Immigration as a Campaign Issue: From John Adams to Donald Trump

TALK & NETWORKING EVENT:

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Columbia University Club of Washington, D.C. invite alumni and friends to a conversation on “Immigration as a Campaign Issue: From John Adams to Donald Trump,” with Tyler Anbinder, GSAS’90, Professor of History at George Washington University; a reception will follow. We encourage you to take advantage of this great networking opportunity to meet fellow alumni and connect with new friends. Please RSVP. Guest of alum welcome.

EVENT DETAILS:

Date & Time: Thursday, January 21, 2016 - 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Venue: Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP - 700 Sixth Street, NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20001

Parking details: Hourly-rate parking is available at the Gallery Place Garage. The entrance to the garage is located next to the Sutherland office building. Validation is not available.

Local transportation details: The Sutherland office is conveniently located near the Gallery Place Chinatown Metro station, which is accessible via the Yellow, Green and Red Metro train lines.

* Please note that all guests should be prepared to show his/her photo I.D. for admission to the building.

“Immigration as a Campaign Issue: From John Adams to Donald Trump,” with Professor Tyler Anbinder, GSAS’90

It may seem like the issue of immigration is playing a bigger role in the 2016 presidential campaign than it ever has before. But controversies surrounding immigration policy and the relationship between immigrants and national security have been key campaign issues since the 1790s. Whether the newcomers were Irish in the nineteenth century, Italians and Jews in the twentieth century, or Muslims today, Americans have long struggled to balance their perception of the United States as a nation of immigrants with their fears that the latest wave of newcomers can never become "true Americans." Anbinder will present a account of immigration as a campaign issue over the past 225 years, drawing parallels to the past that will help us better understand how we are likely to deal with this topic today and in the future.

About the speaker: Tyler Anbinder is a specialist in nineteenth-century American politics and in the history of immigration and ethnicity in American life. His first book, Nativism and Slavery, analyzed the role of the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic Know Nothing party on the political crisis that led to the Civil War. His most recent book, Five Points, traced the history of nineteenth-century America's most infamous immigrant slum, focusing on tenement life, inter-ethnic relations, and ethnic politics. Professor Anbinder has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and held the Fulbright Thomas Jefferson Chair in American History at the University of Utrecht. He also served as a historical consultant to Martin Scorsese in the making of the film Gangs of New York. His current research includes an NEH-funded study of Irish immigrant savings habits, and a book-length study of immigrant life in New York City from the first Dutch settlers to the present.

If you have questions, please contact Diana Molina, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, at d.molina@columbia.edu.

We hope to see you there!