- The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity
- Contributors
- Introduction: The Making of America
- The Impact of Immigration Legislation: 1875 to the Present
- European Migrations
- Asian Immigration
- Latino Immigration
- African American Migration from the Colonial Era to the Present
- Emancipation and Exploitation in Immigrant Women’s Lives
- Protecting America’s Borders and the Undocumented Immigrant Dilemma
- Inclusion, Exclusion, and the Making of American Nationality
- Race and Citizenship
- Assimilation in the Past and Present
- Whiteness and Race
- Race and U.S. Panethnic Formation
- Intermarriage and the Creation of a New American
- Immigration, Medical Regulation, and Eugenics
- The World of the Immigrant Worker
- Neighborhoods, Immigrants, and Ethnic Americans
- Machine Bosses, Reformers, and the Politics of Ethnic and Minority Incorporation
- Immigration, Ethnicity, Race, and Organized Crime
- The Myth of Ethnic Success: Old Wine in New Bottles
- Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in the South, 1980–2010
- Allegiance, Dual Citizenship, and the Ethnic Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy
- Historians and Sociologists Debate Transnationalism
- Written Forms of Communication from Immigrant Letters to Instant Messaging
- Ethnicity, Race, and Religion beyond Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Whites
- Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in American Film
- Language Retention/Language Shift, “English Only,” and Multilingualism in the United States
- Melting Pots, Salad Bowls, Ethnic Museums, and American Identity
- New Approaches in Teaching Immigration and Ethnic History
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This article discusses written communications by international migrants across time, from immigrant letters to instant messaging. Chronologically, it ranges from the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century, and spatially, the focus is on the United States and those who migrated to or from the country. It covers the definition of an immigrant letter, particularly as it relates to systematic study of the genre, and some of the cultural associations bound to the term. It relates issues of literacy—who could write and how well—and the status of postal connections, how they influenced the production and distribution of correspondence by migrants. Other sections explore how scholars have used epistolary records by migrants as sources for various topics and in several disciplines, and types of analysis they use for both written and electronic communications, including e-mail. Finally, there are suggestions for further study of correspondence related to immigration.
Keywords: immigration, correspondence, written communication, immigrant letter, instant messaging, e-mail, United States, nineteenth century, twentieth century
Suzanne M. Sinke, Florida State University.
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- The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity
- Contributors
- Introduction: The Making of America
- The Impact of Immigration Legislation: 1875 to the Present
- European Migrations
- Asian Immigration
- Latino Immigration
- African American Migration from the Colonial Era to the Present
- Emancipation and Exploitation in Immigrant Women’s Lives
- Protecting America’s Borders and the Undocumented Immigrant Dilemma
- Inclusion, Exclusion, and the Making of American Nationality
- Race and Citizenship
- Assimilation in the Past and Present
- Whiteness and Race
- Race and U.S. Panethnic Formation
- Intermarriage and the Creation of a New American
- Immigration, Medical Regulation, and Eugenics
- The World of the Immigrant Worker
- Neighborhoods, Immigrants, and Ethnic Americans
- Machine Bosses, Reformers, and the Politics of Ethnic and Minority Incorporation
- Immigration, Ethnicity, Race, and Organized Crime
- The Myth of Ethnic Success: Old Wine in New Bottles
- Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in the South, 1980–2010
- Allegiance, Dual Citizenship, and the Ethnic Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy
- Historians and Sociologists Debate Transnationalism
- Written Forms of Communication from Immigrant Letters to Instant Messaging
- Ethnicity, Race, and Religion beyond Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Whites
- Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in American Film
- Language Retention/Language Shift, “English Only,” and Multilingualism in the United States
- Melting Pots, Salad Bowls, Ethnic Museums, and American Identity
- New Approaches in Teaching Immigration and Ethnic History
- Index
