Dr. Llana Barber of the American Studies Department was recently announced as the co-winner or the Lois P. Rudnick Book Prize by the New England American Studies Association. The Lois P. Rudnick Book Prize is given to the best academic book in American Studies written by a New England scholar or about New England over a two-year period. She received the honor for her recent book, "Latino City: Immigration and Urban Crisis in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1945-2000."
“Expelling the Poor: Atlantic Seaboard States and the Nineteenth-Century Origins of American Immigration Policy,” by City College of New York historian Hidetaka Hirota is the other co-winner of the prize.
“Both books re-examined commonly held thoughts about immigration in New England in ways that will shape our notions around immigration, laws associated with it, and what happens after immigration,” said Jonathan Silverman, president of the New England American Studies Association.
Published by the University of North Carolina Press, Barber’s 352-page book culminates years of research, and includes oral history interviews and data to provide readers an intimate view of the experiences of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans in postindustrial New England.
Barber lives in Jackson Heights, N.Y., and teaches “Urban History,” “Immigration History,” and “American Empire” among other classes at Old Westbury. She earned her Ph.D. at Boston College, and a B.A. from University of California at Berkeley.