The Color of Citizenship

Asian Immigrants to the United States and Naturalization between 1870 and 1952

Abstract

The 1870 Naturalization Act granted migrants from Africa and their descendants the right to apply for US citizenship. Consequently, while blacks joined whites among the potential beneficiaries of the naturalization process, Asians remained excluded from it until the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act repealed the “aliens ineligible to citizenship” clause from US legislation. Yet, the contours of who was white and who was Oriental turned out to be somehow blurred when it came to Asians with light complexion and to peoples residing in regions bordering with Europe and Africa. Drawing primarily upon a few landmark cases before the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, this article highlights the efforts of a few Asian applicants who endeavored to exploit loopholes in the naturalization legislation to become US citizens. Moreover, it examines the racial and religious criteria to which federal judges also resorted to define who was Asian and, thereby, not eligible for naturalization and accommodation within US society.