A01=Bernadette Ludwig
African American history
African American interest
African Americans
African heritage
African history
African immigrants
american history
american society
american studies
anti-Black racism
Author_Bernadette Ludwig
Bernadette Ludwig
biographies
Black history
Black interest
Black refugees
Category=JBFH
Category=JBSL
Category=JBSL1
Category=NHK
Category=WQH
civil war
cultural backwardness
discrimination
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
general interest
heritage
hostility
immigrants
immigration
Liberia
Liberian Civil War
Liberian history
liberian immigrants
Liberian refugees
Liberina refugees
new york
new york city
non fiction
nonfiction
NY
NYC
race and ethnic studies
race relations
racial history
racial hostility
racism
refugee resettlement
refugees
resettlement
rutgers
rutgers university
rutgers university press
staten island
true stories
true story
unwelcoming
us history
Product details
- ISBN 9781978843073
- Weight: 341g
- Dimensions: 156 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 09 Dec 2025
- Publisher: Rutgers University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Unwelcome Shores is an ethnographic study of the Liberian refugee community in Staten Island, New York, home to the largest per capita concentration of Liberians in the U.S., that sheds light on the racialization of Black refugees and the racism they have experienced at every step of their migration journey. In this pioneering study, sociologist Bernadette Ludwig explores how Liberians have responded to such racist exclusions, noting how members of this community reject the informal refugee label once they are resettled in the United States. Liberian migrants often view the label as a liability since the larger general public, the media, and the U.S. government tend to regard Black refugees as an economic and social burden unworthy of assistance. Indeed, Black refugees’ humanity is often ignored, Ludwig contends, in favor of overemphasizing presumed barbaric violence, endemic wars, cultural backwardness, and diseases. By detailing the lack of aid and support for Black refugees and describing how Liberian refugees in particular have had to overcome various struggles and barriers in coming to the U.S. and while living here, Unwelcome Shores highlights the overarching role of race and anti-Black racism in American society.
Bernadette Ludwig is a sociologist and the assistant dean of the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. She is also an Affiliated Faculty at the New School’s Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility in New York City. She is a first-generation immigrant and college graduate. Prior to entering academia, she worked with refugee and immigrant communities in Atlanta, Georgia for several years.
