Xenophobia

America Runs on Xenophobia

by Erika Lee

Xenophobia's resilience and revival in America is happening because it helps manage the faults and contradictions of major social institutions including capitalism, democracy, and global leadership. 

Politicians, not Migrants, are Fueling the Pandemic's Resurgence

by Randa Tawil

At the height of colonialism, European governments rejected calls for quarantine to keep global commerce humming, and blamed supposedly unsanitary local populations for the inevitable spread of cholera. Governors in some US states are repeating this mistake today. 

Americans Are The Dangerous, Disease-Carrying Foreigners Now

by Erika Lee

For centuries, we have been the ones demonizing foreigners as carriers of infectious disease. And we have been the ones banning immigrants in the name of protecting Americans’ public health.

Trump's Outrageous Suggestion Comes with a Dark History

by Jennifer Le Zotte and Jacob Steere-Williams

This is not the first time that disinfectants appeared at the center of a health crisis or as part of a politicized resistance to sound medical advice.

What Historians Heard When Trump Warned of a 'Foreign Virus’

For immigration historians and other scholars, the way US President Donald Trump is describing the coronavirus pandemic has a familiar ring.

Coronavirus spurs prejudice. History suggests that’s no surprise.

As anti-Asian sentiment surges amid the growing coronavirus crisis, experts point to history & warn of consequences.

The real danger of coronavirus

by Jessica Hauger

Chinese and Chinese American people have served as scapegoats for infectious disease outbreaks and sanitation failures in the United States and around the world to particularly alarming effect.

Trump’s xenophobia is an American tradition — but it doesn’t have to be

by Erika Lee

Some have always pushed to keep out immigrants, but people have always fought back, too.

Why anti-immigration politics hurt white workers

by Inés Valdez

No, immigrants aren’t taking your job — but vilifying immigrants helps undermine worker protection.

Behind Trump’s ‘go back’ demand: A long history of rejecting ‘different’ Americans

From that drive to encourage blacks to go back where they came from to waves of nativist attacks on Catholics, Jews, Asians and Hispanics in nearly every generation that followed, “go home” rhetoric is as American as immigration itself.

End of the American dream? The dark history of 'America first'

by Sarah Churchwell

When he promised to put America first in his inaugural speech, Donald Trump drew on a slogan with a long and sinister history – a sign of what was to follow in his presidency.

‘Trump, Trump, Trump!’ How a President’s Name Became a Racial Jeer

According to several scholars of American history, the invocation of a president’s name as a jaw-jutting declaration of exclusion, rather than inclusion, appears to be unprecedented.

Trump’s Demonization of Muslims Echoes a Dark Chapter in German History

by Richard E. Frankel

His tweeting of anti-Muslim videos could very well have real-world consequences.

What’s Going on in Hungary Is Alarming

by Karl Pfeifer

Once again the country has been taken over by a xenophobic, anti-Semitic party that sees conspiracies everywhere.

Poland wrestles with its past — and present

Xenophobia appears to be rising in Poland. A historian argues a history of unaddressed anti-Semitism is partly to blame.

The Striking Parallels between Trump’s Xenophobia and the Americanization Movement of the 1910s

by Tina Irvine

Both rest on squalid claims about immigrants.

Fear of Outsiders Is an American Tradition

by Guenter B. Risse

Dehumanizing the victims as disease carriers makes it easier to discriminate against them.

It Can’t Happen Here?

by Ron Briley

The sad, depressing American history of xenophobia and repression during times of crisis. 

When America Was Overcome with Anti-Japanese Xenophobia During WWII, One Union Fought Back

by Peter Cole

That union was the International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU), an amalgam of communists, socialists and radicals.

This Isn't America's First Freakout Over Refugees

by Jesse Walker

Before anyone was afraid of ISIS terrorists disguised as Syrian refugees, Americans were afraid of Nazi agents disguised as Jewish refugees.