WOMS 136 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Bhagat Singh Thind, Federal Housing Administration, Eugenics
16 Apr 2019
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• Argues that race would mean nothing were it not for the public laws and private practices
associated with our physical differences
• Upon mass immigration at the beginning of the 20th century, those in America tried to figure out
how they would fit into the racial hierarchy already in place
o By 1910, 58% of the labor workers were immigrants
o Americans feared the new immigrants, calling it a “racial invasion”
• “Higher” European races vs. “lower” European races
o Eugenics enthusiasts said that the “lower” races came about because of “undeniably
inheritable traits”
• A Jewish man was hanged after he was accused of killing a white woman
o A black journalist wrote “is the Jew a white man?”
o Many believed that the new European immigrants were “in between” races
• The “Melting Pot” came from the idea that all races would melt down into white American
assimilation
• Congress passed a law that only European immigrants that were free could become naturalized
citizens
• In 1909, courts labeled Armenians “white by law”
• By 1920, many laws barred Japanese immigrants from owning land
• Court ruled that Japanese cannot become a citizen because they were not white
o Ozawa denied after trying extremely hard and arguing to the courts that it was his
beliefs that made him American not his skin color
o Bhagat Singh Thind, an Indian man who served in the American military applied for
citizenship three months later because scientists at this point had placed India under
Caucasian areas
▪ Court denied him, saying that race is not science and that it could only be
determined by the courts. Said he was not a “common man,” like the whites
• Said “Thind may be Caucasian, but he was not white”--said that only the
white man could decide who else was white”
• As a result, Indians who had been granted citizenship had their rights
and citizenship revoked
• Many Japanese families had their belongings/land/rights stripped from them and sold to white
farmers
• Racial requirement for naturalization removed in 1952
• In 1924, Congress passed the Johnson Reed Immigration Act, banning Japanese immigration
until 1965
• “The House I Live In,” a short film calling for national unity
o The song about having black and white neighbors was cut
• The original Social Security excluded farmers and domestics, many of whom were not white
• Federal Housing Administration made to allow average citizens to own a home
o Before this, 50% down was required to buy a home
o After this, 10-20%
o Heavily benefitted whites, discriminated against everyone else
• Rating taken of 200+ cities in America
o Cities with majority whites received highest ratings, rated green
