“Listen: What the Music of US Immigrant History Can Tell Us”

Alyssa Mathias

The history of US immigration is often told through documents and photographs, but music can also offer an invaluable perspective on the nuances of everyday immigrant life. Based on archival field recordings from 1930s California, this talk weaves together stories of Middle Eastern, East Asian, and European immigrants in an agricultural railroad town marked by racial politics. These recordings reveal sometimes surprising moments of interethnic collaboration, reminding us that the past may not be so different from our multicultural present. At the same time, the songs speak to structural inequities that show up in conversations about diversity and inclusion today: housing discrimination, restrictive naturalization laws, and the construction of whiteness as a racial category. As we continue to grapple with the legacies of diversity and prejudice in the United States, what lessons can we glean from the voices of those who navigated moments of connection and discord nearly a century ago?