A new article by Thomas Misco and Andrea Bennett-Kinne of Miami University explores how U.S. citizenship, often viewed as a simple legal status, was historically defined by race. Their study, “Citizenship Wanted, but Denied: The Racial Prerequisite Cases and Their Role in Institutionalizing Racism Against Asians,” examines how early court decisions tied citizenship eligibility to pseudoscientific ideas about race and determined who was considered “white enough” to belong.

Beginning with the 1790 Naturalization Act, which limited citizenship to “free white persons,” and continuing through early twentieth-century rulings that denied naturalization to Asian immigrants, these “racial prerequisite cases” used inconsistent racial definitions to exclude entire groups. For example, Japanese and Indian applicants were denied citizenship, while Syrians and Armenians were sometimes accepted as “white.” These rulings did more than decide individual cases; they helped establish racism within U.S. law and culture.

Misco and Bennett-Kinne also show how teaching about these cases helps students understand how legal systems once normalized racial exclusion and how these legacies continue to influence current debates about who deserves citizenship. Their work provides educators with strategies to teach about citizenship, race, and justice in active and thoughtful ways.

Faculty authors: Thomas Misco, Miami University
Student/Alum author: Andrea Bennett-Kinne
Keywords: U.S. citizenship, racial prerequisite cases, race and citizenship, naturalization laws, Asian American history
Publication details: The Social Studies (2021), Vol. 112, No. 6, pp. 291–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2021.1929053