Professor MARILYN HALTER
[email protected]
Spring, 2015
Office Hours:
W 10:30-11:30 and Th 10-12
CURA, 10 Lenox St. Rm. 6
HI 310
Becoming American: The Immigrant Experience
“Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered
that the immigrants were American history.”
--Oscar Handlin, Introduction to The Uprooted, 1951
More immigrants from the most diverse set of origins spanning the longest sustained period of time
have made America their home than any other nation in the history of the world. In this course, we
will explore the foundational idea of the United States as a “Nation of Immigrants” and look at the
history of the immigrant experience by examining a multiplicity of personal voices as well as the
interpretations of leading historians on the subject. What have been the obstacles and incentives to
the incorporation of the foreign-born and how has American identity been transformed by the
inclusion of new immigrants? The class will also address the controversial question of who shall be
allowed to become an American, an issue that has dominated the public agenda of the United States
for decades and continues to do so today.
Required Reading:
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Thomas Dublin, ed. Immigrant Voices: New Lives in America, 1773-2000 (2014)
Nancy Foner, From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration (2000)
[Online access available through BU Libraries]
Marilyn Halter and Violet Showers Johnson, African & American: West Africans in Post-Civil
Rights America (2014) [Online access available through BU Libraries]
Mae Ngai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America (2014)
[Online access available through BU Libraries]
Required books can be purchased at the BU Barnes and Noble Bookstore. Assigned articles, book
excerpts and other documents are available through:
(1) our Blackboard Learn website or
(2) Mugar Library electronic course reserves: http://www.bu.edu/library/services/reserves/
Course Requirements and Grading:
Attendance and Participation (20%)
Students will take collective responsibility for the success of every class discussion. Thus, attendance
is mandatory and you are expected to arrive to class with thoughts and questions related to the topic
for that day. You therefore need to keep up with the schedule of course readings as outlined in the
syllabus, completing the reading assignments by class time on each day that they are listed as
due. Class participation will be measured not simply by attendance but by your preparation for and
active participation in the class.
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Response Papers (20%)
Over the course of the semester, you will be asked to write four 2-3 page Response Papers related to
that week’s readings. They may only be submitted on the day they are due. The specific response
topic will be announced in class and posted on the website the week before it is due.
Midterm Exam – Thursday, March 26 (30%)
Final Paper – Due Tuesday, May 7 (30%)
The final paper of 10-12 pages requires you to research the settlement patterns of one recent
immigrant population of your choosing, including conducting oral history interviews with 2-4
individuals from that group. You will need to submit a preliminary proposal for approval describing
plans for this paper (due Tuesday, April 14). More details on the Final Paper assignment will also
be provided in class as well as training in oral history methods.
The Final Paper must be submitted on time. If you absolutely cannot adhere to the deadline,
you must speak to me at least five days before the due date and we will discuss the possibility of an
approved extension. In all other circumstances, the paper will automatically be marked down 1/3 of
a grade for each day the assignment is late.
A Note on Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the passing off of another’s words or ideas as your own, and it is a serious academic
offense. Cases of plagiarism will be handled in accordance with the disciplinary procedures described
in the Boston University Academic Conduct Code:
http://www.bu.edu/academics/resources/academic-conduct-code/
CLASS SCHEDULE
Week I
Jan. 20
Introduction: An American Kaleidoscope
Jan. 22
• Immigrant Voices: Introduction: 1-23
• Gregory Djanikian, “Immigrant Picnic,” and Eva Hoffman from Lost in Translation in Ilan
Stavans, ed. Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing (2009): 394-396 and 464468
Week II
Jan. 27
Perspectives on the Immigrant Experience
• Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus” (1883)
• Selections from Oscar Handlin, John Bodnar, John Higham and Kathleen Conzen et al in
Jon Gjerde, Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History (1998): 1-29
Jan. 29
• Immigrant Voices: Chapter 1, “The John Harrower Diary, 1773-1776”: 25-62
Due: Response Paper #1
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Week III
The Rise of Mass Migration
Feb. 3
• Immigrant Voices: Chapter 2, “Irish Immigrant Letters, 1847-1848”: 63-81
Feb. 5
• Immigrant Voices: Chapter 3, “The William and Sophie Frank Seyffardt Letters, 1847-1848”:
82-101
Clips: Out of Ireland
Week IV
Two Great Waves
Feb. 10
Oral History Training
Feb. 12
• From Ellis Island to JFK: Chapters 1-3
Images: Lewis Hine Photos
Week V
Foreign and Female
Feb. 17
No Class (Monday Schedule)
Feb. 19
• From Ellis Island to JFK: Chapters 4; Immigrant Voices: Chapter 4, “Rosa Cassettari: From
Northern Italy to Chicago, 1884-1926”: 102-133 and Chapter 5, “Rose Gollup: From Russia
to the Lower East Side in the 1890s”: 134-157
Due: Response Paper #2
Week VI
Natives and Strangers
Feb. 24
• Screening: Hester Street
Feb. 26
• From Ellis Island to JFK: Chapters 5-7
Week VII
From Different Shores
March 3
• Immigrant Voices: Chapter 6, “The Childhood of Mary Paik, 1905-1917”: 158-183
March 5
• African & American: Introduction and Chapters 1-3
Due: Response Paper #3
SPRING BREAK
Week VIII
March 17
Translocal and Transglobal
• Gish Jen, “Who’s Irish?” in Who’s Irish: Stories (1999): 3-16
• African & American: Chapters 4-5
March 19
*Meet at 5 pm, Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road, 1st floor*
• Immigrant Voices: Chapter 9, “Helene Cooper: A Liberian Immigrant’s Story, 1980”: 226-241
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Week IX
Opening and Closing the Door
March 24
• Impossible Subjects: Introduction and Part I
March 26
Midterm
Week X
At the Margins of Law and Nation
March 31
• Impossible Subjects: Part II
April 2
• “The Galarza Family in the Mexican Revolution, 1910: From Mexico to Sacramento,”
Thomas Dublin, Immigrant Voices, New Lives in American, 1773-1986, 1st edition: 203-233
Week XI
Alien Citizenship
April 7
• Impossible Subjects: Part III
April 9
• Immigrant Voices: Chapter 7, “Kazuko Itoi: A Nisei Daughter’s Story, 1925-1942”: 184-206
Week XII
What’s New about the New Immigration?
April 14
• Impossible Subjects: Part IV and Epilogue
• Leti Volpp, “The Citizen and the Terrorist,” UCLA Law Review 49 (June 2002): 1575-1600
Due: Final Paper Proposal
April 16
• From Ellis Island to JFK: Chapter 8
• Immigrant Voices: Chapter 10, “The California-Mexico Letters of Angela Gomez, 1988-1990”:
242-266
Due: Response Paper #4
Week XIII
Refugees and Asylees
April 21
• Immigrant Voices: Chapter 8, “The Nguyen Family: From Vietnam to Chicago, 1975-1886:
207-225
• “Child of Two Worlds,” in Andrew Lam, Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora
(2005): 3-17
April 23 Clips: Well-Founded Fear
Week XIV
The Second Generation
April 28
• African & American: Chapter 6; “Conclusion: The Second Generation Advantage,” in Philip
Kasinitz, John Mollenkopf, Mary Waters, and Jennifer Holdaway, Inheriting the City: The
Children of Immigrants Come of Age (2008): 77-95;
April 30
Wrap-up
FINAL PAPER DUE IN MY MAILBOX TUESDAY MAY 7 BY 2 P.M
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