Speaker: Dr. Libby Garland

 
In 1921 and 1924, Congress passed legislation intended to reduce the influx of immigrants to the U.S. These laws allocated only small quotas for southern and eastern Europe, and banned almost all immigration from Asia. Their purpose was to limit the number of foreigners considered inferior and a threat to the nation. Jews, heavily represented in early twentieth-century immigration to the United States, were among the prime targets of the laws. In this talk, Dr. Libby Garland discusses the responses of Jews both in the United States and abroad to these new restrictions on immigration, including the attempts of many Jewish migrants to try to get to the United States in violation of the law.





Dr. Libby Garland is Associate Professor of History at Kingsborough Community College, The City University of New York. She is the author of After They Closed the Gates: Jewish Illegal Immigration to the United States, 1921-1965 (University of Chicago Press, 2014), winner of both the American Jewish Historical Society’s Saul Viener book prize and the American Historical Association’s Dorothy Rosenberg prize in 2015.
JGS would like to offer our members the opportunity to purchase copies of Dr. Garland’s book for $30, which is a substantial discount from the retail price of $48 and several dollars less than the Kindle edition. If you would like a copy to be ready for you at the May 21st meeting, please send an email to program@jgsny.org by May 8th to let us know, so we can proceed and order copies only for those who request them in advance. In order to take advantage of this offer, you will need to attend the May 21st meeting, when we will accept payment by check, cash or credit card. Dr. Garland will be available to sign books after her talk.