Erika Lee Explained

Erika Lee is a historian and author. She is currently the inaugural Bae Family Professor of History at Harvard University, a position she began in July 2023.^{[1] [2]} In addition, she is still active as an award-winning author, known for her non-fiction work upon the subjects of immigration and Asian American history in America. Previously, she was the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair and Director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota.^[3]

Early Life and Education

Lee is the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area.^[4] Lee attended Tufts University before continuing her studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned an M.A. in 1993 and a PhD in 1998.^[5]

Career

Erika Lee served as the director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Minnesota throughout 2003-2006, in addition to directing the Asian Studies Program (2009-2012), and the Immigration History Research Center and Archives(2012).^[6]

During her time at the University of Minnesota, she has also founded, written and edited for multiple online humanities projects that include but are not limited to: Immigrants in COVID America, Immigrant Stories, and the #ImmigrationSyllabus.^[7]

Recently, Erika Lee has accepted the position of the inaugural Bae Family Professor of History at Harvard University in 2023.^[8]

As an author, Erika Lee is noted to have written five non-fiction books, for which she has received multiple awards such as the American Book Award and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. Her most recent work is Made in Asian America: A History of Young People (2024), cowritten with Newberry-award winning author Christina Soontornvat.^[9]

Published works

Books

• Book: Lee . Erika . At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882–1943 . 2003 . The University of North Carolina Press . Chapel Hill . 978-0807827758.
• Book: 1 . Lee . Erika . Yung . Judy . Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America . 2010 . Oxford University Press . New York . 978-0199734085.
• Book: 1. Lee. Erika. The Making of Asian America: A History. 2016. Simon & Schuster. New York. 978-1476739403. registration.
• Book: 1 . Lee . Erika . America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States . 2019 . Basic Books . New York . 978-1541672604.
• Book: 1 . Lee . Erika . Soontornvat . Christina . Made in Asian America: a History for Young People . Quill Tree Books . 2024-04-30 . 978-0-06-324293-7. ^{[10] [11]}

Contributions

• Lee, Erika (2011). "Chapter 1: A Nation of Immigrants and a Gatekeeping Nation: American Immigration Law and Policy" In Reed, Ueda (eds.). A companion to American immigration. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-22843-1.
• Book: Lee . Erika . Not Just Black and White: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Immgiration, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States . 2004 . Russell Sage Foundation . 978-0871542595 . Foner . Nancy . New York . 119–144 . Chapter 6: American Gatekeeping: Race and Immigration Law in the Twentieth Century . 10.7758/9781610442114 . 1 . Fredrickson . George M..
• Book: 1 . Lee . Erika . Yu-Wen Shen Wu . Jean . Chen . Thomas . Asian American Studies Now: A Critical Reader . 2010 . Rutgers University Press . New Brunswick . 978-0813545745 . 143–167 . Chapter 9: The Chinese Are Coming. How Can We Stop Them? Chinese Exclusion and the Origins of American Gatekeeping. j.ctt1bmzn3s .
• Book: 1 . Lee . Erika . Fojas . Camilla . Guevarra . Rudy P. . Transnational Crossroads: Remapping the Americas and the Pacific . 2012 . University of Nebraska Press . Lincoln . 978-0803237957 . 315–358 . Chapter 11: The "Yellow Peril" in the United States and Peru: A Transnational History of Japanese Exclusion, 1920s–World War II. 10.2307/j.ctt1ddr6mv . j.ctt1ddr6mv .

Journal articles

• Lee . Erika . Immigrants and Immigration Law: A State of the Field Assessment . Journal of American Ethnic History . 1999 . 18 . 4 . 85–114 . 27502472 .
• 1 . Lee . Erika . The Chinese Exclusion Example: Race, Immigration, and American Gatekeeping, 1882–1924 . Journal of American Ethnic History . 2002 . 21 . 3 . 36–62 . 10.2307/27502847 . 27502847 . 157999472 .
• 1 . Lee . Erika . Enforcing the Borders: Chinese Exclusion along the U.S. Borders with Canada and Mexico, 1882–1924 . The Journal of American History . 2002 . 89 . 1 . 54–86 . 10.2307/2700784 . 2700784 .
• 1 . Lee . Erika . 145388977 . The "Yellow Peril" and Asian Exclusion in the Americas . Pacific Historical Review . 2007 . 76 . 4 . 537–562 . 10.1525/phr.2007.76.4.537 . 10.1525/phr.2007.76.4.537.
• 1 . Lee . Erika . A Part and Apart: Asian American and Immigration History . Journal of American Ethnic History . 2015 . 34 . 4 . 28–42 . 10.5406/jamerethnhist.34.4.0028 . 10.5406/jamerethnhist.34.4.0028 .
• 1 . Lee . Erika . Gabaccia . Donna . The Role of the Public Historian: An Interview with Donna Gabaccia . Journal of American Ethnic History . 2017 . 37 . 1 . 70–77 . 10.5406/jamerethnhist.37.1.0070 . 10.5406/jamerethnhist.37.1.0070 .

Awards

• 2015 Immigrant Heritage Award in Education from the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation^[12]
• 2016 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Awards for The Making of Asian America: a History^[13]
• 2018 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship^[14]
• 2018 Distinguished Historian Award from the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era^[14]
• 2018 Distinguished Lecturer in the Organization of American Historians^[14]
• 2019 Honoree of the Richard Frisbie Award from the Society of Midland Authors.^{[15] [16]}
• 2020 American Book Awards^[17]

External links

• Faculty Page – University of Minnesota
• Erika Lee Homepage

Notes and References

1. Web site: About Erika – ERIKA LEE . 2023-04-05 . en-US.
2. Web site: 2022-07-06 . Erika Lee to Join Harvard as Second Professor in Ethnic Studies Cluster Hire . 2023-04-05 . The Harvard Crimson.
3. Web site: Monday, October 29, 2012 . Angel Island: Local, National, and Transnational Immigration Histories: Professor Erika Lee (University of Minnesota) . September 6, 2015 .
4. Web site: Erika Lee . September 6, 2015 . Simon & Schuster.
5. Web site: Erika Lee . 2024-12-02 . Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University . en.
6. Web site: Erika Lee University Awards & Honors . 2024-12-02 . uawards.umn.edu.
7. Web site: 2024-12-02 . Erika Lee American Academy of Arts and Sciences . 2024-12-03 . www.amacad.org . en.
8. Web site: Erika Lee to Join Harvard as Second Professor in Ethnic Studies Cluster Hire News The Harvard Crimson . 2024-12-03 . www.thecrimson.com.
9. Web site: Erika Lee . 2024-12-02 . Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University . en.
10. Web site: Yoo . Paula . Book Review: 'Made in Asian America: A History for Young People,' by Erika Lee and Christina Soontornvat . The New York Times . 2024-04-26 . 2024-10-23.
11. Web site: Skinner . Dan . "Made in Asian America: A History for Young People" . Kansas Public Radio . 2024-05-31 . 2024-10-23.
12. Web site: Immigrant Heritage Awards Angel Island Immigration Station - San Francisco . 2024-12-03 . AIISF . en-US.
13. Web site: 2015-2016 Awards Winners . . December 27, 2023 . December 27, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231227183840/https://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/winners/2015-2016-awards-winners/ . live.
14. Web site: Erika Lee . Faculty Profile . University of Minnesota . January 13, 2020.
15. Web site: Erika Lee . 2024-12-02 . Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University . en.
16. Web site: Loerzel . Robert . Midland Authors Announces Awards for 2019 Books The Society of Midland Authors . 2024-12-03 . en-US.
17. Web site: George Takei, Ocean Vuong win American Book Awards . . September 15, 2020 . December 22, 2023 . December 22, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231222130810/https://apnews.com/arts-and-entertainment-general-news-8c4cb4c7193622a84620f65a158cdf3b . live.