| A rich and varied scholarship has focused on how Chicago, Detroit, and New York provided windows onto the forces shaping late 19th and early 20th century life. As we enter the 21st century, it is clearer than ever that U.S. society has become multi-ethnic, pluralistic, post-industrial and urban. There is no question we are living in an increasingly global world. Unparalleled urbanization, the rise of occupations which require secondary and higher education, changes in working-class employment, post-industrial development, contraception, women's enrollment in the paid labor force in unprecedented numbers, youth culture and changing consumption patterns have fundamentally transformed this nation over the later part of the 20th century. Miami, Florida provides the ideal case study and new model for understanding the increasing mobility of people, capital and technological changes so distinct to the 20th century.; Beginning with Miami's incorporation in 1896 and its Bahamian pioneers, this work traces the history of Miami's immigrant communities through the building boom and bust of the 1920s and 30s, the city's heyday as a tourist destination and glamorous hotspot in the 1940s, and the subsequent crisis of racial and ethnic hegemony that again exploded in violence over the 1950s and 1960s. The experience of women, who are at the heart of these changes, is central to this study, which is divided into two parts. Part One, spans the period from the city's incorporation in 1896 through the immigration restrictions of 1924 and marks the first big era of globalization. Part Two begins in 1926, the year a major hurricane devastated Miami and Miami Beach, turning the land boom to bust, and continues through 1970. If Part One marks the first big era of globalization, Part Two locates Miami's immigrant communities at the center of deindustrialization, urban renewal, and shifting markets which characterize the transformation of the city from America's Riviera to the Capital of Latin America.; Three main goals guide this work. First, this study uncovers and documents the history of the migration patterns, processes and community building experiences of the full range of foreign-born peoples who made Miami their home over the first two-thirds of the 20th century. Second, this study locates the history of these communities within the larger context of modern American history. Third, this study explores how the forces which have shaped and been shaped by these migrations can inform our understandings of the historical process(es) of globalization.; By charting the history of Miami's immigrant communities from the city's incorporation through 1970, this work makes clear that Hispanic, Asian and Caribbean migrants are not new Americans. This work underscores that women are not recent additions to the nation's history. Rather, this work marks an attempt to shed new light on the history of American immigration and city-building, viewed through the lens of one of its largest and best known 20th century cities. |
