The immigration of Black populations to the eastern and southern United States in the 18th to mid-19th centuries, and their experiences and later migrations to the North and Western United States. The immigration of European populations, identified by major ethnic subgrouping, to the eastern and southern United States from the 17th century onward, and their subsequent westward dispersal. The immigration of Asian populations, identified by major ethnic subgrouping, to the western United States from the mid-19th century to the present, and their experiences and subsequent migrations within the U.S. 4. The immigration of Hispanic populations, identified by major category of national origin, to the southwestern and western United States from the 17th century onward, to the eastern and southern United States in the 20th century and their experiences and subsequent migrations within the U.S. Students do this work on all 4 ethnic groups. The emphasis in this part of the course is on the comparative experience of these ethnic groups.
Students seek out data and develop questions that facilitate comparison of experience.
We begin with Black populations because they have been more consistently recorded in the historical censuses from 1790 onward. The non-Hispanic Europeans follow because although they have been recorded in the aggregate since 1790, their ethnic subdivisions have not been consistently recorded. Hispanic populations are more problematic as a category and come last, when students have more experience in handling the data. There is one major lecture per week, in which the basic theoretical problems are outlined, and the techniques of access and analysis are explained. By theoretical problems is meant our understanding of the general relations of social and economic position in American society, and the place of different ethnic groups in that framework over time.