Bernadette Ludwig, "Unwelcome Shores: Black Refugees in America" (Rutgers UP, 2025)

Unwelcome Shores: Black Refugees in America (Rutgers University Press, 2025) 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