"Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history," wrote historian Oscar Handlin. Immigrants and generations of their descendants have defined the American nation from its beginning and continue to provide America's characteristic diversity, representing practically every race, nationality, religion, and ethnic group around the world. Some immigrants came to the New World in search of economic gain. Others were brought in chains. Still others found refuge in America from religious or ethnic persecution. This single-volume encyclopedia includes more than 300 entries, covering multiple aspects of immigration history and policy: * ethnic groups, including census and immigration statistics, major periods of immigration and areas of settlement, predominant religion, and historical background * key immigration legislation, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, Immigration Act of 1990, and Refugee Act of 1980 * terms and concepts, including green card, quota system, citizen, naturalization, picture brides, and nativism * categories of immigrants, including refugees, indentured servants, children, and exiles * immigration stations: Angel Island, Castle Garden, and Ellis Island * religious groups and churches, such as Amish, Huguenots, Muslims, and Eastern Rite churches * further reading lists and cross-references follow each entry An introductory essay provides a cogent overview of the entire scope of the book. More than 150 photographs and illustrations complement the entries. Statistical boxes supplement the articles with key information. A list of immigration, ethnic, and refugee organizations; a guide to further research that includes books, museums, and websites; and a detailed chronology conclude this useful resource for research in American history, ethnic and multicultural studies, and genealogy. Oxford's Student Companions to American History are state-of-the-art references for school and home, specifically designed and written for ages 12 through adult. Each book is a concise but comprehensive A-to-Z guide to a major historical period or theme in U.S. history, with articles on key issues and prominent individuals. The authors--distinguished scholars well-known in their areas of expertise--ensure that the entries are accurate, up-to-date, and accessible. Special features include an introductory section on how to use the book, further reading lists, cross-references, chronology, and full index.

An alphabetical reference work examining the background, statistics, reception, and current status of those groups who have immigrated to America throughout history.

Thoroughly revised and expanded, this is the definitive reference on American immigration from both historic and contemporary perspectives. It traces the scope and sweep of U.S. immigration from the earliest settlements to the present, providing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to all aspects of this critically important subject. Every major immigrant group and every era in U.S. history are fully documented and examined through detailed analysis of social, legal, political, economic, and demographic factors. Hot-topic issues and controversies - from Amnesty to the U.S.-Mexican Border - are covered in-depth. Archival and contemporary photographs and illustrations further illuminate the information provided. And dozens of charts and tables provide valuable statistics and comparative data, both historic and current. A special feature of this edition is the inclusion of more than 80 full-text primary documents from 1787 to 2013 - laws and treaties, referenda, Supreme Court cases, historical articles, and letters.

This issues-based reference work (available in both print and electronic formats) shines a spotlight on immigration policy in the United States. The U.S. is a nation of immigrants. Yet while the lofty words enshrined with the Statue of Liberty stand as a source of national pride, the rhetoric and politics surrounding immigration policy all-too-often have proven far less lofty. In reality, the apparently open invitation of Lady Liberty seldom has been without restriction. Throughout our history, impassioned debates about the appropriate scope and nature of such restriction have emerged and mushroomed, among politicians, among scholars of public policy, among the general public. In light of the need to keep students, researchers, and other interested readers informed and up-to-date on status of U.S. immigration policy, this volume uses introductory essays followed by point/counterpoint articles to explore prominent and perennially important debates, providing readers with views on multiple sides of this complex issue. While there are some brief works looking at debates on immigration, as well as some general A-to-Z encyclopedias, we offer more in-depth coverage of a much wider range of themes and issues, thus providing the only fully comprehensive point/counterpoint handbook tackling the issues that political science, history, and sociology majors are asked to explore and to write about as students and that they will grapple with later as policy makers and citizens. Features & Benefits: The volume is divided into three sections, each with its own Section Editor: Labor & Economic Debates (Judith Gans), Social & Cultural Debates (Judith Gans), and Political & Legal Debates (Daniel Tichenor). Sections open with a Preface by the Section Editor to introduce the broad theme at hand and provide historical underpinnings. Each section holds 12 chapters addressing varied aspects of the broad theme of the section. Chapters open with an objective, lead-in piece (or "headnote") followed by a point article and a counterpoint article. All pieces (headnote, point article, counterpoint article) are signed. For each chapter, students are referred to further readings, data sources, and other resources as a jumping-off spot for further research and more in-depth exploration. Finally, volume concludes with a comprehensive index, and the electronic version includes search-and-browse features, as well as the ability to link to further readings cited within chapters should they be available to the library in electronic format.

Presents an illustrated A-Z reference containing more than 300 entries related to immigration to North America, including people, places, legislation, and more.

"During the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. Congress responded to growing gaps between immigration policy and immigration reality by making major changes in immigration laws and their administration. In 1986, the United States enacted the world's largest legalization program for unauthorized foreigners and introduced sanctions on employers who knowingly hired illegal foreign workers. Instead of slowing illegal immigration, however, this program allowed more foreigners to arrive legally and illegally, which prompted another round of reforms in 1996 aimed at ensuring that new arrivals would not receive welfare payments." "On September 11, 2001, foreigners in the United States hijacked four commercial planes. Two were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, bringing them down and killing 3,000 people. President George W. Bush declared war on terrorists and the countries that harbor them, and Congress enacted legislation to fight terrorism. This includes new measures for tightening procedures for issuing visas to foreign visitors, tracking foreign students and visitors while they are in the United States, and giving immigration authorities new power to arrest and detain foreigners suspected of ties to terrorism. The Immigration and Naturalization Service was abolished, and its functions of preventing illegal immigration and providing services to foreign visitors and immigrants were separated in the new Department of Homeland Security." "However, anti-terrorism measures have not slowed immigration to the United States. America is poised to remain the world's major destination for immigrants, and as patterns in U.S. history suggest, most of the newcomers will soon become Americans. However, past success in integrating immigrants does not guarantee that integrating newcomers will be easy or automatic. As immigrants continue to make and remake the country, the United States must develop an immigration policy for the twenty-first century."--BOOK JACKET.

A thoughtful look at immigration, anti-immigration sentiments, and the motivations and experiences of the migrants themselves, this updated book offers a compact but wide-ranging look at one of America's persistent hot-button issues.

This work aims to enrich studies of American immigration history by combining and comparing the experiences of both European immigration, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Asian, Hispanic, Caribbean, and African immigrations in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

A Companion to American Immigration is an authoritative collection of original essays by leading scholars on the major topics and themes underlying American immigration history. Focuses on the two most important periods in American Immigration history: the Industrial Revolution (1820-1930) and the Globalizing Era (Cold War to the present) Provides an in-depth treatment of central themes, including economic circumstances, acculturation, social mobility, and assimilation Includes an introductory essay by the volume editor.