Arab Americans had to prove whiteness to naturalize before 1952

Evidence

According to the citizenship laws of the period (and until 1952), only “free white persons” could qualify for naturalization, and laws were passed explicitly to bar “Asiatics” from American citizenship. Confronted with this reality, the Arab-American community from across the nation mobilized to prove that they were indeed “free white people,” and a series of court rulings eventually affirmed that position. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 978 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Arab Muslims won US citizenship via the Semitic-race argument in the mid-1940s — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 230; US empire excluded Arab Americans from their prior marginal whiteness; Arabs had to litigate their whiteness to gain US citizenship — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 978 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Arabs had to litigate their whiteness to gain US citizenship #expands (0.95) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 978