National Origins Act
Decreased the upper bound upon the number of immigrants who could be admitted annually from any given country from 3% to 2% of the total population of immigrants from said country who were already in the US.
Goal:The National Origins Act aimed to further impose restrictions on immigrants from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe, especially Italians, Slavs, and Jews. The sentiments expressed by the NOA were in no small part fueled by the Red Scare, seeing as a good majority of communists and anarchists were of foreign origin.
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History:The NOA remained in effect until 1965, when the Immigration and Nationality Act was signed into law. While the former explicitly discriminated against those of non-Western-European origin (including Africans, Arabs, and Asians), the latter did not, prioritizing instead skills and general economic utility .
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Function:The National Origins Act served to further marginalize non-white ethnic groups and ostensibly "preserved" racial homogeneity within America, emboldening the pervasive underlying notion of white racial supremacy. The NOA thus inflamed racial tensions within America, and eventually led to the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s.
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