American Studies 3770/History 4490
Immigrants in American History
Kennesaw State University, Spring 2011
Dr. Kenneth F. Maffitt
Office: SO 4088
Office hours: By appointment
Email: kmaffitt@Kennesaw.edu (the best way to get a hold of me)
Office phone: (770) 499-3462
The United States is hailed as a "land of immigrants," yet American attitudes
about immigration tend to be contradictory. Immigrants are alternately idealized and
demonized. Ethnic diversity is both celebrated as essential to American identity and
blamed for diluting American values. This course explores the history of immigration in
the United States through study of immigrant experiences and cultures, immigration
policy, and contesting images and ideas about immigrants in U.S. politics and popular
culture.
In the first part of the course, we cover the history of immigration in the United
States from independence to the present. We will then examine immigration to Georgia
and the South in recent decades, focusing on Latinos and on refugee resettlement in the
Atlanta area. We will then study current debates over immigration, and conclude with a
debate or forum on immigration policy.
Course objectives:
1. To understand the basic historical periods and demographic patterns of U.S.
immigration history from independence to the present.
2. To understand the central ideas and myths about immigration in U.S. history
including the melting pot concept, the Ellis Island paradigm, conceptions of the
model minority, evolving notions about assimilation, and the relation between
American identity and ethnic identity.
3. To understand the concepts of racial formation, panethnicity, diasporas, and
transnationalism.
4. To focus on the immigration histories of a diverse array of people including
disparate groups of Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans.
5. To understand and explain the different strands of nativism—anti-immigrant
sentiment—in U.S. history.
6. To learn about the most important government policies regarding immigration
from independence to the present.
7. To analyze the relationship between immigration and U.S. foreign policy in
American history.
8. To learn about evolving notions of citizenship and explanations for different
naturalization rates among different ethnic groups.
9. To study recent developments in patterns of immigration to Georgia and the
South.
10. To analyze how immigrants have been portrayed in American popular culture.
Required books:
Wesley Brown and Amy Ling, eds., Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land,
Revised Ed.
Aviva Chomsky, “They Take Our Jobs!” and 20 other Myths about Immigration
Mary E. Odem and Elaine Lacy, Latino Immigrants and the Transformation of the U.S.
South
Warren St. John, Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One
Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference
Paul Spickard, Almost All Aliens: Immigration, Race, and Colonialism in American
History and Identity
Requirements and grading proportions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Exam 1, due Feb. 14……………………………………………20%
Exam 2, due March 21 …………………………………………20%
Exam 3, due May 6…...…………………………….…………..15%
Short story analyses and Odem/Lacy chapter reports………….15%
Debate/forum group presentation and report…………………...15%
Participation/attendance………………………………..……….15%
Exams will be take-home essay exams, with prompts and length requirements
provided at least one week before the due date.
Short story analyses: As part of our study of the immigration experience, we will
read eighteen short stories by and/or about immigrants this semester. While you are
required to read all stories, you only need to write an analysis of no more than one singlespaced page for six of them. I will provide the format for these papers. The reports are
due in person in hard copy on the day we discuss them in class as listed on the syllabus.
They are assigned as follows:
 Students with last names beginning with A-E will analyze the stories by Sui Sin Far,
Louie, Hagedorn, Divakaruni, Hijuelos, and Cisneros.
 Students with last names beginning with F-N will analyze the stories by Leong, Jen,
Lahiri, Mohr, Marshall, and Orfalea.
 Students with last names beginning with O-Z will analyze the stories by Malamud, Ik,
Mukherjee, Danticat, Candelaria, and Naimy.
Similarly, while you are required to read nine of the ten chapters in Odem and
Lacy’s Latino Immigrants and the Transformation of the U.S. South, you only need to
complete a brief written report on three of the chapters. Again, I will provide the
format for the reports, and again they are due in person in hard copy on the day we
discuss them in class as listed on the schedule below.
 Students with last names beginning with A-E will report on the chapters by
Zuñiga/Hernández León, Stuesse, and Lacy and Odem’s chapter 9.
 Students with last names beginning with F-N will report on the chapters by Lacy,
Johnson/Kasarda, and Winders.

Students with last names beginning with O-Z will report on Odem and Lacy’s
introduction and chapters by Mohl and Odem.
Immigration debate or forum: On the last day of class, we will have a class
debate or forum on recent immigration controversies, featuring student presentations,
panels, and/or debate teams. For this activity you will work in a small group of 3-4
students. We will prepare for this activity by reading the Aviva Chomsky book and other
materials over the last couple of weeks. We will discuss the details of this activity over
the next few weeks.
Policies:
Late take-home exams will be marked down one full grade up to 24 hours, two full
grades up to 48 hours, and will receive a zero if more than 48 hours late.
Late short-story reports and chapter reports will not be accepted.
Attendance is mandatory. You are allowed four absences. Each additional absence
beyond 4 will decrease your participation grade (#6 above) by one grade level each. If
you have 8 or more absences, you will automatically receive a zero for # 6 above (not to
mention almost certainly do poorly in the class). I will not distinguish between excused
and unexcused absences.
Tardiness and early departures: Please be considerate of the instructor and other
students by arriving to class on time and waiting until class is over before gathering up
books and materials to leave. If you know you will be late or will have to leave early, you
must notify the instructor in advance. Any time you are not in class the entire time will be
considered an absence.
Electronics:
Cell phones must be turned off before entering the classroom. Students who repeatedly
fail to turn off their cell phones are introducing unnecessary distractions to the classroom,
and showing a lack of respect for classmates, the professor, and their own decisions to
spend tuition money on this class. I do not just mean turn off the ringer. I mean off
completely. If I see you texting in class, I will count you absent for the day, and I will
turn instantly from nice guy to not so nice guy.


I reserve the right to answer student phones that sound during class.
Legally, for safety reasons, we must have at least one cell phone on during class.
That will be mine.
Laptops: Since non-class related use of laptops creates a distraction for other students,
you are permitted to use laptops for taking class notes only. If I see that your eye contact
is constantly on your laptop, I will assume you are doing non-class related things on it
and I will count you absent for the day, and I will turn instantly from nice guy to not so
nice guy.
Academic honesty: Cultivating and maintaining your academic and personal integrity is
central to your experience as a university student. So do not consider turning in or posting
work that attempts to pass off the words or ideas of others as your own. I understand that
heavy workloads and other pressures make it tempting to cheat. But I promise you that
you will be much happier with yourself if your KSU degree is the result of your own
efforts. Here is the official KSU statement on the matter:
Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Student
Code of Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs. Section II of
the Student Code of Conduct addresses the University's policy on academic honesty,
including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to University
materials, misrepresentation and falsification of University records or academic work,
malicious removal, retention, or destruction of library materials, malicious/intentional
misuse of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification cards.
Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the established
procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includes either an "informal"
resolution by a faculty member, resulting in a grade adjustment, or a formal hearing
procedure, which may subject a student to the Code of Conduct's minimum one semester
suspension requirement.
Schedule: (The instructor reserves the right to make changes as necessary.)
Jan. 10
Introduction
Jan. 12
Approaches to Immigration History
Read: Paul Spickard, Almost All Aliens (hereafter AAA), Preface & Chap. 1.
Jan. 19
Immigration and National Expansion Through the Mid-19th-Century
Read: AAA, 89-91, 94-128, 144-57.
Jan. 24
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion; The European “Great Wave”
Read: AAA, 157-76 and Chapter 5 sections on Irish, Italians, Polish, and Jews.
Jan. 26
The Other Side of the Story: Late-19th-Early-Twentieth-Century Immigration in
the Western U.S.
Read: AAA, Chapter 5 sections on Chinese, Japanese, and Mexicans; and, from
Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land (hereafter IA): Sui Sin Far, “In the
Land of the Free.”
Jan. 31
Maintaining Racial Hierarchies
Read: AAA, 238-43 & 257-77; Supreme Court cases on legal whiteness (to be posted on
course website).
Feb. 2
Restrictionism in the 1920s; Mexican Immigration 1920s-1950s
Read: AAA, 277-309.
Feb. 7
World War II and the Cold War
Read: AAA, 314-16 & 323-33; from IA: Bernard Malamud, “The German Refugee” &
Monfoon Leong, “New Year for Fong Wing.”
Feb. 9
The Incarceration of Japanese-Americans During World War II
Read: AAA, 317-23, and Roger Daniels, “Incarceration of the Japanese-Americans: A
Sixty Year Retrospective.” (posted on course website)
Feb. 14
Take-home exam one due.
Lecture and/or film on topic TBA.
Feb. 16
The “New Immigration” Since the Hart-Cellar Act of 1965
Read: AAA, 337-62; and, from IA: Jessica Hagedorn, “The Blossoming of Bongbong” &
Kim Yong Ik, “They Won't Crack it Open.”
Feb. 21
South Asian and Chinese Immigrants After 1965
Read:
 AAA, 362-69.
 Jhumpa Lahiri, “The Third and Final Continent,” to be posted on course website.
 From IA: Gish Jen, “In the American Society”; David Wong Louie, “Birthday”;
Chitra Divakaruni, “Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs”; and Bharati Mukherjee, “A
Wife's Story.”
Feb. 23
Latino and Caribbean Immigrants After 1965
Read: AAA, 369-89.
Feb. 28
Latino and Caribbean Immigrant Fiction
Read: From IA: Nicholasa Mohr, “The English Lesson”; Nash Candelaria, “El Patrón”;
Sandra Cisneros, “Barbie-Q”; Edwidge Danticat, “Children of the Sea”; Oscar Hijuelos,
“Visitors, 1965”; Paule Marshall, “To Da-duh, in Memoriam.”
March 2
Middle Eastern Immigrants Before and After 9/11
Read: AAA, 423-28 & 452-64; and, from IA: Gregory Orfalea, “The Chandelier” &
Mikhail Naimy, “His Grace.”
March 14
Immigrant Detention and Deportation
Film: The Visitor, part one.
March 16
Immigrant Detention and Deportation
The Visitor, part two.
March 21
Take-home exam two due.
Film and/or lecture topic TBA.
March 23
Mexican Immigrants in South Carolina and Dalton, GA
Mary E. Odem and Elaine Lacy, Latino Immigrants and the Transformation of the U.S.
South, introduction and Chapters 1 & 3.
March 28
Latino Immigrants in Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina
Odem and Lacy, Chapters 4-6.
March 30
Latinos in Atlanta and Nashville; Southern Responses to Latino Immigrants
Odem and Lacy, Chapters 7-9.
April 4
Refugee Resettlement in Atlanta and the Story of the Fugees
Warren St. John, Outcasts United, 1-85.
April 6
St. John, 86-148.
April 11
St. John, 149-234.
April 13
St. John, 235-300.
April 18
Special session on Mexican migration with author Sam Quinones.
Read: Sam Quinones, “The Ballad of Chalino Sánchez” and “Antonio’s Gun.” (to be
posted on course website)
April 20
The Contemporary Immigration Debate
Aviva Chomsky, “They Take Our Jobs!” and 20 other Myths about Immigration,
Introduction and 3-35.
April 25
The Contemporary Immigration Debate
Policy/Chomsky
April 27
The Contemporary Immigration Debate
Policy/Chomsky
May 2
Class debate/forum on immigration policy.
May 6
Exam three due.
Group report on immigration debate/forum due.