VSI Chapter Seven & Deadlines

Reminder: Immigration Policy Papers are Due Next Wednesday, April 20th!

For Wednesday's class, please read Chapter 7 of American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction.

VSI Chapter Six

For Monday's class, please read Chapter 6 of American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction.

VSI Chapter Five

For Friday's class, please read Chapter 5 of American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction.

VSI Chapter Four

For Wednesday's class, please read Part II, Chapter 4 of American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction.

VSI Chapter Three Reading Questions & Changes to the Syllabus

Please note the following adjustments to the syllabus:

1. Chapters 3-7 of VSI will each be a session later than indicated; 
2. Read the New Yorker article, "The Measure of America," and write a response paper of 1000 words, due in TurnItIn.com by noon next Friday, 4/15; and 
3. The Final Exam will be replaced by your reports on the candidates' immigration positions (see links on this blog site). The reports will be due in class and in TurnItIn.com by noon on Monday 4/25 and will be followed by in-class debates.

For Monday's class, please read Chapter 3 of American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction, and prepare written answers to the following questions:

• Why did World War II cause America to rethink its immigration policies? (45)
• What was the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952? (46)
• What was the refugee situation at the end of World War II? (46) And why did the U.S. feel the need to do something about it? (47)
• What is the Displaced Persons Act of 1948? (47)
• What is presidential parole power, and how did Eisenhower use it? (47)
• How were Cuban and Vietnamese refugees able to integrate so rapidly? (48)
• What led to the overturning of the quota system? (48-49)
• What did the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act do? (51-52)
• What were the unintended consequences of the law? (53)
• What does the book say studies have shown about the link between immigration and crime? (54)
• What caused the huge rise in illegal immigration from Mexico? (56)
• What attitudes changed and what laws were enacted because of the recession of the 1980s? (62)
• What did George W. Bush do? (63)

VSI Chapter Two Reading Questions & Policy Project

Policy Project, due 4/20

In addition, for Wednesday's class, please read Chapter 2 of American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction, and prepare written answers to the following questions:

• What makes it clear that in post-Gold Rush California, arguments against immigration were racist? (27)
• Which Chinese were barred from immigration by the Chinese Exclusion Act and which were not? (28)
• How did Angel Island differ from Ellis Island? (29)
• What did the 1891 Immigration Act do, and what inspired it? (30)
• Why were Japanese immigrants seen as a threat? What action was taken in 1913? (31)
• Who was White? (32)
• What is the principle of derivative citizenship? (34)
• What was different about immigrants after the 1890s? (35-36)
• What were the three main sources calling for greater immigration restriction after 1890? (37-38)
• What did Eugenicists advocate? (39)
• What were the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 based on? (42-43)
• What were other countries doing? (44)

VSI Chapter One Reading Questions

For Monday's class, please read the Introduction and Chapter 1 of American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction, and prepare written answers to the following questions:

• What binds the American people together if not a common genealogy? (1)
• What are the three great waves of immigration that reconfigured the population? (2)
• For what three reasons may things be different for recent immigrants? (3)
• What do "nativists" and "pluralists" argue about? (4)
• What is the question ultimately? (5) And what is the answer many cannot accept? (6)
• What are the three parts of the book? (12)

• Define "nativism" (15); are there legitimate reasons for restricting immigration? (16)

• What was the principal rationale for a liberal immigration policy for first 150 years of European presence in North America? (18)
• What are the provisions of the Naturalization Law of 1795 and the 14th Amendment? (19)
• What gave rise to reactive nativist policies in the mid-1800s?
• Why 21 year for naturalization? (22)
• Who was barred from entry by legislation passed between 1864 and 1917? (23)