The Creation of the American Southwest, 1750-1950

Gratton uses unique census data, images, and maps to reveal the historical experience of Indians, Hispanics, other Americans, and immigrants in the region we call the American Southwest. Before the Mexican American War, the region was dominated by indigenous nations. Migrants from other parts of the United States and European immigrants sparked a rapid growth of population after 1848 and, between 1900 and 1930, mass immigration from Mexico created the distinctive Southwest we know today.

Brian Gratton, a Professor of History at Arizona State University, studies immigration and ethnicity in the United States, Latin America and Europe. His publications include two books, as well as articles in a wide variety of journals. He worked on immigration and ethnicity while a Fulbright Fellow in Spain (1996) and Ecuador (2002).  Gratton has won several National Institutes of Health grants, developing new evidence on immigration and on Mexican Americans in the United States. He uses these unique data in his teaching and in his numerous public presentations on immigration and the American Southwest.