Institution:
Bae Family Professor of History; Radcliffe Alumnae Professor; Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard University

Interests:
U.S. history; immigration history; Asian American history; race and xenophobia; law, gender, and society; digital humanities; public scholarship

Description:
Erika Lee is the Bae Family Professor of History, Radcliffe Alumnae Professor, and the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard University. She researches and teaches U.S. history with a focus on immigration and Asian American history and on the histories of race, xenophobia, law, gender, and society. A past president of the Organization of American Historians, she is the award‑winning author of several influential books, including At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882–1943, Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America (with Judy Yung), The Making of Asian America: A History, and America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States, as well as Made in Asian America: A History for Young People (with Christina Soontornvat.

Before joining Harvard, Lee was a Regents Professor and Director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota, where she co‑founded the digital humanities projects Immigrant Stories, #ImmigrationSyllabus, and Immigrants in COVID America. She has received numerous fellowships and honors, including an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, an honorary degree from Tufts University, the Immigrant Heritage Award from the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, the Pioneer Award from OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, and the Champion for Justice Award from the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles. Recently elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Antiquarian Society, Lee is also a frequent public commentator whose media appearances include the PBS series “Asian Americans,” CNN, PBS NewsHour, NPR, and major national newspapers and magazines.