AFR 360 Exam #2

Push and pull factors

push: conditions forcing people to leave (war, poverty, instability like the Opium Wars in China)

pull: attractions drawing people in (jobs, gold rush, railroad work in the U.S.) Chinese migration was not random—it was structured by global capitalism and labor demand

Chinese Exclusion Act

• The first U.S. law to explicitly ban immigration based on race and nationality

• Suspended Chinese labor immigration and denied naturalization

• Created systems of state surveillance: Identification papers (early immigration documentation), Detention centers

• Marked a shift toward federal control over immigration

• Bigger meaning: This law institutionalized the idea that race determines belonging, shaping future immigration policy.

Johnson-Reed Immigration Act

• Established strict national origin quotas favoring Northern/Western Europeans

• Effectively banned Asian immigration (Asiatic Barred Zone)

• Its main objective was to preserve American homogeneity by severely restricting immigration from Southern/Eastern Europe and totally excluding Asian immigrant

• Rooted in eugenics (belief in racial hierarchy)

• Bigger meaning: It turned racism into formal population engineering—deciding who should make up America.

Legal Construction of Whiteness

• The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited citizenship to “free white persons.” After the Civil War, this was expanded to include people of African descent. There were a lot of people coming from places that did not fit either category.

• From 1878 to 1972, the ban on people from Asia and the new laws of naturalization led to over 50 federal court cases between 1878 and 1952 on behalf of “non-white” immigrants suing for the right to naturalize

• Part of their claim to naturalization is that they should be defined as white and should therefore be able to naturalize as citizens of the United States.

• Courts had to define what “white” meant

• Result: race was revealed as inconsistent, flexible, and political—not biological

Ozawa v. United States

• A Japanese immigrant argued he should be considered white because of his light skin and assimilation

• Court ruled: Whiteness = “Caucasian” (scientific definition)

• Speaks to the arbitraryness of who gets to be classified as white, both rise to the level of the Supreme Court and reflect the messy thinking of justices

• Key insight: Race was framed as scientific, but this standard didn’t hold consistently.

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind

• He is literally of the same racial group as the people from the Caucasus mountains who historically moved there from India

• He is technically caucasian and descends from this group

• Court rejected him, saying: Whiteness = “common sense” understanding of white people

• Key insight: The Court contradicted itself, proving race is socially constructed.

Sovereignty

The right of Native nations to govern themselves independently

Includes:

• Legal systems

• Land ownership

• Cultural autonomy

U.S. policy repeatedly undermined sovereignty to expand territory and industry

Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition

• Showcased the U.S. as a global economic power

• Promoted the idea that the frontier shaped American identity

• Suggested westward expansion created a unique, democratic, self-reliant culture

• Framed the frontier as a “safety valve” that reduced social conflict and overcrowding

Homestead Act

• Under the homestead act, anyone over 21 could claim 160 acres of public free land and were required to pay a public filing fee, and live on the land for 5 years and improved the land by raising livestock, building a home, growing crops, after 5 years if they showed that they improved the land they would receive a deed to that land.

• Promoted westward expansion and settlement

• Helped some individuals escape poverty

• BUT: Benefited corporations (railroads) and speculators. Ignored that land belonged to Native Americans

Buffalo extermination

• Buffalo population dropped from ~50 million to ~200 by 1889

• U.S. policy encouraged killing buffalo

• Purpose: Destroy Native Americans’ main food source and economy and make the land unlivable, forcing relocation

Treaty of Fort Laramie

Granted Sioux control of Black Hills

Promised land access “as long as buffalo roam”

Required:

Native Americans → hand over criminals to U.S.

U.S. → regulate settlers

Crow Dog and “Chief” Spotted Tail

Spotted Tail, oversaw Soo nation and was working with the U.S

Crow Dog took his life, Crime was a soo person against Soo person

Happened under Soo jurisdiction, settled through restitution, order to give spotted tails family a sum of money, justice should have been restored, but then the U.S intervened against their preferred public leader

Arrested crow dog in territorial court and sentenced him to death

The court's ruling angered the executive branch

2 years later congress passed the major crimes act

Major Crimes Act

• Gave the federal government authority over major crimes on reservations

• Overrode tribal justice systems

Bigger meaning:

• Reduced Native sovereignty

• Expanded federal control into tribal life

• expanded federal jurisdiction over crimes in Indian Country

Jim Crow as a “Spatial Project”

Segregation wasn’t just social—it was geographic and enforced through space

Determined:

• Where people could live

• Work

• Travel

Maintained racial hierarchy through physical separation

Powell v. Alabama

Established that defendants must have access to legal counsel

Based on Scottsboro Boys case

Bigger meaning: First step in weakening Jim Crow legal practices

De Jure vs. De Facto Segregation

• De jure = segregation enforced by law

• De facto = segregation that appears “natural” but is actually produced by policy

According to Richard Rothstein:

• De facto segregation is not accidental—it is the result of hidden government action

The Scottsboro Cases

he Scottsboro Boys case refers to a series of trials involving nine Black teenage boys falsely accused of raping two white women on a train in Alabama.

Shelley v. Kraemer

Ruled that courts cannot enforce racial housing covenants

Did not eliminate segregation, but weakened legal enforcement

Brown v. Board of Education

Declared that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional

Overturned “separate but equal”

Key reasoning:

Segregation harms Black children psychologically

Violates Equal Protection Clause (14th Amendment)

Grassroots Activism

• Change driven by ordinary people, not just leaders

• Examples:

  • Sit-ins

  • Boycotts

  • Marches

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Banned discrimination in:

Public spaces

Employment

Allowed federal enforcement

Bigger meaning:

Marked a major expansion of federal power to enforce equality

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Prohibited voting discrimination (literacy tests, etc.)

Allowed federal oversight of elections

Bigger meaning:

Directly targeted systemic barriers to Black political power

Bracero Program

Temporary labor agreement between U.S. and Mexico

Brought millions of Mexican workers to the U.S.

Key issue:

Workers faced:

Wage theft

Poor conditions

No legal protections

Hart-Cellar Act

• Eliminated racial quotas from immigration policy

• Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 3, 1965, it replaced quotas with a preference system prioritizing family reunification and skilled immigrants, dramatically diversifying American immigration

Prison Industrial Complex

Expansion of prisons as a solution to economic and social problems:

Unemployment

Surplus land

Political instability

➡ Bigger meaning:

Criminalization replaces social welfare → controls marginalized populations

American Indian Movement

Activist group fighting for:

Treaty rights

Sovereignty

Cultural preservation

Used protests (Alcatraz, Wounded Knee) to demand recognition

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark federal law that ended legal segregation and banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public places, schools, and employment. It also gave the federal government the power to enforce desegregation and ensure equal access to public accommodations and jobs.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a major civil rights law that protected the right to vote by banning racial discrimination in voting practices, such as literacy tests and other barriers used to disenfranchise Black voters. It also allowed the federal government to oversee elections and enforce voting rights in areas with a history of discrimination.

Allotment

division of communal tribal land into individual plots

Tribal sovereignty

right of Native nations to govern themselves

Assimilation

pressure to abandon Native culture and adopt white American norms

Blood quantum

measuring Native identity by ancestry percentage

Racial etiquette

informal social rules enforcing Black deference and white dominance

The Poor People’s Campaign

a major effort led by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to fight poverty and economic inequality across all races in the United States.