Join us IN PERSON for a conversation with Prof. Anna O. Law on her new book Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African-Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants.

Thursday June 25 at 7 PM. Doors open at 6 PM with a cash bar. Book signing to follow the event.

Until the late 19th century, when the US federal government assumed the exclusive authority to decide whether someone had the ability to enter and stay in US territory, a crazy quilt of laws and policies created by colonies and states governed voluntary migrants.

By examining how that arrangement developed, why it changed in the Gilded Age, and the effects that change wrought on those subject to its control, Law’s book reveals the unmistakable effects of slavery and Native American dispossession on 19th century immigration law—effects that continue to shape modern U.S. immigration policy.

Moderator:

Erin Bartram, PhD is the Associate Director for Education at The Mark Twain House & Museum. She earned a PhD in 2015 from the University of Connecticut, where she studied 19th century United States history. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Journal of the Early Republic, and Religion & American Culture.

Ticket options: $5 general admission, $30 admission + book. Museum members receive free general admission.

Through the museum’s participation in Museums For All, any person with a SNAP or EBT card can get a free ticket to this event. Select “SNAP/EBT ticket” below for this option and then present your card and photo ID when checking in at the event.

LIVE STREAMING TICKETS for this event are available here.

About the author: Anna O. Law is the Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights at CUNY Brooklyn College. She completed her PhD in Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her publications appear in political science, history, and law journals and investigate the interaction between law, legal institutions, and politics. Her first book, The Immigration Battle in American Courts (2010), examined the role of the federal judiciary in U.S. immigration. She teaches and researches in U.S. constitutional law, federal courts, U.S. immigration policy history, federalism, American Political Development, and race/ethnicity.