From 02a134f365f04f545187aa5a77e21dfc9cbebb8a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dessalines Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2017 13:20:30 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Adding more on asian americans, a few more worker ones. --- us_atrocities.md | 20 +++++++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/us_atrocities.md b/us_atrocities.md index af5993a..df66e32 100644 --- a/us_atrocities.md +++ b/us_atrocities.md @@ -205,6 +205,8 @@ [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears) +- In 1848, the [California Genocide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Genocide) is a term used to describe the drastic decrease in native American population in California. The population decreased from ~300,000 in 1769, to 16,000 in 1900. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Genocide) + - The [Second Seminole War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Seminole_War), also known as the **Florida War**, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in [Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida) between various groups of [Native Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) collectively known as [Seminoles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole) and the [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), part of a series of conflicts called the [Seminole Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars). The Second Seminole War, often referred to as *the* Seminole War, is regarded as "the longest and most costly of the [Indian conflicts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars) of the United States." ~3000 seminoles were killed, and 4000 were deported to Indian territory elsewhere. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Seminole_War) - In 1832, the [Black Hawk War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_War), was a brief [1832](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1832_in_the_United_States) conflict between the [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) and [Native Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) led by [Black Hawk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_%28Sauk_leader%29), a [Sauk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauk_people) leader, in Illinois. The war gave impetus to the US policy of [Indian removal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_removal), in which Native American tribes were pressured to sell their lands and move west of the Mississippi River and stay there. Over 500 Native Americans were killed in the conflict.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_War) @@ -307,9 +309,17 @@ ### Asians -- From 1942-46, FDR [imprisoned ~120,000 Japanese Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans) in concentration camps after the attack on pearl harbor. The conditions of the camps were notoriously horrible, and most were forced to make "loyalty oaths", or risk deportation and separation from their families. It was later admitted that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". Most lost their homes and jobs, as whites took over vacated homes. - - [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans) +- Between 1956-65, the [Chinese Confession Program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program) sought confessions of illegal entry from US citizens and residents of Chinese origin, with the (misleading) offer of legalization of status in exchange. The program resulted in 13,895 confessions,[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite_note-ng-interview-1)[[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite_note-moca-4) with about 10,000 in the [San Francisco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco) region (where the bulk of the illegally entering Chinese population was concentrated.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite_note-hing-aiisf-2) This was far less than the number of people suspected of having entered illegally, and the less than complete usage of the program was attributed to lack of trust in the United States immigration enforcement agencies among the Chinese population, the lack of clear benefits from confessing, and the risk of deportation faced by the confessor as well as his or her (blood and paper) family.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite_note-hing-aiisf-2) Since confessions by neighbors could implicate a person and cause him or her to be deported, the program created fear and distrust in many Chinese-American communities. Anybody who had illegally entered and came in contact with the FBI before he or she had confessed was subject to immediate deportation.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite_note-ng-interview-1) The confessions had a significant impact on the Chinese-American community: as a result of the confessions, 22,083 people were exposed and 11,294 paper son slots were closed.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite_note-ng-interview-1)[[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite_note-americanancestors-5) For comparison, the 1950 Census listed 117,629 Chinese in America (excluding [Hawaii](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii)).[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite_note-ng-interview-1) [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program) +- From 1942-46, FDR [imprisoned ~120,000 Japanese Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans) in concentration camps after the attack on pearl harbor. The conditions of the camps were notoriously horrible, and most were forced to make "loyalty oaths", or risk deportation and separation from their families. It was later admitted that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". Most lost their homes and jobs, as whites took over vacated homes. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans) +- The repression faced by Chinese Americans in the 19th and 20th century are found in the articles, [History of Chinese Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chinese_Americans), and [Anti-Chinese Sentiment in the US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Chinese_sentiment_in_the_United_States). +- The [Immigration Act of 1917](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1917) imposed literacy tests on immigrants, and created new categories of inadmissible persons and barred immigration from the Asia-Pacific Zone.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1917) +- The [Scott Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Act_(1888)) of 1888 was a law that prohibited Chinese laborers abroad or who planned future travels from returning. It left an estimated 20,000-30,000 Chinese outside the United States at the time stranded. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Act_(1888)) +- In 1882, the US passed the [Chinese Exclusion Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act), illegalizing Chinese immigration, in a long chain of anti-chinese legislation. It was repealed in 1943. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act) +- The [San Francisco Riot of 1877](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_riot_of_1877) was a two-day [pogrom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogrom) waged against [Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese) immigrants in [San Francisco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco), [California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California) by the city's majority [white](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_American) population from the evening of July 23 through the night of July 24, 1877. The [ethnic violence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_violence) which swept [Chinatown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_San_Francisco) resulted in four deaths and the destruction of more than $100,000 worth of property belonging to the city's Chinese immigrant population.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_riot_of_1877) +- The [Page Act of 1875](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875) prohibited entry of immigrants considered undesirable, classifying that as any individual from [Asia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia) who was coming to America to be a [forced laborer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfree_labour), any Asian woman who would engage in [prostitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution), and all people considered to be [convicts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict) in their own country. It was introduced to "end the danger of cheap Chinese labor and immoral Chinese women".[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875#cite_note-2) The Page Act was supposed to strengthen the ban against “coolie” laborers, by imposing a [fine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_%28penalty%29) of up to $2,000 and maximum jail [sentence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_%28law%29) of one year upon anyone who tried to bring a person from China, [Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan),or any Asian country to the United States “without their free and voluntary consent, for the purpose of holding them to a term of service”.[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875#cite_note-3) However, these provisions, as well as those regarding convicts “had little effect at the time”.[[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875#cite_note-4) On the other hand, the ban on female Asian immigrants was heavily enforced and proved to be a barrier for all Asian women trying to immigrate, especially Chinese.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875) +- The [Chinese Massacre of 1871](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871) was a [racially motivated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime) riot which occurred on October 24, 1871 in [Los Angeles, California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles,_California), when a mob of around 500 white men entered [Chinatown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_Los_Angeles) to attack, rob, and murder [Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese) residents of the city.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871#cite_note-usc-1)[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871#cite_note-laweekly-2) An estimated 17 to 20 [Chinese immigrants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_immigrants) were systematically tortured and then [hanged](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged) by the mob, making the event the largest mass [lynching](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching) in American history.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871#cite_note-usc-1)[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871#cite_note-laweekly-2)[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871#cite_note-erika-3)[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871) +- The [Pigtail Ordinance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigtail_Ordinance) was a racist law passed in 1873 intended to force [prisoners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison) in [San Francisco, California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco,_California) to have their hair cut within an inch of the scalp. It affected [Han Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese) prisoners in particular, as it meant they would have their [queue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queue_%28hairstyle%29), a waist-long, braided [pigtail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigtail), cut off. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigtail_Ordinance) +- The [Anti-Coolie Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Coolie_Act) of 1862 was passed by the California legislature in an attempt to appease rising anger among white laborers about salary competition created by the influx of [Chinese immigrants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_American_history) at the height of the [California gold rush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gold_rush).The act sought to protect white laborers by imposing a monthly tax on Chinese immigrants seeking to do business in the state of [California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Coolie_Act) ### Workers and the Poor @@ -319,9 +329,11 @@ - Although the US economy produces more than enough food to feed those in poverty, [UNICEF](http://www.unicef.org/sowc06/pdfs/sowc06_chap1.pdf), [RESULTS](https://web.archive.org/web/20080527011602/http://www.results.org/website/article.asp?id=241), and [Bread for the World](http://www.bread.org/hunger/global/facts.html) estimate that **15 million** people die **each year** from preventable poverty, of whom 11 million are **children under the age of five**. In addition, The US has a comparatively terrible social support system to fight poverty and prevent deaths: "approximately 245,000 deaths in the United States in the year 2000 were attributable to low levels of education, 176,000 to racial segregation, 162,000 to low social support, 133,000 to individual-level poverty, 119,000 to income inequality, and 39,000 to area-level poverty" ([sources](https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/how-many-us-deaths-are-caused-poverty-lack-education-and-other-social-factors)). That is 2 million people every 10 years in the US alone.[1](http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/08/crimes-against-humanity-01-poverty-murder-over-400-million-people-since-1995-more-than-all-wars-in-recorded-history.html) - In the modern day, [20,000 to 40,000 people die every year](http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance-in-us/) because of lack of universal health care or health insurance. On average, that's 300,000 over the last decade. [1](http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance-in-us/) - Since January, 2013, over 21 US cities have enacted legislation to restrict giving food to the homeless, such as requiring expensive permits to discourage food donations in public spaces, or direct police intervention. In Tampa FL, on January 9th, 2017, police arrested 7 volunteers of Food Not Bombs and 1 homeless person to prevent them from distributing food. [1](http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/In-Tampa-If-You-Share-Food-with-Homeless-Cops-Will-Raid-You-20170110-0003.html) +- From 1980s to the present day, [Justice for Janitors Campaigns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_for_Janitors)(a group fighting against the low wages and minimal health-care coverage given to janitors worldwide) in the US have been the target of police arrests and crackdowns. On November 20, 2006, a few days after dozens of strikers and their supporters were arrested by [Houston police](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Police_Department) while engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_for_Janitors) - In 1996, Congress signed into law the deceptively titled [Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportunity_Act), which capitalized on a demonization of the poor as being lazy(in reality there was a lack of jobs, and low-wage work proved unable to sustain most families), in order to dismantle welfare benefits. Its aim was to force poor families receiving federal cash benefits (many of them single mothers with children) to go to work, by cutting off their benefits after two years, limiting lifetime benefits to five years, and allowing people without children to get food stamps for only three months in any three-year period. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportunity_Act) - In 1988, Police charged a tent city/homeless center in [Tompkins square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_Park_riot_(1988)), arresting and clubbing protesters, injuring 35 people and arresting 9 more. "It's time to bring a little law and order back to the park and restore it to the legitimate members of the community," said Captain McNamara. "We don't want to get into a situation where we under-police something like this and it turns into a fiasco." Protesters held up signs saying "Gentrification is Class War". [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_Park_riot_(1988)) - In 1988, a founder of [Food Not Bombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Not_Bombs), [Keith McHenry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry), was one of nine volunteers arrested for sharing food and literature at Golden Gate Park on August 15, 1988.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry#cite_note-1) In the following years, Keith was arrested over 100 times for serving free food in city parks and spent over 500 nights in jail. He faced 25 years to life in prison under the California Three Strikes Law but in 1995, Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Commission brought about his release.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry#cite_note-2) [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry) +- In 1985-86, Hormel workers [went on strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormel#1985_strike) in Austin Minnesota, due to a cutwage from \$10.69 to \$6.50 and significantly reduced benefits. After six months, a significant number of strikebreakers crossed the picket line, provoking riots in Austin. On January 21, 1986, the [Governor of Minnesota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Minnesota), [Rudy Perpich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Perpich), called in the [National Guard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Guard) to protect the strikebreakers. The strike ended in June 1986, after lasting 10 months. Over 700 of the workers did not return to their jobs, refusing to cross the picket line. In solidarity with those workers, the boycott of Hormel products continued for some time. Ultimately, however, the company did succeed in hiring new workers at significantly lower wages. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormel#1985_strike) - In 1983, a mostly latino workforce lead the 3-year long [Arizona Copper Mine Strike of 1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983), in which the police, national guard, and Arizona governor assisted in one of the largest strikebreaking incidents of the 1980s, ending with the [Phelps Dodge Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelps_Dodge_Corporation) replacing most of the workers and decertifying the unions. Miners were subject to [undercover surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance) by the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency, to identify strikers engaged in violence, with the governor sending 325 National Guard soldiers to Morenci, and increasing the number of state policemen there to 425. Meanwhile, the local government passed [injunctions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction) limiting both picketing and demonstrations at the mine. The Arizona copper mine strike would later become a symbol of defeat for American unions. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983) - In 1981, the union [PATCO(Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)), went on strike for better working conditions, pay, and a shorter work week. The union was [decertified](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decertification), declared illegal, and the strike broken by the [Reagan Administration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Ronald_Reagan). It is considered one of the last death throes of the US labor movement. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)) - From 1947-56, beginning with a 1947 Truman Executive order that required all federal civil services employees to be screen for "loyalty", a second [Red Scare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare) took place with senator [Joseph McCarthy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy) at its head, accusing large numbers of people of being communist infiltrators and homosexuals, resulting in hundreds of imprisonments and some 10,000-12,000 people accused losing their jobs. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and [union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union) activists, who McCarthy publicly targeted through the anti-communist [House of Un-American Activies Committee(HUAC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee) hearings or public statements. The number imprisoned is in the hundreds, and some ten or twelve thousand lost their jobs.[[54\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#cite_note-54) In many cases simply being subpoenaed by HUAC or one of the other committees was sufficient cause to be fired.[[55\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#cite_note-55) In the context of the Cold War, McCarthy framed homosexuality as a dangerous, contagious social disease that posed a potential threat to state security.[[59\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#cite_note-Patrizia_Gentile_2010._pg_65-59) [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#Victims_of_McCarthy) @@ -388,7 +400,9 @@ - In 1953, the CIA begins [Project MKUltra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra), a human testing program. Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations and torture, in order to weaken the individual to force confessions through mind control. MKUltra used numerous methodologies to manipulate people's mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as other forms of psychological torture. The scope was broad, with research undertaken at 80 institutions, including 44 colleges and universities, as well as hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies. Many subjects died under testing, or committed suicide. Others such as [Frank Olson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Olson) were murdered for threatening to expose the program. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra) - Prior to WWII, under the banner of "Fitter Families for the future", many US states practiced [eugenics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States), in the form of [forced sterilizations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#United_States), [euthanasia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_United_States), and better baby contests. After the eugenics movement was well established in the United States, it spread to Germany. [California eugenicists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_California) began producing literature promoting eugenics and sterilization and sending it overseas to German scientists and medical professionals. By 1933, California had subjected more people to forceful sterilization than all other U.S. states combined. The forced sterilization program engineered by the Nazis was partly inspired by California's.[[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States#cite_note-murphy-8) The [Rockefeller Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation) helped develop and fund various German eugenics programs,[[78\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States#cite_note-78) including the one that [Josef Mengele](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele) worked in before he went to [Auschwitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz).[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States) - In 1933, The [Business Plot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot) was a [political conspiracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_%28political%29) in the United States. Retired [Marine Corps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps) [Major General](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_General_%28United_States%29) [Smedley Butler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler) claimed that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a [fascist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism) veterans' organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a [coup d'état](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat) to overthrow President [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt). In 1934, Butler testified before the [United States House of Representatives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives) [Special Committee on Un-American Activities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee#Special_Committee_on_Un-American_Activities_.281934-1937.29) (the "[McCormack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_McCormack)-[Dickstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Dickstein_%28congressman%29) Committee") on these claims.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot#cite_note-Schlesinger.2C_p._85-1) No one was prosecuted.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot) +- The [Immigration Act of 1924](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924) was a [United States federal law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_law) that limited the annual number of [immigrants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States) who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) as of the [1890 census](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census,_1890), down from the 3% cap set by the [Emergency Quota Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Quota_Act) of 1921, which used the [Census of 1910](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census,_1910). The law was primarily aimed at further restricting immigration of [Southern Europeans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Europe) and [Eastern Europeans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe), especially [Italians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_people) and [Eastern European Jews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_European_Jews).[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924#cite_note-1)[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924#cite_note-LEP-2)[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924#cite_note-washpost-3) In addition, it severely restricted the immigration of [Africans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans) and outright banned the immigration of [Arabs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Americans) and [Asians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Americans). According to the U.S. Department of State [Office of the Historian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Historian) the purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of American homogeneity".[[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924#cite_note-4) The new quotas for immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe[*where?*] were so restrictive that in 1924 there were more Italians, Czechs, Yugoslavs, Greeks, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Portuguese, Romanians, Spaniards, Jews, Chinese, and Japanese that left the [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) than those who arrived as immigrants.[[22\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924#cite_note-22)[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924) - The [Alien and Sedition Acts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts), signed into law in 1798, originally made it harder for an immigrant to become a citizen, but was later used during WWII by [President Franklin Delano Roosevelt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt) to imprison [Japanese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_people), [German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_people), and [Italian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_people) aliens during [World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), with continued use after the war by Truman to imprison and deport people. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts) +- The [Naturalization Act of 1790](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization_Act_of_1790) limited [naturalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization) to immigrants who were "free white persons of good character." It thus excluded American Indians, [indentured servants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant), [slaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery), free blacks, and later Asians. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization_Act_of_1790) ## Sources / Starting points