03/23/2025
Dow v. United States
In 1915, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Dow v. United States held that based on scientific evidence, the Arabs of Western Asia were to be classified as white. The Court initially accepted the Naturalization Act of 1790 standards, which assumed that people of non-European descent would have been considered non-white and thus unable to become citizens of the United States. However, since the standard of who are "free white persons" had been renewed in an 1875 immigration law, the Court argued that modern understandings of race could be admitted in cases focused on the "whiteness" of the applicant. Citing scientific evidence and congressional intent, the Court wrote: "… It seems to be true beyond question that the generally received opinion in the United States was that the people of Western Asia, including Syria and Palestine, were to be classed as white persons." Thereafter, the Arabs became the first people in Asia to be granted U.S. citizenship.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_v._United_States #:~:text=United%20States%2C%20226%20F.,as%20a%20United%20States%20citizen
