The New Bostonians: How Immigrants have Transformed Boston since the 1960s
Abstract
Drawing on her recent book,听The New Bostonians, Johnson will discuss how immigrants have helped transform the Boston metropolitan area since the 1960s as it evolved from an declining manufacturing city to a center of the new knowledge economy. She'll also offer a peak at a related digital history project, Global Boston, a website that explores the region's immigration history, past and present.
Speaker Bio
Marilynn Johnson听is a professor of history at 涩里番下载 where she teaches modern US urban and social history. She received her Ph.D. in history at New York University and has taught at Southern Methodist University and the Graduate Consortium in Women鈥檚 Studies at MIT. Her research focuses on migration, urban social relations, and violence. Her books include听The Second Gold Rush: Oakland and the East Bay in World War II听(1993) and听Street Justice: A History of Police Violence in New York City听(2004). Most recently, she published听The New Bostonians: How Immigrants Have Transformed the Metro Area Since the 1960s听(University of Massachusetts Press, 2015). She continues to do research on this subject is currently building a website called听, which explores immigration history in greater Boston from the early 19th century to the present.
Event Photos
Marilynn Johnson, professor of history at 涩里番下载, spoke about her new book--The New Bostonians--at a Boisi Center luncheon on September 21.
Photos by MTS Photography
Event Recap
Marilynn Johnson, 涩里番下载 professor of history, spoke at the Boisi Center on September 21 on the historic shifts in immigration to Boston. Johnson鈥檚 book,听The New Bostonians: How Immigrants Have Transformed the Metro Area since the 1960s听(University of Massachusetts Press, 2015), was released on the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Immigration Act. The legislation caused changes in immigration by eliminating quotas and expanding preferences for skilled workers and family members of immigrants in the U.S.
Boston has always been an important portal for immigrants, and established ethnic communities draw new immigrants. Boston has witnessed many different waves of immigration over its history; during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, families and largely unskilled workers from Ireland, Italy, China, Russia, and Canada dominated immigration into Boston. After the 1965 Immigration Act, the origins of Boston鈥檚 immigrants shifted to Central and South America and Asia. Locally, the centers of immigration shifted from Boston itself to its suburbs.
Johnson has continued her research beyond The New Bostonians online. Her new project, Global Boston (), was developed to maintain and expand historical accounts of immigrants in Boston and open scholarship on Boston鈥檚 immigration to a wider community of citizen-scholars. Johnson intends the website to be an ongoing collaborative project that includes students鈥� efforts to understand and analyze historical trends in immigration.听
Read More
Books
ohnson, Marilynn S.听The New Bostonians: How Immigrants Have Transformed the Metro Area Since the 1960s.听Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2015.听听
Halter, Marilyn; Johnson, Marilynn S; Wright, Conrad Edick; Viens, Katheryn P; eds. 鈥淭he Metropolitan Diaspora: New Immigrants in Greater Boston,鈥澨�What鈥檚 New about the New Immigration? Traditions and Transformations in the US Since 1965.听Palgrave McMillan, 2014.
What鈥檚 New about the New Immigration: Traditions and Transformations in the United States Since 1965,听edited by Marilynn Johnson, Marilyn Halter, Conrad Edick Wright, and Katheryn P. Viens (Palgrave McMillan, 2014).
Johnson, Marilynn S. 鈥溾�橳he Quiet Revival鈥�: New Immigrants and the Transformation of Christianity in Greater Boston,鈥澨�Religion and American Culture听24:2 (Summer 2014): 231-58.
Articles
Johnson, Marilynn S. 鈥淣ew Boston Sprang from the 1965 Immigration Act,鈥澨�Boston Globe听(Ideas section), September 27, 2015.
Johnson, Marilynn S. 鈥淭hirty Years Later, Remembering Boston鈥檚 Wave of Anti-Immigrant Violence,鈥澨�Boston Globe听(op-ed), May 22, 2015.
In the News
A recent article published by the听听highlights the growing fears among many Boston immigrants over a possible Trump presidency.