Detailed Study Guide Flashcards: Race, Immigration, and Civil Rights

A comprehensive set of Q&A flashcards based on the provided notes.

What is racial formation?

Process by which social, economic, and political forces determine the content and meaning of racial categories (Omi & Winant).

What is racialization?

Process of assigning racial meaning to people, practices, or groups that were not previously categorized as such.

How is ethnicity defined?

Cultural identity based on shared language, history, traditions — not biological race.

What is racial etiquette?

Social rules governing racial interactions; reflects and reinforces racial hierarchies.

What is the Psychological Wage of Whiteness?

W.E.B. Du Bois’s idea that white people receive social status and privileges that compensate for low wages.

What does social construction of race mean?

Race is not biological but created and maintained by social processes and institutions.

What are the three levels of discrimination?

Individual: personal prejudice; Organizational: policies within institutions; Structural: systemic inequalities embedded in society.

What is prejudice?

Preconceived opinions or attitudes about a group, not based on experience.

What is the Rule of Hypodescent?

One-drop rule; mixed-race individuals classified as the subordinate race.

What is racism?

System of advantage based on race; can be individual or institutional.

What is creolization?

Cultural mixing and creation of new identities, languages, and traditions (Glissant).

What is colorblind racism?

Claiming not to see race, which masks and perpetuates racial inequalities (Bonilla-Silva).

What were Jim Crow laws?

State/local laws enforcing racial segregation in the U.S. (late 1800s–1960s).

What is assimilation?

Process by which minority groups adopt the dominant culture’s traits.

What is settler colonialism?

Colonization that displaces Indigenous populations to permanently occupy land.

What are reparations?

Compensation for past harm; can be individual (direct payments) or collective (community programs).

How are Human Rights vs Civil Rights defined?

Human rights: universal protections for all people. Civil rights: protections granted by citizenship in a nation.

What is segregation / residential segregation?

Forced separation of racial groups, often enforced by law or housing policy.

What is the Plenary Power Doctrine?

Supreme Court doctrine giving Congress and the President broad authority over immigration.

What is Immigration as a race-making institution?

Immigration law shapes racial categories and hierarchies.

What is naturalization?

Process of becoming a citizen.

What is Jus Soli / birthright citizenship?

Citizenship granted to anyone born in the country.

What is the Model Minority Myth?

Stereotype portraying Asian Americans as successful, obedient, and problem-free — used to downplay racism and pit groups against each other.

What is the Yellow Peril?

Racist fear of Asian immigration overwhelming white society.

What did the 1712 Act for the Better Ordering & Governing of Negroes and Slaves do (SC)?

Restricted enslaved Africans’ movement and rights.

What did Dunmore’s Proclamation (1775) offer?

Freedom to enslaved people who joined the British.

What did the Naturalization Act (1790) specify?

Citizenship limited to free white persons.

What did the Indian Removal Act (1830) do?

Forced relocation of Native tribes (Trail of Tears).

What did the NC law banning teaching slaves to read (1830) do?

Criminalized literacy for enslaved people.

What was People v. Hall (1854) about?

California Supreme Court ruled Chinese witnesses can’t testify against white defendants.

What is Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) known for?

African Americans (free or enslaved) not U.S. citizens.

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1875 do?

Outlawed racial discrimination in public accommodations (later struck down).

What is the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)?

First federal law banning immigration by race/nationality.

What is Elk v. Wilkins (1884) about?

Native Americans not citizens by birth if tribal.

What did Tape v. Hurley (1885) decide?

Chinese American girl denied public school; CA must provide schooling.

What was the Dawes Act (1887)?

Allotted tribal lands to individuals to encourage assimilation.

What did the Louisiana Separate Car Law (1890) require?

Segregated train cars (led to Plessy).

What did Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) establish?

"Separate but equal" upheld segregation.

What did US v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) decide?

Birthright citizenship for children of immigrants.

What were the California Alien Land Laws (1913/1920)?

Barred aliens ineligible for citizenship from owning land.

What was Takao Ozawa v. US (1922) about?

Japanese immigrant ineligible for naturalization (not white).

What did Bhagat Singh Thind v. US (1923) decide?

High-caste Indian man deemed not white under law.

What did the 1924 Immigration Act do?

Established quotas favoring northern Europeans.

What was the Roberto Alvarez v. Lemon Grove case (1931) about?

First successful school desegregation case (Mexican American children).

What did Executive Order 9066 (1942) authorize?

Japanese incarceration during WWII.

What did Mendez v. Westminster (1947) achieve?

Struck down segregation of Mexican American students in CA.

What did the McCarran-Walter Act (1952) do?

Ended racial restrictions on immigration but kept quotas.

What is Brown v. Board of Education (1954) known for?

Overturned Plessy; segregation unconstitutional.

What was the Bracero Program (1942–64)?

Brought Mexican laborers to U.S. temporarily.

What did the Civil Rights Act (1964) accomplish?

Outlawed segregation and discrimination in public spaces.

What did the Voting Rights Act (1965) do?

Banned discriminatory voting practices.

What is the Hart-Celler Act (1965) about?

Abolished quotas based on national origin.

What is IRCA (1986)?

Granted amnesty to many undocumented immigrants; penalized employers of undocumented workers.

What did Proposition 187 (CA, 1994) attempt to do?

Deny public services to undocumented immigrants (struck down).

What did Shelby County v. Holder (2013) decide?

Weakened Voting Rights Act protections.

What is Omi & Winant’s view on race?

Race is a social construct, shaped by racial formation processes.

What does Beverly Tatum say about racism?

Racism is systemic; only those in power can perpetuate institutional racism.

What does Pem Buck claim about early laws?

Early laws gave privileges to poor whites to create racial divisions.

What does Paula Rothenberg say about laws?

Laws are tools to implement racism.

What is Bonilla-Silva’s concept of colorblindness?

Colorblindness is a new form of racism.

What does Glissant’s creolization emphasize?

Identity is hybrid and dynamic.

What did James Baldwin say about Black English?

Black English is a distinct language shaped by oppression.

What does Deb Miranda highlight about California Indians?

Faced genocide and land theft; erasure of history.

What is the Boarding School Healing Project advocating?

Collective reparations needed for Native boarding school abuses.

What does E. Michael Madrid note about Mexican American schooling?

Mexican American school segregation is often ignored in history.

What does Erika Lee say about immigration myths?

"They keep coming" myth fuels anti-immigrant sentiment.

What does Ian Haney López link citizenship laws to?

Racial definitions.

What does Juan Gonzalez discuss regarding immigration enforcement?

Separates families.

What does Aviva Chomsky explain about undocumented status?

Many become undocumented due to changes in law, not illegal entry.

What does Yuri Kochiyama argue about Japanese incarceration?

Unjust; parallels with other racial injustices.

What is the purpose of the model minority myth according to Noy Thrupkaew?

Used to divide minorities and obscure inequality.

Emancipation Proclamation 1863

An executive order by President Abraham Lincoln that freed enslaved people in Confederate territories during the Civil War.

Indian Citizenship Act 1924

Legislation that granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States, recognizing their rights as citizens.