People of New York City

In this required seminar course, students investigate the role of immigration and migration in shaping New York City’s identity, past, present, and future.

Topics include: the factors that have driven and drawn people to New York since the seventeenth century; the different ways that religion, race, gender, and ethnicity have shaped immigrant encounters within the city; the immigrant communities in the Lower East Side, Harlem, Little Italy, Chinatown, Astoria, and others; the impact of newcomers on culture and politics; and the debates over assimilation and Americanization.

Extensive reading and writing assignments are enriched by visits to important sites. The culminating project features the collaborative construction and exhibit of neighborhood websites.