Chavez 1

Alyssa Chavez

HIS 354

Section 02

Dr. Alvarez

5/16/18

Final Part One

In the chapters following the midterm, we see a continued wave of immigration into

America. Gerstle’s model of liberty and coercion fits the new wave of immigration because the

structures of American society had already been formed (The Division). This means that the

liberty is the immigrants ability to come and stay in America while the coercion is the racist laws

that plague American society (The Division). American society during this time was focused on

maintaining their whiteness, they did this by creating competition between immigrants, allowing

immigrants a voice in the government system and that time would create more acceptable

citizens.

Every immigrant was in the same situation when coming to America, yet instead of

coming together they tore each other apart in hopes of becoming acceptable white Americans.

The fastest way to begin the process of becoming white is to start by disassociating yourself from

the inferior group. In America, the group always at the bottom of the hierarchy is African

Americans. The fact that immigrants held jobs that Americans avoided made them the same as

blacks (The Burden, 58). Immigrants in return began to do everything in their power to stop the

association immediately. They did this despite knowing the fact that whiteness was always

changed in every situation (Assimilation, 135). An Italian man discussed how during WWII, he

had recalled beating up African Americans with his friends and how he felt himself becoming
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more American (Assimilation, 137). This shows that immigrants were willing to follow racist

ideas in order to fit into American society. Soon antirestrictionist were in favor of European

immigration over Mexican immigration, in order to strengthen this, they supported the view that

a vast gulf separated the assimilable new immigrants from African Americans (Assimilation,

156). The reason many people were opposed to Mexican immigration was because they came in

a big wave flooding America (Gutierrez, 69). Mexicans were blamed for Americans citizens lack

of jobs and in turn were shunned by most American (Gutierrez, 70). All these examples reinforce

that in order to be considered white that one must disassociate their race from the inferior ones in

the hierarchy.

Getting tired of seeing no change, many immigrants began to take cases to court in hopes

of getting some type of leverage. For example, LULCA members who were American citizens

used their citizenship to fight for better labor wages and to be treated as first class citizens

(Gutierrez, 115). LULCA members had to fight to be treated fairly because since they looked

Mexican everyone treated them as such despite being born in America. Another way that

immigrants fought to be seen as white is through contesting their whiteness in court. A case that

set the president for all future cases is the Thind case. Thind was an Asian Indian who had better

ethnological claims at Aryan whiteness than most Europeans who were naturalized (The Burden,

59). Due to his complexion, the court felt sure that he was nonwhite and in turn reversed the

logic that would qualify Thind as white (The Burden, 59). Although many immigrants had

justified claims to whiteness, many were denied on the basis that the court simply knew they

were not white (The Burden, 59). The court system was crucial in immigrants fight for

whiteness because it gave them the firmest claim to whiteness and the strongest leverage (The

Burden, 60). The court system was unfair because it had no consistency. Although the court
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consistently allowed new immigrants whose racial status was ambiguous in the larger culture to

become naturalized, it also almost always turned down non-European applicants as white (The

Burden, 60). When it came to other groups of races applying for whiteness the court made sure

not to raise the issue of racial status of European new immigrants (The Burden, 61). The court

did this so they could reject legal arguments because they might lead to the fitness of unfavorable

immigrants (The Burden, 61). Immigrants consistently fought in court but many were turned

down on the new basis of whiteness.

The last way that immigrants negotiated their whiteness was with the theory that by the

third generation they would be undistinguishable from the whites. Even though many citizens

found that currently immigrants were not white over time if they prove themselves worthy that

they could accept them in a generation or two (The Burden, 58). This means that Americans

viewed current immigrants as too foreign but that with time their kin would become acceptable

Americans. Southern and Eastern Europeans immigrants slowly began to lose many of the

cultural attributes that marked them as unfit to be naturalized (Assimilation, 151). The loss of

these restrictions over generations reinforces the theory that with enough time that many

European immigrants would be indistinguishable from Americans. This method of becoming

white is one that involves the natural evolution over time but is the most effective in having

immigrants become assimilable and white.

America during this time is focused on keeping their country pure. They want everyone

to fit into a model that they created for the ideal citizen. The ideal citizen was white and followed

the laws that were step up. This illusion of the perfect citizen was created through coercion in the

media and laws. America had laws that blatantly excluded a specific race and media portrayed

many of the immigrants coming to America in a very negative light. These values being
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portrayed found themselves manifested in the American citizens. Many citizens were opposed to

the idea of immigration mainly because that all they ever heard despite immigrants being a major

source of wealth in our economy. Gerstle’s model embodies most of the issues that America is

currently facing during this time.

 Chavez 5

Alyssa Chavez

HIS 354

Section: 02

Dr. Alvarez

5/16/18

Final Part Two

After WWII, America became a national power. Due to this fact, America wanted to

seem more inclusive and accepting. Although much of America was still trying to keep

immigration to a minimum, they created reforms that favored European immigrants or white

people. America’s efforts backfired, allowing tons of immigrants especially Asian to come into

America legally. Even though this was not America’s original intention, they created policies

that moved away from White Protestant hegemony.

The Immigration Act of 1924 was seen as the time that America closed its gates. This is

because the Act had set up national quotas that only allowed a specific number of people from

each country to come into America (Ngai, 67). That specific number was 150,000 people for the

entire year (Ngai, 67). This lead Americans to become more forced on illegal immigrants

especially ones coming in from Mexico. This lead to an unjustified discrimination against

Mexican immigrants and Americans who were of Mexican descent (Gutierrez, 69). This lead to

the Mexicans who were Americans fighting to be seen as citizens and treated as such. They even

distanced themselves from their families in order to show that they were real Americans. That is

why the term inbetweeners was created. The term described the children of immigrants who

were citizens but still had roots to their culture and language (The Burden, 59). They did quite fit
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the American but over time their kin would be indistinguishable from the rest of the citizens. A

lot of the focus on immigration had to do with lack of jobs and a failing economy in America.

Finishing the second World War, put America in a completely different place economically and

politically.

Once WWWII was over, most of the world was busy celebrating a time of peace. The

same cannot be said for the Soviet Union and America. This is because they are still fighting in

the Cold War (Strangers, 179). During this time, the president was highly involved in creating

the immigration policies (Strangers, 179). The aftermath of the war left many in need of places to

live, the liberals took this as an advantage to expand America’s immigration policies (Strangers,

181). While Congress argued about whether or not to close America’s borders, Truman took

executive action and allowed a special region of Europe relief into America (Strangers, 182).

This shows that despite America being unsure of where to go next, they took a step in the right

direction by providing relief. The War Brides Act of 1945 was another step towards moving

away from the White Protestant hegemon (Strangers, 188). This act allowed men who were over

seas during wartime to bring back their wives with them. These types of steps towards making

America more understanding allowed the next president to make larger steps towards a more

accepting America.

President Johnson at the time began to undersell the Immigration and Nationality Act of

1965 (Marinari, 219). Johnson did so that his bill would have more chance of passing. A bill that

would affect everyone and their daily lives surely would have not passed if Congress had been

aware of the true implications of this act. Although this act was able to abolish the national

quotas on immigration, that did not stop southern democrats from leveraging in a ceiling on
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American immigration (Marinari, 220). Johnson may have succeeded in allowing any immigrant

to come in, he could not stop people opposed to this from setting a cap on how many immigrants

were allowed in.

The Immigration Act of 1965 was a stepping-stone for more immigration and refugee

friendly laws in America. Many people in Congress were against immigration reform, but they

hoped these new laws would bring in more white Europeans. The act brought in unprecedented

amount of Asian, Latin American and the Caribbean immigrants (Tichenor, 219). Despite it not

being their intention, Congress created new policies that were immigrant friendly. Along with

increased immigration, the act also allowed for 10,000 visas annually for refugees who were

escaping persecution in communist or communist-dominated states (Tichenor, 221). Many

lawmakers hoped that by doing so the president would not have to evoke emergency parole

powers to admit a large mass of refugees (Tichenor, 221). The lawmakers may have intended

this policy to help stop more immigrants from coming in but in fact it actually helped them. The

lawmakers guess was still wrong though because despite the allotted slots Congress agreed to the

Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. “This law treated all Cubans as refugees entitled to settle in the

United States” (Tichenor, 222). It allowed thousands of Cubans into the U. S. over the next three

decades and granted them special financial assistance (Tichenor, 222). This was the first act that

really provided aid unlike anything seen before in the United States. It provided money, open

access to America and the potential to become a U.S. citizen after the 10-year mark. With new

acts like this coming into effect, America was beginning to show how capable they were of

acceptance and change.

Despite these changes in the right direction, the 1970s brought an era focused on illegal
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immigration (Tichenor, 240). Many people were concerned with them taking jobs, wages and

things that were only for citizens. Many of these ideologies came from years of policies and

propaganda that made out anyone who was not an American to be less than or the enemy.

Eventually this continued heated debate led to a Supreme Court case called Graham v.

Richardson (Tichenor, 239). The court invalidated statues that restricted non-citizens access to

welfare benefits and asserted that legal distinctions between citizens and aliens were inherently

suspect under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (Tichenor, 239). This

means that the court found it unconstitutional for laws to restrict access to government programs

base on citizenship. The ruling enforced the idea that everyone in America despite their

citizenship status should be treated equally.

When people make laws, there is no guarantee that it will be used the way it was

intended. That is because the law is up for interpretation and can be fought on whether that is

true or not. There has been a lot of this happening in U.S. history, especially after WWII. This is

because America was now seen as a national power and with that power comes obligations.

These obligations come from the outside countries that now look at America as refuge. America

must now show that they are capable of being accepting and understanding. Although these ideas

come from wanting more power, the effects these idea cause begin to create a whole new

America. They cause presidents to enforce and praise new policies that welcome immigrants

despite American citizens not being as open. Even Congress who a majority is against

immigration, pass policies that are immigrant friendly. Congress’ intention might have been to

bring in more white immigrants but that does not change the fact that the laws they passed

allowed in an abundant number of immigrants from all over the world.