Congress Prohibits Immigration of Illiterates Over Age Sixteen
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Human Rights Series
- Categories: Government and Politics, Social Issues, Reform, and Protest, Diplomacy, International Relations, Foreign Affairs
- Subcategories: Race, Ethnicity, Racism, Civil Rights, Minority Rights, Minorities, Laws, Acts, Legislation, Human Rights, Immigration, Immigrants, Discrimination, Prejudice
- Curriculum: American History 1901-1950
- Geographical Location: Washington, D.C.
- Date: May 1, 1917
Article abstract: The U.S. Congress, in an effort to exclude as immigrants those of ethnic origin considered incompatible with the racial stock of the country’s founders, required literacy as a condition of admission.
Summary of Event
In the late nineteenth century, the U.S. government for the first time began to accept the responsibility for restricting immigration. As long as there had been no question that people were welcome to enter and to become citizens of the United States--as had been the case since the American Revolution--each state was at...
[The entire page is 1685 words long]
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