HIST 311 - Immigration Nation*AEH

Credits: 5

This course investigates American history through the topic of immigration. It follows a chronological overview of American immigration history from the colonial period to the present and addresses salient historical issues such as migration, immigration law, deportation policy, nativism, xenophobia, and border policing. The United States has had a higher number of immigrants than any other nation in the history of the world. Millions of immigrants have come to America to seek religious freedom, political asylum, family reunification, and economic prosperity. Immigrants have long played a substantial role in enriching American culture and fueling economic growth. At the same time, they have often been regarded as an unsettling force, a burden on taxpayers and, curiously, as unassimilable and therefore a threat to American national and racial identity. HIST 311 seeks to provide much-needed historical context for ongoing debates over immigration, citizenship, Americanization, race, ethnicity, and national belonging. Focusing centrally on immigrant experiences and what migrating to America and/or becoming an American has meant historically, this course also grapples with a question older than the nation itself: can a large and growing democratic-republic accept a diversity of peoples brought within its borders?

Prerequisites: None, but WR 121 or its equivalent, and HIST 201 or HIST 202 are recommended.
General Education Core: Aesthetics & Humanities
Course Attributes: AEH,DPD