The Other Immigrant Story (Rethinking Assimilation)

Despite a family lineage of several generations in the United States, plus higher education and all the marks of class privilege, Mexican American historian Natalia Molina avoids wearing black and white to faculty events so as not to be confused for catering staff. She still finds herself viewed as “foreign,” while her husband’s family, with more recent roots in Europe, is considered fully assimilated.

Why? While all immigrants can face hardship, alienation, and a loss of cultural identity, only the European-born are offered full belonging as Americans. Immigrants do not just assimilate into America, Molina argues: They assimilate into a racial hierarchy. Drawing on over 150 years of immigration history, personal and family narratives, and more than two decades of research, Molina shows how legal structures and cultural narratives have racialized Latinos as perpetual outsiders. Through vivid storytelling and sharp analysis, The Other Immigrant Story interrogates the myths surrounding assimilation.