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The original United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790 provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to immigrants who were “free white persons” of “good moral character”. It thus, left out indentured servants, slaves, free blacks, and later Asians. While women were included in the act, the right of citizenship did “not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States….”
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In the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded to the United States all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and parts of other states. The treaty also approved the 1845 annexation of Texas by the United States.
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The California Bureau of Instruction mandated that all schools teach only in English.
"This linguistic purism went hand in hand with the nativist sentiments expressed in that year's legislature, including the suspension of the publication of state laws in Spanish." - Leonard Pitt -
U.S. Supreme Court rules that Chinese are not "white" and, therefore, ineligible for citizenship under the 1790 Naturalization Act: A federal district court in California ruled that under the 1790 Naturalization Act citizenship was restricted to whites only and, consequently immigrant Chinese, shuch as Chan Yong, were not eligible for U.S. citizenship.
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The Texas Legislature passed a school law requireing English to be the language of instruction in all public schools.
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California school code provides no public education for Asian Americans.
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All Chinese workers banned from the U.S: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 suspends immigration of Chinese laborers under penalty of imprisonment and deportation. Prohibited entry to all Chinese people except teachers, students, merchants, tourists, and officials. This was the first and only federal law restricting immigration based upon nationality and race. The Act was repealed in 1943.
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Tape decision provides Asian Americans access to schools leading to segregated schools for Chinese in California.
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Texas courts declare Mexican Americans "not white"
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San Francisco School Board creates segregated schools for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students.
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Texas makes it a criminal offense to use any language but English in school instruction.
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U.S. Supreme Court rules Takao Ogawa "not white," threrefore, ineligible for citizenship. Justice George Sutherland found that only Caucasians were white, and therefore the Japanese, by not being Caucasian, were not white and instead were members of an "unassimilable race," lacking provisions in any Naturalization Act. Within three months, Sutherland carried a similarly disfavorable ruling on another Supreme Court case concerning another alien from a Sikh immigrant from Punjab region in India
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Mississippi segregates Chinese students from white students
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League of United Latin Citizens (LULAC) supports bilingual instruction and maintenance of Mexican culture.
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Texas courts uphold right to segregate Mexican Americans for educational purposes.
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California law allows school segregation of Mexican Americans as Indians.
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1941 - 1945 Internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps including native-born citizens during WWII.
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Congress rescinds Chinese Exclusion Act and grants Chinese the right to naturalized citizenship.
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Mendez v. School District of Orange County: Mexican Americans declared not Indians, making segregation illegal in California.
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LULAC attorneys filed the "Delgado vs. Bastrop I.S.D. Lawsuit" which ended the segregation of Mexican American children in Texas. School segregation in Texas declared illegal.
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McCarran-Walter Act: Racial restrictions rescinded from 1790 Naturalization Act.
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Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration Act, ending discrimination against Asians.
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Cisneros v. Corpus Christi: 1954 Brown decision applied to segregation of Mexican Americans.
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U.S. Supreme Court requires that schools provide special help to students whose first language is not English.
