Race and Ethnicity in America: A Concise History / Edition 1

by Ronald Bayor

Overview

Featuring essays by leading historians, including Carol Berkin, Andrew Heinze, Earl Lewis, and Mai M. Ngai, Race and Ethnicity in America is a timely introduction to the interrelated themes of race, ethnicity, and immigration in American history and a first-stop resource for students and others exploring the historical roots of today's identity politics. Spanning from 1600 to 2000 and covering everything from the Trail of Tears to the Black Power movement, the book is comprehensive both chronologically and in terms of ethnic groups addressed: It examines not only the history of black-white relations in America, but also the experiences of Irish Catholics, Native Americans, Latinos, Jews, and many others. Topics covered include anti-Catholicism and nativism, slavery and abolitionism, Indian removal, assimilation and scientific racism, the National Origins Act, the civil rights movement, and contemporary debates over affirmative action and bilingualism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231129411
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	10/29/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	629,387
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ronald H. Bayor is professor of history in the School of History, Technology, and Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. He is the founder and current editor of the Journal of American Ethnic History and the author of the award-winning Race and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Atlanta.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Ethnicity in Seventeenth-Century English America, 1600-1700, by Carol Berkin
2. Ethnicity in Eighteenth-Century North America, 1701-1788, by Graham Russell Hodges
3. The Limits of Equality: Race and Ethnic Tensions in the New Republic, 1789-1836, by Marion R. Casey
4. Racial and Ethnic Identity in the United States, 1837-1877, by Michael Miller Topp
5. Race, Nation, and Citizenship in Late Nineteenth-Century America, 1878-1900, by Mae M. Ngai
6. The Critical Period: Ethnic Emergence and Reaction, 1901-1929, by Andrew R. Heinze
7. Changing Racial Meanings: Race and Ethnicity in the United States, 1930-1964, by Thomas A. Guglielmo and Earl Lewis
8. Racial and Ethnic Relations in America, 1965-2000, by Timothy J. Meagher
Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

John Bodnar

Becoming an American was never easy. Race and Ethnicity in America makes the case brilliantly that American history was shaped continually by immigration, race, and ethnicity and the struggle of countless individuals to overcome these forces. It is among the most comprehensive accounts of these issues in the nation's history ever to appear.

— John Bodnar, Chancellors Professor and Chair, Department of History, University of Indiana

Victor Greene

Race and Ethnicity in America breaks new ground as a survey text for students and teachers of the peopling of this nation particularly incorporating the most recent scholarship on relations between incoming and native groups. Breaking the previous mold of earlier surveys that listed profiles of each ethnic group, the work uses a chronological structure to better advantage. It thereby produces syntheses of immigration, ethnicity, and race in each era with the aim of illuminating the American identity. With that perspective the essays incorporate the latest theories, especially the 'whiteness' hypothesis. Finally its rich, up-to-date bibliographical sections will encourage and guide readers to begin their own monographic studies.

— Victor Greene, Emeritus Professor, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Editorial Reviews

This concise and helpful volume...is able to hold a torch for us, turning a shadow-behind into a light-ahead, and is thus able to serve our life now and here in this increasingly multicultural era.

Chung-Hsiung Lain Studies

This book represents an outstanding departure from the old formula as it systematically places ethnic and racial diversity at the center of the North American experience, from first contacts between Europeans and indigenous Native American peoples right up to the present.... This important contribution to ethnic studies is eminently useful. Essential [for] all public and academic levels and libraries.

Choice

The essays in Race and Ethnicity in America provide more than a "concise history"; they provide a fine one.

Journal of American Ethnic History - Cheryl Greenberg

Although these essays are presented in chronological order, starting with the early colonists' first encounters with Native Americans and proceeding to the increasingly multicultural America of today, there are many recurring themes and much overlap as to who, what, and how America came to be... This compelling work reflects the fluidity and complexity of American race identity.

Booklist

This concise and helpful volume...is able to hold a torch for us, turning a shadow-behind into a light-ahead, and is thus able to serve our life now and here in this increasingly multicultural era.

American Studies - Chung-Hsiung Lai

Although these essays are presented in chronological order, starting with the early colonists' first encounters with Native Americans and proceeding to the increasingly multicultural America of today, there are many recurring themes and much overlap as to who, what, and how America came to be... This compelling work reflects the fluidity and complexity of American race identity.

Booklist

The essays in Race and Ethnicity in America provide more than a "concise history"; they provide a fine one.

— Cheryl Greenberg, Trinity College, Hartford

Journal of American Ethnic History

The detailed bibliographic guides and historiographical reviews that each author provides, probably alone justify buying this work. If offers enough to reward new readers to the field, and some refreshing approaches for those more familiar.

— Andrew Fearnley

Journal of American Studies

This concise and helpful volume...is able to hold a torch for us, turning a shadow-behind into a light-ahead, and is thus able to serve our life now and here in this increasingly multicultural era.

— Chung-Hsiung Lai

American Studies

The detailed bibliographic guides and historiographical reviews that each author provides, probably alone justify buying this work. If offers enough to reward new readers to the field, and some refreshing approaches for those more familiar.

Journal of American Studies - Andrew Fearnley