Session 1: Rethinking Immigration: The Johnson-Reed Act 100 Years Later

A century has passed since Congress voted to restrict immigration to the United States through the Johnson-Reed Act. Two distinguished historians of immigration examine how the act came to be and the kind of transformation it wrought not only in American immigration policy but in widespread attitudes and assumptions. The significance of the Johnson-Reed Act reverberated throughout American society and endures even after new legislation revising the rules around immigration. This moment of furious debate over immigration and how the United States should police its southern border calls for historical perspectives on how Americans understood immigration in the past and why they changed their minds.
This event took place on April 7, 2024.