Race in American Politics Exam 2

Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917

granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans and restructured their island government but without full political rights

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

ended the Mexican-American War, with Mexico ceding approximately 55% of its territory—including modern-day California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming—to the United States

League of United Latin Americans Citizens (LULAC)

the oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1929, the organization's mission is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans. 

Manifest Destiny

the 19th-century belief that the United States was divinely ordained to expand across North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

Mariel Boatlift

a mass emigration of Cubans who traveled from Cuba's Mariel Harbor to the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980.

Settlement Policy

U.S. policies encouraging Anglo settlement of western territories, often displacing indigenous and Mexican-origin populations.

Treaty of Paris

1898 treaty which ended Spanish colonial rule and transferred Puerto Rico and Guam to the United State

Cuban Revolution

the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959

Voting Rights Act

The 1965 Act overlooked Latino communities and it wasn’t until the 1975 extension which protected language minorities 

People v. Hall (1854)

California Supreme Court ruling that Chinese witnesses could not testify against whites, reinforcing racial exclusion.

Asian American Partisanship

Refers to patterns of political affiliation and voting behavior among Asian American communities, shaped by immigration, class, and racialization.

Asiatic Barred Zone (Immigration Act of 1917)

Excluded immigrants from most of Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Burlingame-Seward Treaty (1868)

Agreement between the U.S. and China promoting immigration and trade, later reversed by exclusion laws.

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

The first major federal law restricting immigration, targeting Chinese laborers and setting precedent for racialized immigration policy.

Executive Order 9066 (1942)

Authorized the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Civil Liberties Act (1988)

U.S. law formally apologizing for Japanese internment and providing reparations to survivors.

Racial Threat Theory

Suggests that dominant groups react with hostility and repression when minority populations grow in size or political power.

Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907)

Informal deal between the U.S. and Japan restricting Japanese labor immigration in exchange for better treatment of Japanese residents.

Immigration Act (various, esp. 1965)

Removed national-origin quotas and opened doors to more Asian immigration, reshaping U.S. demographics.

Public Law 503 (1942)

Law that gave criminal penalties to Japanese Americans who resisted internment orders.

Racial Triangle

The idea that Asian Americans are positioned in U.S. racial hierarchy as both a “model minority” and a perpetual foreigner, caught between whiteness and Blackness.

Transcontinental Railroad (1869)

Major U.S. infrastructure project built largely with Chinese immigrant labor, central to Asian American labor history.

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923)

Supreme Court decision denying naturalization to Indian immigrants by rejecting their claim to “whiteness.”

Madison Grant

Author of The Passing of the Great Race (1916), influential in scientific racism and restrictive immigration policy.

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach

18th-century German anthropologist who classified humans into races, coining “Caucasian” as a category.

Naturalization Act of 1790

Restricted U.S. citizenship to “free white persons,” legally linking whiteness to American belonging.

Homestead Act of 1862

Granted land to settlers (largely white), facilitating westward expansion while dispossessing Indigenous peoples.

Morrill Land-Grant College Act (1862)

Gave federal land to states to establish universities, benefiting mainly white populations.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court ruling that upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

New Deal (1930s)

Economic programs under FDR that often excluded or marginalized people of color while strengthening white middle-class wealth.

G.I. Bill of Rights (1944)

Provided education and housing benefits to WWII veterans, but discriminatory implementation excluded many Black and Latino veterans.

Redlining

Discriminatory housing and lending practices that denied mortgages to people in racially diverse or Black neighborhoods.

Enumeration Clause (U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 2)

The “Three-Fifths Compromise,” counting enslaved people as 3/5 of a person for congressional representation and taxation.