Explore histories of migration, citizenship and belonging in Germany and the U.S. over the centuries.
Immigration to the U.S. soared following the abolishment of the national origins system through the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Unlike the primarily European immigration at the turn of the twentieth century, this new wave brought individuals in the tens of millions, especially from Asia and Latin America, over the next four decades.
Europeans went from making up over fifty percent of the migrant population in the 1950s to only sixteen percent in the 1990s. By contrast, thirty-one percent of migrants were of Asian-decent in the 1990s, compared with only six percent in the 1950s. Additionally, from 1965 to 2000, the largest concentration of migrants (4.3 million individuals) came from Mexico. During the same period, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, India, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam all saw between 700,000 and 800,000 migrants leave for the U.S. The tremendous influx of migrants from countries outside of Europe greatly diversified the face of the American population.
Nancy Foner. From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration. London, New Haven, New York: Yale University Press and Rusell Sage Foundation, May 9, 2006.
U.S. Immigration Since 1965. History.com. A + E Networks, 2010. Date accessed: September 11, 2015.
Wayne Shirey. Immigration Waves. Immigration to the United States. March 7, 2007. Date accessed: September 11, 2015.
Jennifer Ludden. 1965 Immigration Law Changed Face of America. All Things Considered. NPR. 09/05/2006. Date accessed: June 16, 2015.
Alejandro Portes, Ruben G. Rumbaut. Immigrant America: a portrait. California: University of California Press.
Mary C. Waters, Reed Ueda. The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration Since 1965. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mary Waters. Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities. United States of America: Harvard University Press.
