Beth Lew-Williams
@bethlewwilliams.bsky.social
Historian at Princeton University. Preoccupied with immigration, past and present.
This NPR story highlights the AMAZING archeological work of Laura Ng @cocalola.bsky.social. Laura has been tracking down descendants of the original Chinatown, including my dad (who gets a few words in at the end). www.kuow.org/stories/wyom...
Wyoming town erects new monument to violent, anti-immigrant history
At a time when President Trump is going after foreign laborers in the U.S, and saying unflattering accounts of U.S. history should be removed, Rock Springs, Wyoming has put up a new monument to ethnic...
www.kuow.org
September 29, 2025 at 1:13 PM
This NPR story highlights the AMAZING archeological work of Laura Ng @cocalola.bsky.social. Laura has been tracking down descendants of the original Chinatown, including my dad (who gets a few words in at the end). www.kuow.org/stories/wyom...
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
A moving, searching essay by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, who has an important new book, “John Doe Chinaman.” www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
The Ritual of Civic Apology
More than a century after driving out their Chinese residents, cities across the West are saying sorry, with parks, plaques, and proclamations. But it’s seldom clear who they’re talking to—or what the...
www.newyorker.com
September 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
A moving, searching essay by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, who has an important new book, “John Doe Chinaman.” www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
Excited to share this essay on racial violence, civic apology, and the elusive dream of racial reconciliation.
www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
The Ritual of Civic Apology
More than a century after driving out their Chinese residents, cities across the West are saying sorry, with parks, plaques, and proclamations. But it’s seldom clear who they’re talking to—or what the...
www.newyorker.com
September 13, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Excited to share this essay on racial violence, civic apology, and the elusive dream of racial reconciliation.
www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
🚨The Supreme Court today gives Trump a license to engage in racial profiling, with Justice Kavanaugh writing in concurrence to expressly endorse ICE and Border Patrol targeting any Latinos they observe in Los Angeles speaking Spanish and then demanding their papers.
![Here,
those circumstances include:
that there is an
extremely high number and percentage of illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area; that those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work; that those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture, and construction, that do not require paperwork and are therefore especially attractive to illegal immigrants; and that many of those illegally in the Los Angeles area come from Mexico or Central America and do not speak much English. Cf.
Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S., at 884-885 (listing "[a]ny number of factors" that contribute to reasonable suspicion of illegal presence). To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court's case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/bafkreiak2peq4v5ab5nqwwccg5drwwqzgnufkvxgw4ayraidywmn2sshhu@jpeg)
September 8, 2025 at 4:26 PM
🚨The Supreme Court today gives Trump a license to engage in racial profiling, with Justice Kavanaugh writing in concurrence to expressly endorse ICE and Border Patrol targeting any Latinos they observe in Los Angeles speaking Spanish and then demanding their papers.
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
***Attention fellow historians, scholars, and concerned individuals***
The California Digital Newspaper Collection is under financial threat, facing a $300,000 deficit.
If you would like to keep this essential resource afloat, please consider donating:
www.givecampus.com/campaigns/61...
The California Digital Newspaper Collection is under financial threat, facing a $300,000 deficit.
If you would like to keep this essential resource afloat, please consider donating:
www.givecampus.com/campaigns/61...
May 1, 2025 at 12:37 AM
***Attention fellow historians, scholars, and concerned individuals***
The California Digital Newspaper Collection is under financial threat, facing a $300,000 deficit.
If you would like to keep this essential resource afloat, please consider donating:
www.givecampus.com/campaigns/61...
The California Digital Newspaper Collection is under financial threat, facing a $300,000 deficit.
If you would like to keep this essential resource afloat, please consider donating:
www.givecampus.com/campaigns/61...
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
Infuriating - just learned from Renee Tajima-Peña that #PBSLearningMedia has disappeared the Vincent Chin teaching module.
May 21, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Infuriating - just learned from Renee Tajima-Peña that #PBSLearningMedia has disappeared the Vincent Chin teaching module.
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
Please join an online event marking the 150th anniversary of the Page Act of 1875! @iehs.bsky.social and @ihrc-umn.bsky.social are pleased to hold this joint event on April 22. Register below!
umn.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
umn.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
March 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Please join an online event marking the 150th anniversary of the Page Act of 1875! @iehs.bsky.social and @ihrc-umn.bsky.social are pleased to hold this joint event on April 22. Register below!
umn.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
umn.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
Letter signed by members of the Columbia History Department urging resistance to the Trump Administration's efforts to dictate university policy.
"Should this control be realized, here or elsewhere, it would make any real historical scholarship, teaching, and intellectual community impossible."
"Should this control be realized, here or elsewhere, it would make any real historical scholarship, teaching, and intellectual community impossible."
March 20, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Letter signed by members of the Columbia History Department urging resistance to the Trump Administration's efforts to dictate university policy.
"Should this control be realized, here or elsewhere, it would make any real historical scholarship, teaching, and intellectual community impossible."
"Should this control be realized, here or elsewhere, it would make any real historical scholarship, teaching, and intellectual community impossible."
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
A great essay by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, "Why Chinese Exclusion Matters (and Why It Doesn’t)," in @oah.org The American Historian. @iehs.bsky.social
www.oah.org/tah/industry...
www.oah.org/tah/industry...
OAH | Why Chinese Exclusion Matters (and Why It Doesn’t)OAH | Why Chinese Exclusion Matters (and Why It Doesn’t)
www.oah.org
February 28, 2025 at 6:12 PM
A great essay by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, "Why Chinese Exclusion Matters (and Why It Doesn’t)," in @oah.org The American Historian. @iehs.bsky.social
www.oah.org/tah/industry...
www.oah.org/tah/industry...
I’m glad that Stanford is giving this amazing collection a new home. But I will miss the California Historical Society.
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/a...
California Historical Society to Dissolve and Transfer Collections to Stanford
The society faced financial challenges that were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Its nearly 600,000 items stretch back before the Gold Rush.
www.nytimes.com
January 29, 2025 at 2:08 AM
I’m glad that Stanford is giving this amazing collection a new home. But I will miss the California Historical Society.
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/a...
Exited to see @loriflores.bsky.social at #aha25 with her brand-new book, Awaiting Their Feast. Congratulations!
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
January 5, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Exited to see @loriflores.bsky.social at #aha25 with her brand-new book, Awaiting Their Feast. Congratulations!
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
🗃️ Looking forward to #AHA25 this weekend, attending as many panels as I can & participating in a roundtable on the comparative history of immigration policy in the context of slavery in 19th-century US & Brazil, sponsored by @iehs.bsky.social & Conference on Latin American History, Sunday at 3:30pm
January 2, 2025 at 7:34 PM
🗃️ Looking forward to #AHA25 this weekend, attending as many panels as I can & participating in a roundtable on the comparative history of immigration policy in the context of slavery in 19th-century US & Brazil, sponsored by @iehs.bsky.social & Conference on Latin American History, Sunday at 3:30pm
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
The special issue, Transpacific Connections in the Civil War Era, has just been published in the Journal of the Civil War Era! Read brilliant articles by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, Ikuko Asaka, Stacey L. Smith, & Tian Xu and an inspiring concluding essay by Mae Ngai! muse.jhu.edu/issue/51479
November 27, 2023 at 10:56 PM
The special issue, Transpacific Connections in the Civil War Era, has just been published in the Journal of the Civil War Era! Read brilliant articles by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, Ikuko Asaka, Stacey L. Smith, & Tian Xu and an inspiring concluding essay by Mae Ngai! muse.jhu.edu/issue/51479
Now accepting applications for the Western History Dissertation Workshop.
This year Princeton will host in May 2024. It’s a great opportunity for PhD candidates working on the American West to share their work.
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
This year Princeton will host in May 2024. It’s a great opportunity for PhD candidates working on the American West to share their work.
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
Apply to the Western History Dissertation Workshop | H-Net
PhD Candidates Please Apply to the Western History Dissertation Workshop!
networks.h-net.org
October 19, 2023 at 6:25 PM
Now accepting applications for the Western History Dissertation Workshop.
This year Princeton will host in May 2024. It’s a great opportunity for PhD candidates working on the American West to share their work.
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
This year Princeton will host in May 2024. It’s a great opportunity for PhD candidates working on the American West to share their work.
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
Reposted by Beth Lew-Williams
Pageproofs of the special issue, "Transpacific Connections in the Civil War Era," in the Journal of the Civil War Era have arrived! The forum includes exciting essays by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, Ikuko Asaka, Stacey L. Smith, Tian Xu, and Mae Ngai. Looking forward to its publication in December!
September 5, 2023 at 4:11 PM
Pageproofs of the special issue, "Transpacific Connections in the Civil War Era," in the Journal of the Civil War Era have arrived! The forum includes exciting essays by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, Ikuko Asaka, Stacey L. Smith, Tian Xu, and Mae Ngai. Looking forward to its publication in December!