- The Advanced Placement course on African American studies changed between February 2022 and February 2023, when the word “systemic” was removed. The College Board says this was not in response to its rejection by Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
- The far right opposes the idea that the United States has ever practiced systemic racism, and Trump’s 1776 Commission sought to refute the 1619 Project. Since Trump left office, far-right activists have worked to remove books and prohibit teachers from talking about patterns of racism.
- On March 2, 1942, General John DeWitt issued Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced removal of about 125,000 Japanese, German and Italian aliens, or persons of Japanese ancestry, from their homes and held in camps around the country.
- This order was rooted in a 1790 law limiting citizenship to “free white persons”, and the 1923 Supreme Court decision in *United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind* solidified this. Asian immigrants were excluded from citizenship based on the argument that they were not “free, white persons.”
- This exclusion led to Chinese Exclusion Act, the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907, and other laws discriminating against Chinese immigrants. Japanese-Americans were also discriminated against, and in 1942, were forced into internment camps.
- The WWII changed U.S. calculations of who could be a citizen, as Japanese-American soldiers fought for the nation, and Congress overturned Chinese exclusion laws and made natives of India eligible for U.S. citizenship. Japanese immigrants gained the right to become U.S. citizens in 1952.
Published February 20, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 19, 2023
