Being Caucasian wasn’t white enough.
February 19, 1923: In United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Indian immigrant classified as Caucasian was not “white” under American naturalization law.
Bhagat Singh Thind had served in the U.S. Army during World War I. After being recruited, he was promoted to the rank of Acting Sergeant. When he received an honorable discharge, his character was designated as “excellent.” He believed that mattered.
On December 9, 1918, while still in uniform and serving in the Army, he was granted U.S. citizenship under special naturalization provisions for foreign-born soldiers.
However, the Bureau of Naturalization did not agree with the decision of the district court to grant Thind citizenship. His nationality was referred to as “Hindoo” or “Hindu,” despite being a practicing Sikh.
Just four days later, it was revoked.
Courtesy of SAADA
On December 9, 1918, Bhagat Singh Thind, still serving in uniform, was initially granted U.S. citizenship under special naturalization provisions for foreign-born soldiers.
Courtesy of SAADA
After serving in the U.S. Army during World War I, Thind was promoted to Acting Sergeant and received an honorable discharge. His record described his character as “excellent.”
Cram's New Family Atlas of the World 1884 Edition
19th-century racial charts like this divided humanity into categories such as “European,” “Chinaman,” and even “Circassian Girl.” South Asians were often labeled “Hindoo.”
Courtesy of Library of Congress
The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited citizenship to “free white persons,” but never defined what that meant. That question would shape American courts for the next 150 years.
Art by Ludwig Emil Grimm, courtesy of British Museum
In the late 18th century, German anatomist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach classified humanity into five races. He placed Europeans and Northern Indians together in “Caucasian.”
Courtesy of Library of Congress
Justice Sutherland authored the unanimous 1923 Supreme Court opinion in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind. He wrote that “white” did not mean scientifically Caucasian.
Citizenship Regained, Then Revoked Again
Under the Naturalization Act of 1790, citizenship was limited to “free white persons.” By the early 1900s, courts were wrestling with what “white” actually meant.
Scientists of the era classified Indians as part of the Caucasian race. Thind argued that, by that definition, he qualified.
Thind applied for United States citizenship again from the neighboring State of Oregon, on May 6, 1919. The judge considered his military service and rejected the Bureau’s objections. Thus, Thind received United States citizenship for the second time on November 18, 1920.
But on February 19, 1923, Justice George Sutherland delivered the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court to deny citizenship to Indians. Thind’s citizenship was revoked again, and the Bureau of Naturalization issued a certificate in 1926 canceling his citizenship a second time.
Race, According to the “Common Man”
The Supreme Court ruled that “white” did not mean scientifically Caucasian. It meant what the “common man” understood it to mean. And in 1923 America, that did not include immigrants from India.
Science did not matter. Military service did not matter. Legal precedent did not matter. What mattered was social perception.
Just months earlier, in 1922, the Supreme Court had ruled in Ozawa v. United States that a Japanese immigrant was not white because he was not Caucasian. Now, in Thind, the Court reversed its logic. Caucasian was no longer enough.
In 1924, Congress would go further, passing the Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act), which effectively banned immigration from most of Asia.
Courtesy of Library of Congress
This Supreme Court unanimously ruled in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that “white” meant what the “common man” believed it meant. Not what science said.
Courtesy of Takeya Family and JANM
Takao Ozawa, the man whose fight for citizenship exposed how tightly America tied belonging to whiteness, and how openly racist the law was.
Courtesy of Library of Congress
President Calvin Coolidge signing the Immigration Act, a.k.a. the Johnson-Reed Act, which effectively banned immigration from most of Asia.
Courtesy of California State University Sacramento Library
After WWI, Tokutaro Slocum joined JACL and pushed for legislation to restore citizenship to veterans who had been denied it because of race. Nye-Lea Act passed in 1935.
Courtesy of SAADA
Inspired by Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau, Bhagat Singh Thind came to America believing in its ideals. He later challenged America to live up to them.
Third Time Was A Charm
Thind petitioned for naturalization a third time through the state of New York in 1935 after the Congress passed the Nye-Lea Act, which made World War I veterans eligible for naturalization regardless of race. Based on his status as a veteran of the United States military during World War I, he was finally granted United States citizenship nearly two decades after he first petitioned for naturalization.
Thind remained in the United States, earned his PhD in theology and English literature at UC Berkeley, and delivered lectures on metaphysics.
Born in India on October 3, 1892, Thind came to America inspired by Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau. For fifty-two years, he lectured across the nation on spirituality and what it meant to be American.