Race, Segregation, and Incarceration in the States, 1920-2010

Introduction:

The incarceration rate in the United States today is so high that it can only be described as a pattern of mass incarceration. Worse, this system of mass incarceration operates through structures of gendered and racial discrimination which unfairly target black men. Societal racism in the forms of federal policy and residential segregation produce and normalize this discrimination. However, racial ideologies and practices, as well as segregation, have differed geographically throughout United States history. I examine the racial dynamics of incarceration on a state level, asking how racism and segregation have intersected with the demographics of incarceration in the United States over the last 90 years. Since women make up such a small proportion of the prison population, I narrow my focus to the mass incarceration of men, specifically the disproportionate representation of black men in American prisons.
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“The Danger of Incoming Hordes,” 1870 – 1960: Facts and Fiction in US Congressional Debates surrounding the 1917 and 1924 Immigration Acts

INTRODUCTION

On August 17th, 1916, Congressman William Borah of Idaho explained, “we ought to have our fences up and be thoroughly prepared to protect those in this country who will be brought into competition with the hordes of people who will come here” (Statements of Borah et. al, 8/17/16, 9). Borah was launching arguments in support of the Immigration Restriction Act of 1917, which enforced a literacy test on incoming immigrants. Borah’s arguments for exclusion and closed borders closely mirror present-day arguments about immigration restriction. Indeed, immigration policies have long been the subject of intense debate in the United States. This blog post will take an in-depth look at the arguments used in defense of increased border restriction in the Immigration Restriction Acts of 1917 and 1924. An analysis of fact versus fiction in Congressional debates in 1917 and 1924 will serve as a reminder that xenophobia and fears of the “other” are a driving force behind immigration policy in the Untied States.

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Latin-Caribbean Immigrants vs. Afro-Caribbean Immigrants: How Race and Language Affect Occupation and Income

INTRODUCTION:

Scholars often regard the Caribbean as one unit, but there is an important dichotomy in this region: the Latin-Caribbean versus the Afro-Caribbean. Since the Latin-Caribbean is predominantly white and Spanish-speaking while the Afro-Caribbean is predominantly black and English-speaking, it is important to examine the Caribbean with this division in mind. Consequently, in this post, I seek to prove that American immigrants from the Latin-Caribbean have distinctly different experiences than their Afro-Caribbean counterparts. To show this, I compare the racial makeup, occupations, and incomes of Afro-Caribbean and Latin-Caribbean immigrants in the United States from 1950-2000. My data come from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), which takes census data and makes it publicly available for scholarly use. I reference IPUMS data to argue that race was responsible for most economic disadvantages that faced Afro-Caribbean immigrants at this time, while a factor that the census does not measure consistently—likely the ability to speak English—was the crucial factor for Latin-Caribbean immigrants.

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“Yankees of the East”: The Racial History of Twentieth Century America Through the Eyes of Worcester Armenians and Their Descendants

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Introduction: During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Worcester, Massachusetts was the primary site of Armenian settlement in the United States. New England Protestant missionaries who worked in the Ottoman Empire first fused the connection between the old country … Continue reading

A Census-Based Analysis of the Model Minority Myth: Comparisons of East and Southeast Asians’ Educational Attainment and Income Levels, 1940-2000

Introduction

In the United States, the model minority myth refers to a controversial perception that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are a monolithic subpopulation composed only of successful and affluent individuals whose children perform exceptionally well in the education system. For example, the National Center for Education Statistics’ (2016) report that AAPIs achieved the highest public high school graduation rate out of all racial and ethnic groups would appear to provide evidence in support of this myth. Despite its seemingly positive representation of AAPIs, the association between internalization of the model minority myth and negative student outcomes is well-documented in current literature. Kim and Lee (2014, 103) found that AAPI college students are less likely than their peers to seek help because “belief in the model minority myth may motivate an individual to highly value emotional self-control as a way to maintain a positive self-image of what it means to be an [AAPI].” The Obama administration has also invested one million dollars into the AAPI Data Disaggregation Initiative, encouraging state and local educational agencies to “obtain and evaluate disaggregated data on…AAPI subpopulations.” This measure was taken in response to the model minority myth often leading state and local educational agencies to collect aggregated student performance, placing all AAPI students into a single category. Consequently, poor performances of certain AAPI subgroups were less likely to be noticed, preventing students from receiving appropriate, targeted interventions (United States Department of Education, 2016). Due to these harmful effects of identifying as a model minority, ranging from influencing how AAPI students behave when challenged to preventing their access to critical resources, additional details of this myth must be carefully examined.

This study thus achieves three goals. First, with regards to educational attainment and income of East and Southeast Asians, the study further highlights the dangers of AAPI data aggregation. Second, census data since 1940 is examined to clarify the historical origins of the intra-AAPI education and income gaps. Finally, the study elaborates on the current states of the intra-AAPI education and income gaps.

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