Description
Book SynopsisTraces the application of US immigration and naturalization law to women from the 1870s to the late 1960s. This book explores how racialized, gendered, and historical anxieties shaped our understandings of the histories of immigrant women.
Trade Review"Martha Gardner's full and richly detailed book ... is an insightful analysis of the application of United States immigration and citizenship law to women across a broad spectrum of classes and races between 1870 and the late 1960s... Gardner's devotion to her sources, evident in the stunning details she provides, makes the history come alive."--Beatrice McKenzie, Journal of American Ethnic History
Table of ContentsIn the Shadow of the Law 1 PART I: Wives, Mothers, and Maids Chapter One: Immigrants, Citizens, and Marriage 13 Chapter Two: The Limits of Derivative Citizenship 31 Chapter Three: Seeing Difference 50 Chapter Four: Constructing a Moral Border 73 Chapter Five: Likely to Become 87 Chapter Six: Toil and Trouble 100 PART II: Citizens, Residents, and Non-Americans Chapter Seven: When Americans Are Not Citizens 121 Chapter Eight: When Citizens Are Not White 139 Chapter Nine: Reproducing the Nation 157 Chapter Ten: Women in Need 176 Chapter Eleven: At Work in the Nation 199 PART III: Marriage, Family, and the Law Chapter Twelve: Families, Made in America 223 Chapter Thirteen: Marriage and Morality 240 Conclusion: Regulating Belonging 254 A Brief Guide to Archival Sources 257 Acknowledgments 261 Index 263
