The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity

Scholarship on immigration to America is a coin with two sides: it asks both how America changed immigrants, and how they changed America. Were the immigrants uprooted from their ancestral homes, leaving everything behind, or were they transplanted, bringing many aspects of their culture with them? Although historians agree with the transplantation concept, the notion of the melting pot, which suggests a complete loss of the immigrant culture, persists in the public mind. The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity bridges this gap and offers a comprehensive and nuanced survey of American racial and ethnic development, assessing the current status of historical research and simultaneously setting the goals for future investigation. Early immigration historians focused on the European migration model, and the ethnic appeal of politicians such as Fiorello La Guardia and James Michael Curley in cities with strong ethno-political histories like New York and Boston. But the story of American ethnicity goes far beyond Ellis Island. Only after the 1965 Immigration Act and the increasing influx of non-Caucasian immigrants, scholars turned more fully to the study of African, Asian and Latino migrants to America. This Handbook brings together thirty eminent scholars to describe the themes, methodologies, and trends that characterize the history and current debates on American immigration. The Handbook's trenchant chapters provide compelling analyses of cutting-edge issues including identity, whiteness, borders and undocumented migration, immigration legislation, intermarriage, assimilation, bilingualism, new American religions, ethnicity-related crime, and pan-ethnic trends. They also explore the myth of "model minorities" and the contemporary resurgence of anti-immigrant feelings. A unique contribution to the field of immigration studies, this volume considers the full racial and ethnic unfolding of the United States in its historical context.

Ronald H. Bayor is Emeritus Professor of History at Georgia Tech, a former president of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, and founding editor of the Journal of American Ethnic History. His most recent book is Encountering Ellis Island: How European Immigrants Entered America.

- Contents - List of Contributors - Introduction: The Making of America - Ronald H. Bayor - Chapter 1. The Impact of Immigration Legislation: 1875 to the Present - David M. Reimers - Chapter 2. European Migrations - Dirk Hoerder - Chapter 3. Asian Immigration - Madeline Y. Hsu - Chapter 4. Latino Immigration - María Cristina García - Chapter 5. African American Migration from the Colonial Era to the Present - Joe W. Trotter - Chapter 6. Emancipation and Exploitation in Immigrant Women's Lives - Donna R. Gabaccia - Chapter 7. Protecting America's Borders and the Undocumented Immigrant Dilemma - David G. Gutierrez - Chapter 8. Acceptance, Rejection,and America's Split Personality - Gary Gerstle - Chapter 9. Race and Citizenship - Gregory T. Carter - Chapter 10. Concepts of Ethnic/Racial Identity and Assimilation in the United States - Richard Alba - Chapter 11. Whiteness and Race - David R. Roediger - Chapter 12. Race and U.S. Panethnic Formation - Yen Le Espiritu - Chapter 13. Intermarriage and the Creation of a New American - Allison Varzally - Chapter 14. Immigration, Medical Regulation, and Eugenics - Wendy Kline - Chapter 15. The World of the Immigrant Worker - James R. Barrett - Chapter 16. Neighborhoods, Immigrants, and Ethnic Americans - Amanda I. Seligman - Chapter 17. Machine Bosses, Reformers, and the Politics of Ethnic Minority Incorporation - Steven P. Erie and Vladimir Kogan - Chapter 18. Immigration, Ethnicity, Race and Organized Crime - Will Cooley - Chapter 19. The Myth of Ethnic Success: Old Wine in New Bottles - Stephen Steinberg - Chapter 20. Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in the South, 1980-2010 - Mary E. Odem - Chapter 21. Allegiance, Dual Citizenship, and the Ethnic Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy - David Brundage - Chapter 22. Historians and Sociologists Debate Transnationalism - Peter Kivisto - Chapter 23. Written Forms of Communication from Immigrant Letters to Instant Messaging - Suzanne M. Sinke - Chapter 24. Ethnicity, Race, and Religion beyond Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Whites - R. Stephen Warner - Chapter 25. Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in American Film - Steven Alan Carr - Chapter 26. Language Retention/Language Shift, "English Only," and Multilingualism in teh Unites States - Joshua A. Fishman - Chapter 27. Melting Pots, Salad Bowls, Ethnic Museums, and American Identity - Steven Conn - Chapter 28. New Approaches in the Teaching of Immigration and Ethnic History in the United States - John J. Bukowczyk - Index