This course is designed to introduce students to critical approaches to the study of U.S. minority literatures and cultures from the ‘long’ 20th century. We will examine the issues of ‘immigration and ‘assimilation centrally in the formation of U.S. national, racial, and ethnic identities. By examining immigration and assimilation, we seek to consider how the writings by U.S. racial and ethnic groups used literature to reflect on, negotiate and sometimes resist multiple forms of de jure and de facto racial segregation. We will also consider how the questions of integration and assimilation provoked political and aesthetic debates about identity, belonging, and creativity. The course will provide an analytical foundation for examining literary production in relation to the historical and political contexts that impact the cultural imaginary.