Reading and Writing Workshop

Immigration, Xenophobia, and Intersectionality
Session 1: Anti-Asian Immigration Laws and Exclusion
Topics:

• The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
• Japanese American Internment (1942)

Key Readings:

1. Excerpts from Erika Lee’s America for Americans (Instructor provides excerpt)
2. Primary Source: Executive Order 9066
   Full Text:
   https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=74&page=transcript
3. The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) – Full Text
   https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47&page=transcript

Activity:

• Case Study Development: Students select either Chinese immigrants (1880s) or Japanese Americans during WWII and research how xenophobic policies shaped the community's experiences. Include social, economic, and legal impacts.

Public Domain Supplement:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s "Day of Infamy" Speech (1941)
  https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=73&page=transcript

Session 2: Latinx and Indigenous Migrants and Border Militarization
Topics:

• U.S.-Mexico border militarization (20th–21st century)
• Indigenous and Latinx migrant experiences

Key Readings:

1. Excerpts from Erika Lee’s America for Americans (Instructor provides excerpt)
2. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) – Primary Source
   https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=26&page=transcript
3. U.S. Border Patrol History (public domain)
   https://www.cbp.gov/about/history

Activity:

• Case Study Development (continued): Focus on Latinx and Indigenous communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Explore historical land dispossession, border enforcement, and migrant labor.

Public Domain Supplement:

• The U.S. Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act) – Primary Source
  https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47&page=transcript

Session 3: Islamophobia Post-9/11
Topics:

• Post-9/11 backlash against Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Americans
• National security policies and Islamophobia

Key Readings:

1. Patriot Act Summary – Public Domain Summary (Congressional Research Service Report)
   https://sgp.fas.org/crs/terror/RL31377.pdf
2. Excerpts from Erika Lee’s America for Americans (Instructor provides excerpt)
3. 9/11 Commission Report – Executive Summary
   https://9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Exec.pdf

Activity:

• Discussion: How did the rhetoric and policies post-9/11 fuel xenophobia against Muslims and those perceived as “foreign threats”? Students cite examples from texts and news archives (suggested public domain press archives such as Library of Congress' Chronicling America).

Public Domain Supplement:

• Library of Congress: Chronicling America - Newspaper coverage from September 2001
  https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Session 4: Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Class
Topics:

• Defining intersectionality
• How race, gender, and class overlap to shape experiences of discrimination

Key Readings:

1. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Mapping the Margins (excerpts) (Instructor provides excerpt)
2. Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” (1851)
   https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14977
3. Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in America” (1900)
   https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14977

Activity:

• Small Group Discussion: How does intersectionality shape the experience of injustice across different groups (e.g., Black women, Indigenous migrants, Muslim women)? Each group connects ideas from Crenshaw’s theory with historical and current examples.

Public Domain Supplement:

• Anna Julia Cooper’s A Voice from the South (1892)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11104

Unit Capstone Activity: Community Case Study Presentation
​Task:

• Students present their research on one community affected by xenophobic policies. Presentations should address:
  • Historical context
  • The intersection of race, gender, and class
  • Long-term social and cultural impacts
  • Resistance and resilience within the community