Goddard, Race and Intelligence (Part One)
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson talks about Henry Herbert Goddard, who believed that race was the key to discovering what people's potential was in the realm of intelligence. Goddard's work was used by nativists in Co...
Goddard, Race and Intelligence (Part Two)
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson explains that, while Henry Herbert Goddard and others like him are often viewed currently as, "...crackpots...out on the fringe somewhere with bizarre ideas that aren't really related t...
Franz Boas Takes On The Eugenicists
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson talks about Jewish scholar and Columbia anthropology professor Franz Boas. Professor Jacobson explains that Boas was, "...one of the first scholars who really started to question what w...
Science, Race and Immigration
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson talks about the ascendancy of science in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the use of science to classify people into racial types and racial hierarchies. This gave rise to...
Great Black Migration, The
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson talks about "the great Black migration" from the rural south to the urban north, and credits this for the ultimate acceptance enjoyed by white immigrant groups.
Revolution of a Different Sort: Resurgence of Immigration Helps Fuel Industrial Revolution in U. S.
Between the 1820s and the 1850s, the American economy is stirring with the beginnings of an industrial revolution, a change so profound that it transforms almost every aspect of life in the United States. This revolution is fueled by many factors be...
Ethnic Groups in Industry
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson talks about the links between certain ethnic groups and specific industries. Professor Jacobson explains that there were initially geographic concentrations of ethnic groups according t...
An End to Exclusion: The Hart-Celler Act of 1965
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson talks about the factors that led to the Hart-Celler Act of 1965. Professor Jacobson explains that this legislation is the basis of current immigration law in the United States, and mark...
Age of the City, The: Ethnic City, The
Some cities are marked by clearly-defined ethnic neighborhoods, others are more diverse. Among immigrant families, men are usually the first to arrive, hoping to earn enough money to take back home. Historians call these immigrants "birds of passage...
Age of the City, The: Infrastructure and Political Issues
Growth forces cities to rebuild their infrastructure and reconceptualize their political systems in the late 19th century. In fact the governmental institutions and services we think of as essential to an American city are created during this time p...