How A Supreme Court Case Redefined Whiteness

In 1923, the Supreme Court revoked an Indian man’s citizenship which would go on to have devastating consequences for other Indian immigrants as well. The reason? He wasn’t white. What does this case, United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, tell us about the larger history of race, white supremacy, and citizenship in America?

Hosted by Harini Bhat, Ph.D., In The Margins is a series that covers the history they didn’t teach in school, exploring obscure, yet captivating tales that offer unique insights into their time and place.

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[elulugnie]

This happened in apartheid South Africa as well. Japanese people were deemed "honorary Whites" and thus granted 1st class citizenship. Chinese were labeled Asian and given 2nd class.

[gibberishname]

I was hoping this would mention the 1909 case of Lebanese immigrant George Shishim. The government tried to argue that he wasn't eligible for citizenship because he was of the "Mongolian" race. His lawyer argued that he came from the same part of the world as Jesus, and if Mr. Shishim was Mongolian, so was Jesus, _but_ if Mr. Shishim was found to be white, then *Jesus must also be white.* I WISH I WAS MAKING THIS UP.

[cjc]

In the old days, immigrants around the world came to the US and immediately learned about the terrible bigotry black Americans had to deal with. They soon realized that claiming and proving their whiteness was their hope to become Americans and hopefully be accepted.

[helenaconstantine]

When Tolkien was negotiating for a German translation of the Hobbit in the 1930s, the publisher wrote and asked him, "Are you sure you're of pure Aryan blood?" He wrote back, "Not at all, as far as I know I have no Hindu ancestry."

[Rebecca-lehn]

I took a DNA test, and one of the results showed that I had someone in my family from Bengal. This was a surprise to me. With a little research,
I discovered men from Bengal came to the Ststes as merchants, selling their wares. Because of their brown skin, they lived among African Americanc and Puerto Ricans. Now I have to find a connection. Oh, I am an African American. One of the books I found was "Bengal in Harlem.

[dayalasingh]

Sure but wasn't Bhagat Singh Thind a Sikh not a Hindu? You guys might've been confused when doing research because at the time Hindu was used as a term for South Asians in general, but Bhagat Singh wasn't actually a Hindu.

[danielmaxwell]

As a 70 year old white man that grew up in the south, I am sorry that this is history that I was totally unaware of . Keep up up these beautiful informative videos!

[charmingowloflavenderism]

"I am white because I am high in the caste system in my country and am better than other low caste Indians" is such an insane thought process.

[Hal-Blue]

I don't understand why this series doesn't mention that because of work of Black Americans the restrictions for immigration from Foreign Countries was lifted. It makes it look like it just happened because those in charge just decided to lift laws. Just sad....

[dunnowy]

This is absolutely fascinating. I think a big issue that people downplay (for obvious reasons) is how intentional "whiteness" was to the identity of the United States, up until relatively recently. There's historical context to this stuff, and I don't think we can move forward without understanding this.

[oduffy]

Unless of course you were South Italian (which most Italian-Americas were), Greek, Arab, or Armenian, then you classified as black or negro. That is according to the Immigration Act of 1924. An Italian-American man, a Sicilian, was hauled into court in Mississippi (or Alabama?) in the late 1920s for marrying an African-American woman and violating the miscegenation laws. His lawyer argued that according to both Italian and U.S. law that his client was classified as a "negro" and therefore was not guilty. He won the case.

[jakejake]

I laugh when people long for "the good old days" when we were violent, uncivilized, ignorant and brutally racist.

[LadyElaineLovegood]

I had no idea that citizenship could be revoked so easily. Truly frightening given the rhetoric of one of the major political parties these days.

[arjaygee]

So sad to hear about the man who lost all hope after having his citizenship revoked.

President Herbert Hoover forcibly removed from the country about 2 million people of Mexican ancestry. It turned out that about 1.2 million of them were birthright citizens of the US. (Hoover somehow blamed them for the Great Depression.)

I am concerned that an over-zealous second Trump administration will do something similar or worse.

[paramchahal]

He wasn’t a hindu but a sikh. It’s like introducing a christian man as a muslim, or a muslim man as a jew.

[terencejlewis]

Don’t forget to mention that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, particularly the developments in 1965, led to significant changes that benefited not only African Americans but also other minority groups, including Asian Americans. Here's an expanded view:

1. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (also known as the Hart-Celler Act) was a crucial piece of legislation that particularly impacted Asian Americans. This act eliminated national-origin quotas, which had severely restricted immigration from Asia since the 1924 Immigration Act.

2. This change in immigration policy led to a significant increase in Asian immigration to the United States, dramatically changing the demographic makeup of Asian American communities.

3. The civil rights legislation of this era, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, provided legal protections against discrimination that benefited all minority groups, including Asian Americans.

4. The movement's emphasis on equality and anti-discrimination helped create a social and political climate that was more open to addressing the concerns of various minority groups, including those of Asian Americans.

[annoyingannonymous]

Every Indian thinks he is white and the one next to him/her is not so white.... We have amazing form of racism among us

[MariaMartinez-researcher]

Something tells me that Vivek Ramaswamy and Usha Vance are unaware of these stories.

[OspreyKnight]

Might be interesting to see what my grandfather's path was. Came over from Syria prior to ww1. At one point he had a doctor try to tell him to move to Nevada for health reasons, reasoning that Nevada was a desert "just like Syria", which is not the case. He didn't go there, he moved to Oregon because Nevada wasn't a state at the time and he was worried he wouldn't be let back into the US. I know he naturalized but I don't know when, but it would have had to be before the Ottoman empire fell because he had to swear to give up any allegiance to the Ottomans... which wasn't hard, since anti-Christian and anti-Jewish sentiment was on the rise as the ottoman's fell. Thats why he left.

As far as "whiteness" we've got a wide range. We run from passably white to passably black; some of us also swing wildy back and forth depending on how much sun we get. My dad would always wear long sleeves and a big hat, didn't know why until after he died and my mom told me; he was afraid of getting dark. I never actually met my grandfather, so I don't know much about him as a person and I've only seen one photograph of him.

[NamuBang]

Ann Coulter and friends are still watching that gate. Meanwhile Nimratha, Vivek, Sunik, still dancing hard