VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Barnes County Historical Society Lecture Series Season 25 Presents: Dr. Lori Ann Lahlum  “Stripped of Citizenship: American-Born Women, Marriage, and Expatriation” 7:00 PM Thursday, March 19th 2026, in the Barnes County Museum. (315 Central Ave N. Valley City, ND)

In 1907, Congress created the Expatriation Act, which was designed to clarify questions of citizenship for Americans residing abroad who may have claimed citizenship in another country, the children of Americans born abroad, and American-born women who married aliens residing in the United States. In the latter case, the Expatriation Act of 1907 applied derivative citizenship to married women. That is, they had citizenship rights through their husbands. This, in effect, stripped United States citizenship from tens of thousands of women. In many cases, it’s likely that women who lost their citizenship did not realize this had occurred. It adversely affected American-born children of immigrants who resided in ethnic enclaves and married unnaturalized immigrant men from the old country. Expatriation also became a concern for supporters of woman suffrage. This Barnes County Historical Society presentation will focus on expatriated women in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Lori Ann Lahlum recently retired after 34 years teaching history at Minnesota State University, Mankato and Valley City State University. Her research focuses on women, gender, political culture, and Norwegian Americans on the Northern Great Plains. In 2019, South Dakota Historical Society Press released Equality at the Ballot Box: Votes for Women on the Northern Great Plains, a book Lahlum edited with Molly Rozum. With Betty Bergland, she edited Norwegian American Women: Migration, Communities, and Identities (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2011). Lahlum has published articles and book chapters on Norwegian America and shorter pieces on woman suffrage in the northern grasslands region. She is currently working on final revisions for a book on Norwegian immigrant women, landscape, and agriculture on the northern prairies and plains, doing research for a biography of South Dakota Progressive Republican Richard Olsen Richards, researching expatriated women in Minnesota, and writing an article on cross-dressing in Norwegian America.

All Lectures are at the Barnes County Historical Society Museum and held in conjunction with Valley City State University. They are free and open to the public. For more information contact Wes Anderson at 701-845-0966.