Throughline Presents: White Lies
Throughline
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The History and the Theater
The first immigration law passed in the United States was the Naturalization Act of 1790. It established that the path to citizenship was reserved for free white persons of good character. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced indigenous people from their land and denied them citizenship. Dred Scott decision of 1857 held that people of African descent, even those freed from slavery, could not become US citizens.
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