This new series is an ongoing collection of quotes from the books I am currently reading. — Douglas
“They were from Japan, so they could not become citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited naturalized citizenship to “free whites,” and although in 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment extended this to African Americans, it was not until 1954 that Asian immigrants could become naturalized citizens. California’s 1913 Alien Land Law prohibited noncitizens from owning land, but Papa and Mama, like many Japanese families, sidestepped the stipulations of this law by deeding the house in the names of their children, who had been born in the United States and were therefore rightful citizens.”
From Silver Like Dust by Kimi Cunningham Grant
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