Tag Archives: immigration

Paper 6 — Mutual Aid Without the State: The Immigrant Societies of Ybor City, 1887–1930s

Posted on July 20, 2026 by nathanalbright

Introduction The immigrants who built Ybor City faced the oldest and hardest problems of working-class life: sickness, injury, death, the doctor’s bill no wage could cover, the funeral no family could afford, the widow and orphan left with nothing. In … Continue reading →

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Paper 5 — Making Ybor City: The Cigar Migration and the Birth of an Immigrant Working Class, 1880s–1900

Posted on July 20, 2026 by nathanalbright

Introduction In 1885 Tampa was a small, struggling Southern town of a few thousand people, still recognizably the cracker cowtown of the previous paper. Within fifteen years it had been transformed almost beyond recognition into a booming industrial city, home … Continue reading →

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The Patriarchs as Treaty Partners, Not Illegal Immigrants: A Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Analysis

Posted on June 17, 2025 by nathanalbright

The characterization of the biblical patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—as “illegal” or “undocumented” immigrants represents a fundamental misunderstanding of both the biblical narrative and the broader context of ancient Near Eastern society. This anachronistic interpretation imposes modern categories of citizenship, national … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Immigration Policy: An Integration-Based Framework

Posted on March 14, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary This white paper proposes a framework for analyzing immigration through the lens of economic contribution and societal integration rather than binary categorizations of immigrants. It examines how policy can be designed to maximize positive outcomes for both immigrants … Continue reading →

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On Citizenship By Investment

Posted on February 27, 2025 by nathanalbright

I remember feeling somewhat odd the first time I heard about citizenship by investment. I was visiting St. Lucia and had made it through one of their international airports and been reminded about the nation’s “discreet banking,” and I was … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Ungrateful Refugee

Posted on February 25, 2024 by nathanalbright

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You, by Dina Nayeri It is perhaps a bit ungenerous to say that a book called The Ungrateful Refugee would have been far better had it not been written by an ungrateful refugee. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Exit West

Posted on August 29, 2020 by nathanalbright

Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid There are at least a few reasons why this book is not quite as good as it could be. As seems to be a pattern with the author’s books (as someone who has read three … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Making Of African America: The Four Great Migrations

Posted on August 27, 2020 by nathanalbright

The Making Of African America: The Four Great Migrations, by Ira Berlin There are occasions where more is less when it comes to a book and that is definitely the case here. Admittedly, the subject of African-American migrations is not … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Great Migrations: 1880s – 1912

Posted on August 27, 2020 by nathanalbright

The Great Migrations: 1880’s – 1912 (A History Of Multicultural America), by William Loren Katz This book is a reminder, if any reminder was necessary, of the poisonous tendency of politics to ruin nearly everything. It is probably impossible to … Continue reading →

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Book Review: American Migration And Settlement

Posted on August 24, 2020 by nathanalbright

American Migration And Settlement, by Brett Griffin It is a hard thing to give American patterns of migration and settlement the proper degree of coverage. First, there is the matter of the prehistorical migrations that must be taken into account, … Continue reading →

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