Early American courts inconsistently classified Syrians as white for citizenship.

Evidence

But the courts were not consistent in granting citizenship to Syrians. Arabs like South Asians had a unique history of being classified or denied naturalization because the courts were unable to agree on whether they were white. In Ex parte Shahid (1913), Faras Shahid, a Syrian immigrant, was denied citizenship because common knowledge was used by the courts to argue he was not white because of his darker skin tone and his inability to speak English. George Dow, also a Syrian immigrant, was denied citizenship by several lower courts, but in United States v. Dow (1915), the courts ruled based on scientific evidence that he was white. This was based on the intelligence he displayed to the courts but also because the courts decided Syria was geographically associated with Judaism and Christianity, and therefore those from Syria could become citizens (Lopez 2006). — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 89

Categorization

• XREF: Grounds the ‘Global Racial Enemy’ slot the reader is replacing — this is the early precedent of Arabs’ precarious racial classification, foreshadowing how religion (Christianity) tipped racial decisions. — connects to: Legal whiteness construction created the Middle East category by separating Syrians from Asia — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 241; Whiteness rulings on Muslim immigrants varied absurdly by court rather than by consistent principle. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 172
• CANDY: A single defendant’s citizenship turned on whether courts deemed Syria ‘geographically associated with Judaism and Christianity’ — a striking one-sentence anecdote.