 Immigration Act of 1924 |
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Also known as the Johnson–Reed Act, this federal law set quotas on the number of immigrants from every country outside Latin America and barred immigration from Asia entirely.
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| Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 |
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Also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, this act of Congress retained the national origins quotas for controlling immigration, but granted immigration quotas to all countries and removed racial restrictions for naturalization.
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| In re Halladjian et al. (1909) |
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In this case, a Massachusetts circuit court ruled that people from West Asia were so intermixed with Europeans that the Armenian plaintiffs should be considered white and admitted to U.S. citizenship.
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| In the Matter of the Application of Standing Bear et al. for a Writ of Habeas Corpus (1879) |
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Standing Bear's writ of habeas corpus showed implications for citizenship, land dispossession, and human rights.
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| Indian Citizenship Act (1924) |
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The Indian Citizenship Act granted automatic United States citizenship to all Native American people while allowing them to maintain their tribal citizenship.
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| Indian Territory Citizenship Act (1901) |
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This act amended section six of the Dawes Act to give United States citizenship to all Native Americans residing in Indian Territory.
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| John Heo v. Robert H. Milroy (1880) |
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In this habeas suit, John Heo was arrested by an Indian agent after he refused to reside on the reservation with his wife and children. Heo argued that he had severed his tribal relations, as had his parents, and that they never lived on a reservation or accepted government annuities. Despite "constantly living with the whites engaged in the pursuits of civilized life" and having "at no time lived with any tribe of Indians" or "acknowledged himself a member of any Indian tribe," the judge ruled in favor of the Indian agent, and Heo remained in custody.
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| Jones–Shafroth Act (1917) |
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This act granted U.S. citizenship to anyone born in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899, reformed the Puerto Rican government, and included a bill of rights that paralleled the rights and privileges available to U.S. citizens in the states and territories.
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| Korematsu v. United States (1944) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that war-time exclusion against Japanese-Americans was valid.
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| Korematsu v. United States (1984) |
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In this case, Korematsu challenged his 1942 conviction by filing a writ of coram nobis, which asserted that his original conviction was so flawed as to represent a grave injustice and should be reversed. The judge granted the writ, thereby voiding Korematsu's conviction.
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| Legalizing Whiteness: What Asian American Legal History Tells Us About Citizenship in the Early 20th Century |
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This teaching module explains how the Supreme Court determined Asian American legal standings in the early 20th century through the lens of and priority toward whiteness.
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| Letters of Application for Fee Patent (1915) |
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Three applications sent to the Secretary of the Interior for admission to full American citizenship through the competency process. These applications summarized the main assets and qualities of the Native American individual that qualified them for U.S. citizenship. Some applications were written by the Native American applicant, but the majority were composed by a reservation agent. Together, these three applications reveal the changes brought upon Native American landholdings and personal identity as a result of the Allotment and Assimilation era. They emphasize how legal schemes, such as the competency commissions, upheld racialized legal benchmarks as indicators of a Native person's readiness for citizenship.
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| Lum Jung Luke and E. M. Allen v. C. E. Yingling and H. W. Applegate (1926) |
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Lum Jung Luke and his business partner, E. M. Allen, applied for an injunction against Arkansas Attorney General H. W. Applegate and prosecutor C. E. Yingling, who had threatened to begin an escheat proceeding (the process of transferring assets to the state) against Lum due to his status as an alien ineligible for citizenship. Chancery Judge A. L. Hutchins ruled in Lum's favor, not only enjoining the attorney general, but also striking down the Alien Land Act of 1925 as "unconstitutional and void."
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| Lum Jung Luke's Deed of Transfer (1926) |
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This deed of transfer between Lum Jung Luke (spelled Luke Lum Jung) and the Harrison Lumber Company was filed while the Chancery Court decision on Arkansas' alien land law was still pending.
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| Making A Sioux Indian Into An American Citizen (1916) |
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In this newspaper article, Secretary of Interior Franklin Lane gives an account of a naturalization ritual that took place on the Yankton Reservation, South Dakota, in 1916. This article highlights the lived experience of naturalization processes for Native American individuals becoming U.S. citizens, revealing the involvement of other participants at the ceremony. This account highlights the complexities with receiving allotment for Native individuals and some of the effects citizenship had on legal and political rights. With a photograph of the event, this document provides a glimpse into the symbolic nature of the event, where the restructuring of Native identity encouraged in Allotment and Assimilation era policies is performed.
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| Martin v. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1805) |
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The Martin case set precedent that women were the same legal person as their husbands. The case itself was brought by James Martin in an attempt to recover his Loyalist mother's property which had been confiscated by the post-Revolutionary government of Massachusetts when she and her husband fled during the war. The court in this case ruled that because Anna Martin had not intended to forfeit her land but had been forced to leave with her husband as required by the marital law of coverture, her property could not be confiscated.
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| Native American Citizenship and Competency During the Allotment and Assimilationist Era |
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This teaching module explores how citizenship featured in Native American policy during the Allotment and Assimilation Era. It highlights the first formal naturalization process for individuals on a national scale. Focusing on competency commissions from 1915 to 1920, this unit guides students in analyzing how legal assessments of "competency" in the context of citizenship were shaped by race, gender, and settler values. Using primary documents— including applications, inspection reports, and naturalization rituals—this module examines how federal policies enforced whiteness and domestic norms as criteria for inclusion. The module also encourages discussion about the dual role of citizenship as both a tool of assimilation and a potential resource for Native resistance and legal agency.
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| Naturalization Act of 1798 |
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This is one of four acts known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts. These acts were passed by a Federalist-controlled Congress applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the U.S. They were highly controversial and contributed to the Federalist defeat in the election of 1800. The Naturalization Act increased the residency requirement for citizenship from 5 to 15 years and the notice time from 3 to 5 years. While passed with the aim of protecting national security, it also decreased the number of new citizens and voters who disagreed with the Federalists.
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| Naturalization Act of 1870 |
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The 1870 Naturalization Act extended paths to United States citizenship for people of African descent while excluding Chinese immigrants.
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| Proclamation 4417 - An American Promise (1976) |
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This proclamation issued by President Gerald Ford confirmed the termination of Executive Order 9066, which had authorized the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
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| Proclamation of King Ferdinand of Spain (1514) |
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This proclamation to the Taino and Arawak peoples of the New World informs them of new rule by Spain and the Catholic Church.
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| Ritual on Admission of Indians to Full American Citizenship (1918) |
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This set of instructions for conducting the Ritual on Admission of Indians to Full American Citizenship was produced by the Department of the Interior in 1918 so that such ceremonies could take place across the Western reservations. It includes the opening remarks from the Representative of the Department, followed by instructions for each participant to undergo to receive U.S. citizenship. There are separate instructions for men and women. The document reveals the centrality of performance during naturalization events for Native Americans.
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 Seamen's Protection Certificate for James Forten Dunbar (1810) |
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Seamen's Protection Certificates were documents authorized by an act of Congress in 1796 to protect U.S. sailors from being impressed into the service of foreign navies. For Black Americans, they also served as a way to document their free status. This certificate was issued for James Forten Dunbar, a free man of mixed ancestry who spent a long career at sea as a sailor and sail-maker aboard merchant and naval vessels, including service in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.
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| Sworn Affidavit of Alexander Harlin Regarding His Continued Enslavement Until the 1866 Treaty as Part of His Application for Enrollment as a Choctaw (1896) |
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In this sworn affidavit, Alexander Harlin attested that he, as a "Choctaw Freedman, of African Blood," was enslaved by a Choctaw woman Sarah Harlin until the Treaty of 1866 was signed. The statement was made in support of his application for enrollment in the Choctaw Nation under the Act of June 10, 1896 which authorized the Dawes Commission to add names to existing tribal rolls.
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| Sworn Affidavit of Jeff Franklin Regarding His Enslavement and Emancipation in the Chickasaw Nation as Part of His Application for Enrollment as a Chickasaw (1896) |
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In this sworn affidavit, Jeff Franklin attested that he was a colored man and was enslaved by Easter Colber, a Chickasaw man until April 28th, 1866, when the Treaty of 1866 was signed. The statement was made in support of his application for enrollment in the Chickasaw Nation under the Act of June 10, 1896 which authorized the Dawes Commission to add names to existing tribal rolls. The affidavit also includes information about his continued residency in the Chickasaw Nation until the time of his application in 1896.
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