Strangers in the Land, Gender, and Immigration Policy

Abstract

I first read John Higham's book in an immigration history seminar in my first semester of graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. In fact, Higham visited campus that fall to present the Merle Curti lecture, named for his mentor. Higham's influence has remained significant: like many historians of immigration and ethnicity, I have often returned to his book during the course of my own teaching and research, whether on American Catholic history or U.S. immigration policy. My remarks focus on gender issues and immigration policy history inStrangers in the Land.