Asian Immigrants During The Nineteenth Century - 1590 Words

Asian immigrants in the history of United States had a hard time gaining legal citizenship. For instance, the Naturalization Act of 1790 excluded both free blacks and Asian Americans from U.S. citizenship, while the 1870 revision expanded the white racial qualification to include â€Å"aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent,† keeping aliens of Asian origin excluded. Even under harsh conditions, Asian immigrants did not give up attempting to be naturalized after 1870. However, it is remarkable that no Asian immigrants sought naturalized citizenship by claiming that they were Blacks. Instead, they learned the strategy to cast themselves as Whites while applying for U.S. citizenship. This noteworthy historical phenomena†¦show more content†¦In 1909, however, Najour successfully obtained his naturalization rights because he was considered as part of the Caucasian or white race, decided by the 5th Court of Appeals. According to District Judge Newma n who made this decision, the term â€Å"free white persons† used in the statutes to exclude Asians was not referring to skin color but to race, and since scientific evidences proved that Syrians belonged to Caucasian race, Najour should be considered as belonging to white race despite his dark skin color. This court decision revealed that Caucasian was equal to White and color was not legally related to race, showing the expansion of white notion. At this point, not only would the people of light complexion and European descents be regarded as Whites relying on common understandings, but also people of Caucasian race based on scientific evidences. This, in turn, caused the development of legal split between scientific understandings and common knowledge, which is one of the major significances of In re Najour. Different courts chose different theories to make decisions on naturalization cases. Some courts used common knowledge, while others preferred scientific evidence. However, more importantly, In re Najour also helps showcase the value of whiteness. As was mentioned above, the fact that aliens could be granted citizenship based on scientific evidences