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Maddalena Marinari
Associate Professor of History, Gustavus Adolphus College
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Maddalena Marinari
Associate Professor of History, Gustavus Adolphus College
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
AREAS OF TEACHING
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
BIO
Maddalena Marinari teaches U.S. history at Gustavus Adolphus College. She has published extensively on immigration restriction and immigrant mobilization. She is the author of Unwanted: Italian And Jewish Mobilization Against Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1882-1965 and a co-editor of A Nation of Immigrants Reconsidered: U.S. Society in an Age of Restriction, 1924-1965. She is the co-editor with Erika Lee of a special issue of the Journal of American History on the hundredth anniversary of the passage of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924.
EXTENDED PROFILE
Maddalena Marinari is associate professor of history at Gustavus Adolphus College. She has written extensively on immigration restriction, U.S. immigration policy, and immigrant mobilization. Her book Unwanted: Italian And Jewish Mobilization Against Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1882–1965 (2020) explores Italian and Jewish mobilization against restrictive immigration laws from 1882 to 1965. Along with Maria Cristina Garcia and Madeline Hsu, she is one of the editors of A Nation of Immigrants Reconsidered: U.S. Society in an Age of Restriction, 1924–1965 (2019), an anthology on the impact of immigration restriction on the United States in the twentieth century. She is the co-editor with Erika Lee of a forthcoming special issue of the Journal of American History on the hundredth anniversaries of the passage of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 and co-editor with Maria Cristina Garcia of a second anthology, titled Whose America? U.S. Immigration Policy since 1980 under contract with the University of Illinois Press. She is also one of the scholars who created the #ImmigrationSyllabus, an online tool for anyone interested in understanding the history behind current debates on immigration, and of Immigrants in COVID America, a curated collection of resources that chronicles the impact of the pandemic on migrant and refugee communities in the United States. Her research for this project received funding from the Social Science Research Council.
RESEARCH
I work on the history of immigration restriction, U.S. immigration policy, immigrant mobilization, and the intersection of citizenship and illegality.
PROJECTS AND EXHIBITIONS
Books
2022 Co-editor with Maria Cristina García, Whose America? U.S. Immigration Policy since 1980. University of Illinois Press
2020 Unwanted: Italian and Jewish Mobilization Against Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1882-1965. University of North Carolina Press
2019 Co-editor with Maria Cristina García and Madeline Hsu, A Nation of Immigrants Reconsidered: The U.S. in an Age of Restriction, 1924-1965. University of Illinois Press
Refereed Journal Articles
2016 “Divided and Conquered: Immigration Reform Advocates and the Passage of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act,” Journal of American Ethnic History 35: 3 (Spring): 9-40
2014 “‘Americans Must Show Justice in Immigration Policies Too’: The Passage of the 1965 Immigration Act,” Journal of Policy History 26: 2 (April): 219-245
Book Chapters
2022 “Immigration and U.S. Foreign Relations,” in Tyson Reeder, ed., The Routledge History of U.S. Foreign Relations (Routledge): 53-65
2021 “Migration, War, and the Transformation of the U.S. Population,” in David Engerman, Max Friedman, and Melani McAlister, Cambridge History of America and the World, vol. 4, 1945-present (University of Chicago Press): 419-439
2017 “‘In the name of God … and in the Interest of our Country:’” Cold War, Foreign Policy, and Italian Americans’ Mobilization against Immigration Restriction,” in Joseph Sciorra and Laura Ruberto, eds., New Italian Migrations to the United States, Vol. 1: Politics and History Since 1945 (University of Illinois Press): 59-79
2012 “Lyndon B. Johnson and Immigration,” with Donna Gabaccia, in Mitchell Lerner, ed., A Companion to Lyndon B. Johnson (Blackwell Publishing): 210-227
2010 “Cultures of Origin: Southern Europe, 1830-1914” with Marina G. Maccari-Clayton, in Diethelm Knauf and Barry Moreno, eds, Leaving Home. Migration Yesterday and Today, 2nd Edition (Columbia University Press): 79-88
Special Journal Issues
2022 Guest-editor with Erika Lee, “The Immigration Act of 1924: Antecedents, Impacts, and Legacies,” special issue, Journal of American History (June)
2022 Author, part of roundtable on COVID-19, Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (April)
2014 Author, “From Subjects to Actors: Italians and Jews and the Fight against Immigration Restriction in the United States,” part of a special issue on “The Intergenerational Legacies of Louise Tilly’s Work,” Social Science History 38: 1 (Spring): 89-95
2012 Author, “‘An Acrid Odor of the 1920s is Again in the Air’: The Strange Career of American Nativism and What John Higham’s Strangers in the Land Can Still Help Us Uncover Today,” part of a special issue on John Higham’s Strangers in the Land, Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 11, no. 2 (April): 258-262
Other Publications
2018 Co-author with Julian Lim, “Laws for a Nation of Nativists and Immigrants,” “Nation of Immigrants” Forum, Modern American History 2, issue 1 (March): 1-4
2018 “‘In the Name of America’s Future’: The Fraught Passage of the1952 Immigration and Nationality Act,” History Now, issue 52
2018 Co-author with Erika Lee and Evan Taparata, “#ImmigrationSyllabus: The Necessity of Teaching Immigration History Today,” Journal of American Ethnic History 37, no. 3 (Spring): 102-111
2017 Forum participant, “A Shadow on the Past: Teaching and Studying Migration and Borders in the Age of Trump,” Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (December): 1-33
2015 “Flipped @ SBU: Student Satisfaction and the College Classroom,” with Benjamin Gross, Michael Hoffman, Peggy Burke, and Kimberly DeSimone, Educational Research Quarterly 39, 3 (December): 36-52
2013 “Migration and Nativism, United States,” in Immanuel Ness, ed., The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell)
2012 “Immigration and Nationality Act (1952) – McCarran–Walter Act,” in Patrick J. Hayes, ed., The Making of Modern Immigration: An Encyclopedia of People and Ideas (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO): 355-368
2011 “Anti-Immigration, World War I and World War II,” in Kathleen Arnold, ed., Anti-Immigration in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO): 26-30
2010 “Organization of American Chinese Women,” in Hasia Diner, ed., Encyclopedia of American Women’s History (New York: Facts on File)
2010 “Boardinghouses,” in Hasia Diner, ed. Encyclopedia of American Women’s History (New York: Facts on File)
2010 “U.S. Immigration Policy, 1945 to Present,” in Alfred Andrea, ed. World History Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO): 243-269
Public History Projects
2021 Co-author with Torrie Hester, Mae Ngai, Mary E. Mendoza, Deirdre Moloney, Lucy Salyer, Elliot Young, Hidetaka Hirota, Alan Kraut, Emily Pope-Obeda, and Julian Lim, Comment for the Federal Register, 86 FR 47025, https://www.regulations.gov/search?filter=USCIS-2021-0013-0079
2021 Co-author with Erika Lee and Ibrahim Hirsi, “How the U.S. Weaponized COVID Against Migrants,” From “Crisis” to Futurity Series, Public Books
2021 Co-author, Brief of Immigration Historians as Amici Curiae in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees, versions submitted in PJES v. Wolf; Huisha-Huisha v. Pekoske; Nancy Gimena Huisha-Huisha et.al. v. Alejandro Mayorkas
2020 Co-author, Brief of Legal Historians as Amici Curiae in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees, versions submitted in Casa de Maryland, Inc. v. Trump, 971 F.3d 220 (4th Cir. 2020) (No. 19-2222); City and County of San Francisco v. USCIS, 2020 WL 7052286 (9th Cir. 2020) (Nos. 19-35914, 19-17213, 19-17214); New York v. Dep’t of Homeland Security, 969 F.3d 42 (2d Cir. 2020) (Nos. 19-3595, 19-3591); Cook County v. Wolf, 962 F.3d 208 (7th Cir. 2020) (No. 19-3169)
2019 Author, “Why family separation is so central to Trump’s immigration vision,” The Washington Post
2019 Author, “Cuccinelli’s ‘Bootstraps’ Line Reflects Historical Amnesia of ‘Public Charge’,” Public Radio International (PRI)
2019 Co-author, #Microsyllabus: Immigration Enforcement and the U.S.-Mexico Border, The Abusable Past, Radical History Review
2019 Consultant, “Triumph and Tragedy,” National History Day for Aamilah Chowdhury (TX)—the project (The Bracero Program) placed first in Texas and 4th in Washington, DC and won the National Latino-American History Award
2018 Consultant for Leslie Andrade “The use of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 throughout American history,” The Beacon School, Manhattan, NY
2018 Guest lecturer, “Immigrant Family Separation: A History,” “LIFE: Learning is Forever” Program, St. Peter Community Center, St. Peter, MN
2018 Guest speaker, #ImmigrationSyllabus for “The People’s University” Program, the Webber Park Library, Minneapolis, MN
2018 Guest lecturer, “War, Displacement, and Immigration to the United States,” “LIFE: Learning is Forever” Program, St. Peter Community Center, St. Peter, MN
2017-19 Consultant, “Teach Immigration History,” Co-Sponsored by the Center for Asian American Studies and the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin and the Immigration and Ethnic History Society
2017 Author, “Another Time in History that the U.S. Created Travel Bans—Against Italians,” Public Radio International (PRI)
2017 Contributor, “We’ve Been Here Before: Historians Annotate and Analyze Immigration Ban’s Place in History,” Public Radio International (PRI)
2017 Project organizer, #ImmigrationSyllabus, a collaboration between the Immigration and Ethnic History Society and the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2017 “Bringing History to Life in Minnesota,” History Unfolded Blog, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
2017 Consultant, “Conflict and Compromise in History,” National History Day for Min-Hua Tsou (HI) and Aamilah Chowdhury (TX)
2016 “Hysteria over Immigrants Repeats Itself,” Minnpost
2016 Advisor, Global Minnesota: Immigration from Then to Now, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (sponsored by NEH’s Humanities in the Public Square)
2011 Judge, National History Day, Washington, DC
2010 Staff Associate, American Historical Association, Washington, DC
2010 Language Consultant, Jürgen Matthäus, ed., Jewish Responses to Persecution, vol. 2, (part of the Series Documenting Life and Destruction: Holocaust Sources in Context), a project for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
2009-10 Staff Assistant, American Historical Association, Washington, DC
2009 Project Manager, National History Center, Washington, DC
2008 Workshop leader, “How to Incorporate Immigration History in American History,” Teaching American History: CLIO Olathe School District, University of Kansas
2007 Immigration History Consultant, Levi Family Letters Project, Hall Center for the Humanities, University of Kansas
2005-06 Immigration History Consultant, World Almanac Library of American Immigration Series, Leintwardine, England: Discovery Books Limited
AWARDS
INTERVIEWS
2021 Interview with Chienyn Chi, Not from Here, IEHS Online
2021 Guest with Dr. Erika Lee, COVID-Calls, Podcast with Dr. Scott Knowles
2020 Q&A with Rebecca Onion, “Fact-Checking Fargo: How Bad Was Anti-Italian Racism in the 1950s?,” Slate
2020 Guest, The Legal History Podcast with Siobhan Barco, episode 18
2019 Interview with C.S. Soong, Against the Grain, KPFA radio, Berkeley, CA
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