanings, circumstances of migration.

• New workers competed with native-born Americans for jobs, often breeding conflict.

• Some native-born Americans warned about cultural and economic decline; others welcomed the new energy and revitalization of cities

Conceptualizing the History of Immigration to the United States: A Nation of Immigrants?

An Open Door?

• Globally, the United States is seen to be one of the more welcoming nations for immigrants: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/21/a-fascinating-map-of-countries-color-coded-by-their-openness-to-foreigners/

• Historically, the United States has been depicted as a “nation of immigrants”; a “melting pot”

A History of Restriction?• Role of race and nativism in immigration legislation• Scholars argue that the history of U.S. immigration

is one of ongoing restriction:– Aristide Zolberg, A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy

in the Fashioning of America– Dan Kanstroom, Deportation Nation: Outsiders in

American History– Mae M. Ngai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the

Making of Modern America– Mark Dow, American Gulag: Inside U.S. Immigration

Prisons

1996 IIRIRA & Post-9/11 Restrictions • 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and

Immigrant Responsibility Act greatly expanded conditions under which immigrants can be detained and deported

• After 9/11, a further series of restrictions was enacted

• Today, the United States detains and deports upwards of 400,000 migrants a year

Current Immigration Reform Debate• Should there be a path to citizenship for some in the U.S. illegally?• Recently, flow of immigrants to United States has declined due to

poor economy• Support for and against the DREAM Act:

Changing “American” Identities?• The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by the year 2042 U.S.

residents who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites, meaning that ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the nation’s population. This has been called a “watershed moment” that shows us just how multicultural we have become.

• What does it mean to be “American”? • Who is included; who is excluded?• What do we mean by:• Pluralism?• Assimilation?

Teaching Immigration: CA State Standards

• Teaching Tolerance lesson series: “Changing Demographics, Changing Identity, Changing Attitudes”

• http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/changing-demographics-changing-identity-changing-attitudes

Teaching Immigration: Using Primary Sources

• UCI History Project: Analyzing a Primary Source using the “6 C’s”:– Content: What’s going on in the source?– Citation: Who created this, and when? Why?– Context: What else was happening when this was created?– Connection: Invoke current knowledge: How does this source

connect to what you already know? Seek new knowledge: What else do you need to know to make sense of this source?

– Communication: Point of view: What does this source say when ‘reading between the lines’? In what ways is the source reliable? Where is there room for doubt or speculation?

– Conclusion: What can this source tell us about the questions we’re asking in this course?

Teaching Immigration: Fostering Critical Thinking

1920 Cartoon 2013 Cartoon

Teaching Immigration: Making the Past “Actionable”

• 10 Myths about Immigration: http://www.tolerance.org/immigration-myths

• Teaching Tolerance activity: “Family Ties and Fabric Tales: Middle and High School”: http://www.tolerance.org/supplement/family-ties-and-fabric-tales-middle-and-high-school