#03 "Abby on American Immigration"

Media: Episode Recording -- "Abby on American Immigration"; Episode Preview -- "Abby on American Immigration"

Podcast Teaser Trailer: Episode Preview -- "Abby on American Immigration"
Link to Podcast: Episode Recording -- "Abby on American Immigration"
Episode Number: Students Podcasting History Episode #03
Episode Title: #03 "Abby on American Immigration"
Episode Date: April 24, 25
Key Words: Immigration, Immigrant Experience, Italian immigrants, Asian immigrants, Mexican immigrants
Episode Introduction: For this podcast, I will be talking about the Second and Third big waves of American immigration, which took place during and after the Civil War, around 1860-1910. I will be looking at the waves of immigration from the perspective and the experience of the immigrants, which I believe is often overlooked. The immigrant groups I will be focusing on are Italian immigrants, asian immigrants, and Mexican immigrants. The Second and Third big waves of immigration into the United States set the precedent for the future of the United States immigration system. Generally, the United States has been referred to throughout history as a melting pot. This concept alludes to the blending together of various cultures and ethnicities to create a better union. However, I will be diving into whether or not the experience of immigrants really made the United States feel like a melting pot of cultures. The need for this information will be filled using a variety of primary and secondary sources. The primary sources that will be used are quotes that are embedded in secondary sources such as as quotes being used from Beth-Lew Williams and Jeffrey Marcos Garcilazo. The secondary sources used are a variety of journal articles, books, and textbooks. The primary sources swill be used to show the first-hand experience of immigrants in the United States during this time. Secondary sources will be used to share general information about the time as well as to give specific numbers and statistics surrounding immigration. With this information, I hope to debunk how many think of immigration to the United States as a simple and glorified process.
Hosted By: Abby Jones
Host Biography: Abby Jones is a Senior at Sewanee: The University of the South. She is graduating in May of 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science as well as a minor in Spanish. Her focuses in Political Science include international law, US immigration politics and law, and general US politics. For her capstone project, she completed a research paper called “Constraining Transnational Crime: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Legal Approaches on Protecting Against Sexual Trafficking,” studying sexual trafficking in Romania. She is also a member of the Order of the Gown (Sewanee’s Honor Society) and served as an Arcadian Tour Guide for the school. While at Sewanee, she was a member of the varsity women’s soccer team for all four years.
The Show: Students Podcasting History is an educational resource developed by students in Dr. Andrew Maginn’s History of the United States II course to highlight crucial movements in American History through podcasting. The students research and interpret primary and secondary sources to discuss pivotal themes, people, and events in the United States' history from 1865 through the present. Through creatively sharing these narratives and learning digital tools, these students hope to make history more accessible and exciting for the general public.
Source: “Abstracts of Reports of the Immigration Commission, December 5, 1910,” Reports of
Immigration Commission, 61st Congress 3rd Session, Document No. 747.
Beth Lew-Williams, “The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien
in America” from Racism in America: A Reader, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 2020), 153-163.
Dr. Alessia Martini, “Introduction to Italian Immigration in the US,” History 202B: History of
the United States II, (class lecture, Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee,
January 24, 2025).
Will be used for information and audio clips
Dr. Andrew Maginn, “America's First Gilded Age, New South, Immigration,” History 202B:
History of the United States II, (class lecture, Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee,
Tennessee, January 22, 2025).
Erika Lee, America for Americans, (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2019)
George Brown Tindall and David E. Shi, America: A Narrative History, Ninth edition, (New
York City, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013), 826-832.
Jeffrey Marcos Garcilazo, Traqueros: Mexican Railroad Workers in the United States, 1870 to
1930, (Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 2012)
Joseph L. Locke and Ben Wright, The American Yawp: A Massively Collaborative Open U.S.
History Textbook, Volume 2: Since 1877, (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2023)
(Chapter 18 Section III) http://www.americanyawp.com
Contact Information: https://www.andrewwyattmaginn.org/Digital_Humanities/s/studentspodcastinghistory/page/home