Let us use today to reflect on the immigrant experience, some of which are intuitively highlighted in these books and journal articles.
Our full list of titles on the history of immigration can be found here.
Migration Stories: Connecting Activism, Policy, and Scholarship
Edited by Benjamin Gatling
Original and multifaceted, Migration Stories provides a vital addition to how we study and frame immigration.
Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant
By José Ángel N.
With bravery and honesty, N. details the constraints, deceptions, and humiliations that characterize alien life “amid the shadows.”
This book is also available in Spanish.
Hidden Histories of Unauthorized Migrations from Europe to the United States
Edited by Danielle Battisti and S. Deborah Kang
Revealing and insightful, Hidden Histories of Unauthorized Migrations from Europe to the United States sheds new light on our intertwined notions of race, legality, and immigration.
Whose America?: U.S. Immigration Policy since 1980
Edited by Maria Cristina Garcia and Maddalena Marinari
Up-to-date yet rooted in history, Whose America? provides a sophisticated account of recent immigration policy while mapping the ideological struggle to answer an essential question: which people have the right to make America their home or refuge?
Playful Protest: The Political Work of Joy in Latinx Media
By Kristie Soares
Daring and original, Playful Protest examines how Latinx creators resist the idea that joy only exists outside politics and activist struggle.
Journal of American Ethnic History
This journal is the official journal of the Immigration & Ethnic History Society and addresses various aspects of North American immigration history and American ethnic history. Some recent immigration-focused articles published in this journal include:
- “Communism’s Other: White Russian Refugees and US Immigration Policy, 1917–1934” by Suzanne Orr (44.3)
- “Capitalizing on the Tidelands: Chinese Migrants, Environmental Conflicts, and the Circuits of US Empire in Nineteenth-Century Oakland” by Andrew Klein (44.2)
- “‘Held from the Mainland’: Political Deportation, Detention, and Immigrants’ Rights during the Cold War” by Michelle Chen (43.3)
- “‘Our Dark Hands and Sore Backs’: The Comité Cívico Popular Mixteco and the New Grassroots Activism by Indigenous Mexican Migrants” by Jorge Ramirez-Lopex (43.2)
Care Activism: Migrant Domestic Workers, Movement-Building, and Communities of Care
By Ethel Tungohan
Care activism challenges the stereotype of downtrodden migrant caregivers by showing that care workers have distinct ways of caring for themselves, for each other, and for the larger transnational community of care workers and their families. Ethel Tungohan illuminates how the goals and desires of migrant care worker activists goes beyond political considerations like policy changes and overturning power structures.
Making the Immigrant Soldier: How Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender Intersect in the US Military
By Cristina-Ioana Dragomir
A compelling union of analysis and rich storytelling, Making the Immigrant Soldier traces the complexities of serving in the military in order to pursue the American dream.
Special Issue on Migration: Reflections on the Immigration Conundrum (Vol. 37, Iss. 3)
The variety and complexity of the eight papers in this Symposium issue are evidence that immigration is a tough nut to crack both as a matter of policy and application. Articles include “Philosophical Foundations of Migration Law” by Jeremy Waldron, “Still a Nation of White Immigrants? Notes on the Present Debate” by Gabriel J. Chin, and more.
Lured by the American Dream: Filipino Servants in the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, 1952-1970
By P. James Paligutan
Insightful and dramatic, Lured by the American Dream is the untold story of how Filipino servicepersons overcame tradition and hierarchy in their quest for dignity.
The Ruined Anthracite: Historical Trauma in Coal-Mining Communities
By Paul A. Shackel
Insightful and dramatic, The Ruined Anthracite combines archaeology, documentary research, and oral history to render the ongoing human cost of environmental devastation and unchecked capitalism.
“Latina Mormons Remember SB1070 and Other Anti-Immigration Enforcement in Arizona” by Brittany Romanello (Vol. 50, Iss. 3)
Romanello discuss how anti-immigration law SB1070 implementation impacted Latinas in her study, who cite the bill as a memorable catalyst that increased distrust between Latinx and Anglo-American LDS communities. To quote Nora, an LDS member in Phoenix, “We were the ones growing the church the most. Every Saturday, we had baptisms. . .?.?Just a huge boom of baptisms at that time. All Hispanic families. Everything was great until 2010, when SB1070 was signed into law by a Senator, a Mormon member, Russell Pearce?. . .?it changed everything.”
By Sangmi Lee
In-depth and interdisciplinary, Reclaiming Diasporic Identity blends ethnography and history to provide a fresh consideration of Hmong life today.
Immigrants against the State: Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America
By Kenyon Zimmer
From the 1880s through the 1940s, tens of thousands of first- and second-generation immigrants embraced the anarchist cause after arriving on American shores. Kenyon Zimmer explores why these migrants turned to anarchism and how their adoption of its ideology shaped their identities, experiences, and actions.
“Poles in Seattle 1890–2020: Toward a Conceptualization of the Immigrant Experience” by Dorota Prasza?owicz (Vol. 82, Iss. 1)
This article provides an overview of Polish Americans in Seattle, Washington, its past and present. It lists the streams of Polish immigration and presents the main ethnic institutions. Each immigration stream infused the local ethnic community with new energy, and each contributed to the process of its reinvention.