A History of the Border Wall: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in US History

Undergraduate

Ever since the US’s founding, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to United States identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, the frontier made possible the United States’ belief in itself as an exceptional nation—democratic, individualistic, forward-looking. Today, the country has a new symbol: the border wall. This course focuses on both the current crisis at the U.S.-Mexican border, which has consumed the country’s attention and challenged its public morality and national identity, and the long history that has led to the crisis. After an introductory period focused mostly on the history of the U.S. border (with indigenous peoples, Spain, and Mexico), we alternate between issues pertaining to the current moment and the larger historical context. We read about and discuss events of the moment, related to the immediate causes of migration, the rise of nativism in the U.S., along with calls for building a border wall, family separation and child detention policies, and the activity of the Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, as we continue to set the current crisis in historical context. HU T 1:30pm-3:25pm