History 264: Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States

Produced in association with Visible Knowledge Project

State University of New York at Binghamton
Department of History

Barbara Reeves-Ellington Mon./Weds. 2:20 - 3:20

Spring 2002 Lecture Hall 14

Barbara Reeves-Ellington

Office: LT 714

e-mail: breeves@binghamton.edu

Office Hours: Monday 10:00-12:00: Wednesday 3:30-4:30

Teaching Assistants:

Feigue Cieplinski Gaylynn Welch Denise Lynn

Office: WD3J Office: LT1405 Office:LT806

e-mail: bi90408@binghamton.edu email: gwelch0@binghamton.edu e-mail: dlynn0@binghamton.edu

Hours: W 1-2, Th 3-4 Hours: MW 1-2, F 12-1 Hours: W 12:30-2, F 10:30-12

History 264 is a lower-division survey of immigration and ethnicity in American life. The course compares and contrasts the experiences of immigrants and African Americans in the United States from the arrival of the first permanent English settlers to contemporary issues of ethnicity and multiculturalism in the United States. Drawing extensively on first-person accounts -- letters, diaries, reminiscences, and fiction -- the course explores this history from the perspective of peoples from around the world who populated the United States. Readings will trace the experiences and interactions of Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans in the United States over four centuries. From 1850 to the present, immigrants have increasingly settled in cities. In the latter part of the course, the immigrant and ethnic experience will be strongly connected to American urban culture.

In addition to the course readings listed below, students will also read primary sources and examine photographs that are available on the WWW. Course lectures will follow a thematic and chronological development. HIST 264 is designated "P" for pluralism. The course is an elective in the Global Studies Integrated Curriculum (GSIC) and includes a Languages Across the Curriculum component.

Required Reading:

Sucheng Chan, ed., Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (Twayne)

Thomas Dublin, ed., Becoming American, Becoming Ethnic: College Students Explore Their Roots (Temple)

Thomas Dublin, ed., Immigrant Voices (Illinois)

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., ed. The Classic Slave Narratives (Mentor)

Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror (Little, Brown)

Course Requirements and Grade Determination
Regular attendance at lectures and sections is required. Participation in discussion sections is expected. Failure to participate will result in grade reduction. Assignments include midterm and final exams, two papers, and a book report or LxC report. The first paper will be an analysis of an immigrant primary source; the second paper will explore the students' ethnic roots. Students who do not choose the LxC option will write a book review on a book selected from the list below on the theme of immigration and the city. Final grades will be determined as follows:

	1. First paper	20%
	2. Midterm Exam	20%
	3. Second Paper	20%
	4. Final Exam	20%
	5. Book Review or LxC report	10%
	6. Section Participation	10%

Languages Across the Curriculum
During the first week of classes, students will have an opportunity to join a Language Across the Curriculum (LxC) study group. Students enrolled in the LxC component will read supplementary materials, in the language of their choice, to gain a variety of different perspectives on immigration issues faced by specific ethnic groups. LxC group meetings are based on student demand and in the past years have included Spanish, French, Korean, Chinese, and Italian. Other languages may be available. Students who participate in LxC will provide a short report on a document of their choice from the LxC course instead of a book review for 10% of the grade.

Selection for Book Review on Immigration and the City
Dino Cinel, From Italy to San Franciso (1982)
Hasia Diner, Erin's Daughters in America (1983)
Maria Cristina Garcia, Havana USA (1996)
Susan A. Glenn, Daughters of the Shtetl (1990)
James Grossman, Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration (1991)
Oscar Handlin, Boston's Immigrants, 1790-1880 (1991, originally published in 1941)
Gilbert Osofsky, Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto (1996, originally published in 1966)
Gary Mormino and George Pozzetta, The Immigrant World of Ybor City (1987)
George Peffer, If They Don't Bring Their Women Here: Chinese Female Immigration Before Exclusion (1999)
Moses Rischin, The Promised City: New York's Jews, (1977, originally published in 1962)
George J. Sanchez, Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945 (1993)
Irma Watkins-Owens, Blood Relations: Caribbean Immigrants and the Harlem Community, 1900-1930 (1996)

Last updated January 25, 2002

Barbara Reeves-Ellington	Mon./Weds. 2:20 - 3:20
Spring 2002	Lecture Hall 14

Teaching Assistants:
Feigue Cieplinski	Gaylynn Welch	Denise Lynn
Office: WD3J	Office: LT1405	Office:LT806
e-mail: bi90408@binghamton.edu	email: gwelch0@binghamton.edu	e-mail: dlynn0@binghamton.edu
Hours: W 1-2, Th 3-4	Hours: MW 1-2, F 12-1	Hours: W 12:30-2, F 10:30-12