A Six Session Course: Immigration and the Making of St. Paul

Wednesdays, 6-8PM, October 2 – November 6

The East Side Freedom Library and the Community and Adult Education Program of the St. Paul Public Schools invite you to participate in this learning opportunity.

Explore the role of immigrants in the making and remaking of St. Paul. We will begin in the 1840s and conclude with the present: including Irish and German immigrants’ impact on the foundation of our city; the roles of Scandinavian and Eastern European immigrants as workers and entrepreneurs; the impact of Mexicans and African Americans on the city’s workforce, neighborhoods and political and cultural life; the arrival in the late 20th and early 21st centuries of refugees from Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Somalia, and immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. We’ll work towards an overview of public policy and issues of immigration reform, through the lens provided by historical study.

This course will be taught by ESFL’s co-executive director, Peter Rachleff. For thirty years, Peter taught Immigration History at Macalester College, and he published a range of articles on the subject.

If you want to take this course, you must register for it. SPPS is charging $57 for participation. Please contact them at 651-767-8179 or email commed@spps.org.