Historian Beth Lew-Williams will give a talk on her award-winning book The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America (Harvard University Press) on September 29 at 7 p.m. (ET). Her presentation will be in webinar format followed by a moderated discussion and audience Q&A. Lew-Williams, who teaches at Princeton, is a scholar of race and migration in the United States, specializing in Asian American history. The Chinese Must Go looks at how American immigration policies incited anti-Chinese violence in the American West in 1800s, and how the violence, in turn, provoked new exclusionary policies. Lew-Williams will discuss the past outbreak of violence, place it within the broader history of anti-Asian violence, and reflect on the implications for the present day as the country confronts a new surge of anti-Asian hate crimes amid the pandemic. Lew-Williams’ BC talk is presented by the Lowell Humanities Series and co-sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program and the History Department. Pre-registration is required.
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