With Women’s History Month coming to an end, I first want to say that this month is not the only time to remember women. It is a dedication, but not the end of that appreciation. That is something that is done all throughout the year while actively learning about these topics. With that said I would like to highlight the amazing woman that is Erika Lee.
Erika Lee is an award-winning non-fiction writer on American history, Regents professor, director of the Immigration Research Center, and Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. Having published multiple books and articles on topics about race, immigration, ethnicity, xenophobia, and public policy, it is no surprise that she has even won multiple awards and fellowships for her work. From the 2003 History Book Award from the Association for American history to the 2020 American Book Awards and many more in between, Lee’s work has been highly praised with every publication. In the last few years, Lee has participated in a TEDx Talk and other video platforms which have allowed for discussion on the issues in which she specializes (I highly recommend watching some of the videos on YouTube, as they are very informative).
Although Erika Lee has made quite the name for herself in the world of academia, she is also the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, where she and her family’s experience fueled her interest and research. She graduated from Tufts University in History and then went to the University of California Berkley to receive her M.A and Ph.D. As someone who really enjoys history and a lot of the topics that Lee specializes in learning about her, her work made me fall into a bit of a rabbit hole in researching. I needed up watching almost every YouTube video she was in, since I didn’t have the time to read any of her academic papers, and it never fails to shock me how easy it is to make connections from the past to our present. Lee’s work made these connections clear and understandable while also addressing the progress if any, our society is making.
