Mini Presentation: United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
Aug 22, 2017 19:53:32 GMT
Minnesotaball, Nobunaga Oda, and 1 more like this
Post by Ivan Kolev on Aug 22, 2017 19:53:32 GMT
This is going to be a very short presentation on the lesser known Supreme Court case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind.
Bhagat Singh Thind
Throughout the history of the United States Supreme Court, numerous cases have been involved with the matter of race. Worcester v. Georgia dealt with Cherokee native americans claiming the Indian Removal Act was unconstitutional, Dred Scott v. Sanford was the result of a slave coming to the North demanding his freedom, and Plessy v. Ferguson came to be because an African-American man demanded to be allowed to sit in any seat he wanted to sit in on a train.
This leads to United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, which occurred in 1923. The period in American history between 1917 to 1945 was notable for a few things:
1. The World Wars. These led to the U.S government limiting personal freedoms to ensure that the war effort wasn't compromised.
2. Increased nativism: Nativism is a recurrent theme in American history where Americans will discriminate against immigrants in general. This was a major theme of the 1920's.
The United States immigration policy at the time stated that only free white people and people of African descent could become naturalized U.S citizens in their lifetime. This meant all immigrants not from Africa or Europe at the time could not become naturalized U.S citizens at the time. This most heavily affected the Asian immigrants in the United States, specifically Chinese, Japanese and Indian immigrants. These restrictions were caused as a result of the nativist sentiment in the United States at the time, including the Asiatic Exclusion League which aimed to deny immigration from Asia. These restrictions led to Ozawa v. United States, where a Japanese immigrant who had lived in America for 20 years demanded naturalization as an American citizen by claiming that Japanese were white people. The Supreme Court denied this, however, stating that East Asians were inherently not white and could not become U.S citizens.
Bhagat Singh Thind tried to circumvent the rule, however. Thind was born in the Punjab region of India, then under control of the British. He was a Sikh and a member of the high class. Thind immigrated to America and served in the U.S Army in 1918 (All though the war didn't last long enough for him to fight). He applied for citizenship in December of 1918, but it was revoked four days after being given on the grounds that Thind was not a white man. Thind went to the Supreme Court, and stated that, at the very least, high class Indians should be awarded U.S citizenship because they were ethnically Indo-European. Thind, like Ozawa, didn't really consider himself white, but he also knew that he couldn't argue against the naturalization laws and win. So he tried to say that high class Northern Indians were ethnically Indo-European and as a result he was white. The court disagreed, however, and stated that because the Indo-Europeans had been interbreeding with the Dravidians of India for so long, they couldn't be considered white. It is considered one of the most racist decisions in the Court's history. As a result, Indian immigrants wouldn't be able to be naturalized U.S citizens until the 1965 Immigration Act which allowed Asian immigrants to become naturalized U.S citizens.
If you liked this presentation on the Supreme Court, tell me and I may do more.
Bhagat Singh Thind
Throughout the history of the United States Supreme Court, numerous cases have been involved with the matter of race. Worcester v. Georgia dealt with Cherokee native americans claiming the Indian Removal Act was unconstitutional, Dred Scott v. Sanford was the result of a slave coming to the North demanding his freedom, and Plessy v. Ferguson came to be because an African-American man demanded to be allowed to sit in any seat he wanted to sit in on a train.
This leads to United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, which occurred in 1923. The period in American history between 1917 to 1945 was notable for a few things:
1. The World Wars. These led to the U.S government limiting personal freedoms to ensure that the war effort wasn't compromised.
2. Increased nativism: Nativism is a recurrent theme in American history where Americans will discriminate against immigrants in general. This was a major theme of the 1920's.
The United States immigration policy at the time stated that only free white people and people of African descent could become naturalized U.S citizens in their lifetime. This meant all immigrants not from Africa or Europe at the time could not become naturalized U.S citizens at the time. This most heavily affected the Asian immigrants in the United States, specifically Chinese, Japanese and Indian immigrants. These restrictions were caused as a result of the nativist sentiment in the United States at the time, including the Asiatic Exclusion League which aimed to deny immigration from Asia. These restrictions led to Ozawa v. United States, where a Japanese immigrant who had lived in America for 20 years demanded naturalization as an American citizen by claiming that Japanese were white people. The Supreme Court denied this, however, stating that East Asians were inherently not white and could not become U.S citizens.
Bhagat Singh Thind tried to circumvent the rule, however. Thind was born in the Punjab region of India, then under control of the British. He was a Sikh and a member of the high class. Thind immigrated to America and served in the U.S Army in 1918 (All though the war didn't last long enough for him to fight). He applied for citizenship in December of 1918, but it was revoked four days after being given on the grounds that Thind was not a white man. Thind went to the Supreme Court, and stated that, at the very least, high class Indians should be awarded U.S citizenship because they were ethnically Indo-European. Thind, like Ozawa, didn't really consider himself white, but he also knew that he couldn't argue against the naturalization laws and win. So he tried to say that high class Northern Indians were ethnically Indo-European and as a result he was white. The court disagreed, however, and stated that because the Indo-Europeans had been interbreeding with the Dravidians of India for so long, they couldn't be considered white. It is considered one of the most racist decisions in the Court's history. As a result, Indian immigrants wouldn't be able to be naturalized U.S citizens until the 1965 Immigration Act which allowed Asian immigrants to become naturalized U.S citizens.
If you liked this presentation on the Supreme Court, tell me and I may do more.
