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Erika Lee

624-9569
Department of History 1012 HellerH

Department Affiliations

Narrative

Erika Lee is a 20th century United States historian and Director of the Asian American Studies Program who specializes in immigration and Asian American history. She is author of the award-winning book, At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 (University of North Carolina Press, 2003) and several articles on 20th century immigration policy and the Asian American experience. Her book, Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America, co-authored with Judy Yung and sponsored by the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2010 to honor the Angel Island Immigration Station’s centennial. Prof. Lee is also at work on a third book, The ‘Yellow Peril’ in the Americas: A Transnational History of Migration and Race, 1850-1945.


Specialties

  • Migration, Race, and Ethnicity
  • Asian Americans
  • 20th-century United States
  • Law and Public Policy

Educational Background

  • Ph.D.: History, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 1998.
  • M.A.: History, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 1993.
  • B.A.: History and Cross-Cultural Studies, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 1991.

Publications

  • Lee, Erika, Judy Yung. Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America. Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Lee, Erika. "Asian American Studies in the Midwest: New Questions, Approaches, and Communities." Journal of Asian American Studies 12 (2009): 247-273.
  • Lee, Erika. "Wong Kim Ark v. United States: Immigration, Race, and Citizenship." Race Law Stories (2008): 89-109.
  • Lee, Erika. "The "Yellow Peril" and Asian Exclusion in the Americas." Pacific Historical Review 76:4 (2007)
  • Lee, Erika. "Hemispheric Orientalism and the 1907 Race Riots on the Pacific Coast." Amerasia Journal 33:2 (2007)
  • Lee, Erika. "A Nation of Immigrants / A Gatekeeping Nation: American Immigration Law and Policy, 1875-Present." A Companion to American Immigration History (2006)
  • Lee, Erika. "The Balancing Act: Work, Family, and the Need for Institutional Change in the Academy." Journal of Women's History 18:1 (2006)
  • Lee, Erika. "Orientalisms in the Americas: A Hemispheric Approach to Asian American History." Journal of Asian American Studies (2005)
  • Lee, Erika, Naoko Shibusawa. "What is Transnational Asian American History?." Journal of Asian American Studies 2005
  • Lee, Erika. "Defying Exclusion: Chinese Immigrants and Their Strategies During the Exclusion Era." Between China and America: The Trans-Pacific Flow of People, Goods, and Ideas (2005)
  • Lee, Erika. "American Gatekeeping: Race and Immigration Law in the Twentieth Century." Not Just Black and White: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity, Then to Now (2004)
  • At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943: Lee, Erika, University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Link
  • Lee, Erika. "Exclusion Acts: Chinese Women During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943." Asian/Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology (2003)
  • Lee, Erika. "Enforcing the Borders: Chinese Exclusion along the U.S. Borders with Canada and Mexico, 1882–1924." Journal of American History (2002)
  • Lee, Erika. "The Example of Chinese Exclusion: Race, Immigration, and American Gatekeeping, 1882-1924." Journal of American Ethnic History 21:3
  • Lee, Erika. "Immigrants and Immigration Law: A State of the Field Assessment." Journal of American Ethnic History 18(4) (1999): 85-114.

Research Activities

  • Immigration History on Angel Island: funded research, Fesler-Lampert Professorship in the Public Humanities, 2005-2010
  • Asian Immigration and Exclusion in the Americas, 1880-1945: funded research, McKnight Land Grant Professorship, McKnight Presidential Fellowship, 2003 - 2007
  • Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943: funded research, International Migration Program, Social Science Research Council, 2000 - 2001

Professional Activities

  • Director, Asian American Studies Program, University of Minnesota: 2009 - present
  • Chair, History Book Prize Committee: Association of Asian American Studies , 2007
  • Member: Faculty Student Advisory Board, Immigration History Research Center , 2005 - 2007
  • Director, Undergraduate Studies, Department of History: 2003-2004 - 2005-2006
  • Elected Member: Advisory Committee, Department of History , 1999 - 2006
  • Member: Theodore Saloutos Book Prize Committee, Immigration and Ethnic History Society , 2000 - 2003
  • Fellow: International Migration Program of the Social Science Research Council , 2000 - 2001
  • Board Member: Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation , 1997 - 1998
  • Fellow: Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley , 1996 - 1997

Outreach Activities

  • Invited Guest: "Immigration Reform," Mid-Morning, Minnesota Public Radio, 2007
  • Invited Speaker: "Nation of Immigrants?" College of Liberal Arts Dialogues in Diversity, 2007
  • Invited Speaker: Asian American and Asian Canadian Histories, "Everybody Reads" Program, Portland Public Library, 2007
  • Invited Speaker: - " How Did We Get Here? The History of Immigration in Minnesota," Minnesota State Demographic Center, 2007
  • Keynote Speaker: "Asian Americans and the Current Debate over Immigration," Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2006
  • Invited Speaker: Oral History Methodology," "Theories of Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.," "Immigration History," "Immigration Debates - Contemporary and Historical Perspectives," Historians in the Schools (St. Paul Public Schools), 2006
  • Invited Speaker: Policies Affecting the Immigrant Experience in Minnesota Conference, Macalester College, 2003
  • Member, Advisory Committee: "Open House" Roundtable/National Endowment for the Humanities Planning Session, Minnesota Historical Society, 2002 - 2003
  • Historical Consultant: "Becoming American: The Chinese Experience in America" (produced by Bill Moyers, aired on PBS), 2002 - 2003

Awards

  • Fesler-Lampert Professorship in the Public Humanities, 2007 - 2008
  • McKnight Presidential Fellowship, 2004 - 2007
  • Association of Asian Amercian Studies History Book Award, 2005
  • McKnight Land Grant Professorship, 2003 - 2005
  • Theodore Saloutos Prize for the Best Book in Immigration Studies, 2003
  • Choice Outstanding Academic Title for At America's Gates, 2003

Courses Taught

  • Hist 3877 - Asian American History, 1850-Present
  • Hist 3875W - Comparative Race and Ethnicity in US History
  • Nation of Immigrants? Immigration and American Society and Politics
  • Hist 4961: Major Paper Seminar
  • Hist 5877: Asian American History (graduate seminar)
  • AAS 1101: Imagining Asian America
Alternative Output Formats Alternative Output Formats

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