Dr. Nell Painter says the Irish were always white, even in early 20th century America. She says they gained access to whiteness through a variety of processes. But that path was not available to people who were truly not considered white 100 years ago and more,. especially black people.
The story of Bhagat Singh Thind, and also of Takao Ozawa – Asian immigrants who, in the 1920s, sought to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that they were white in order to gain American citizenship. Thind’s “bargain with white supremacy,” and the deeply revealing results.