The Immigration Problem, 1917 & 2017

During the large-scale immigration of the early 20th century, many Americans feared that the foreign-born would steal jobs, lower wages, and threaten American morality and culture. After a national commission issued a study that implied certain types of immigrants might weaken the "American race," Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Acts of 1917 and 1924, two of the most restrictive immigration policies in U.S. history. Join historian Katherine Benton-Cohen as she discusses how this policy established a framework for modern immigration policy that has never been entirely dismantled.

Katherine Benton-Cohen is associate professor of history at Georgetown University and author of Borderline Americans: Racial Division and Labor War in the Arizona Borderlands.

Lectures are offered at 10 am and 2 pm.

10 am program

2 pm program