Title Struggles over immigrants' language : literacy tests in the United States, 1917-1966 / Young-In Oh

Published El Paso : LFB Scholarly Pub., 2012

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Description 1 online resource (vii, 174 pages) : illustrations Series The new Americans : recent immigration and American society New Americans (LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC) Contents Acknowledgments; Introduction; CHAPTER 1: The Beginning of Federal Language Restriction: The Literacy Test Act of 1917; Still Open Door Mixed with Ethnocentric National Identity; Toward Immigration Restriction: Redefining Americans; The Literacy Test Act: A Product of Long Lasting Political Discourses in the Divided Government; CHAPTER 2: Applications and Challenges: Immigrants and the Administrators; The Implications of the Literacy Test Act; The Ambiguity of the Law and Its Discretionary Administration; Challenging the Arbitrary Administration of the Literacy Test CHAPTER 3: Power Politics in Implementing Immigration Policy: Congress and the Bureau Of Immigration Immigration Legislation and the Extent of Administrative Powers; Congressional Power and Dehumanizing Administration; Illegal Immigrants: A Consequence of the Conflict between Legislation and Administration; CHAPTER 4: The Literacy Tests and the National Quota Immigration Policies; The National Quota Immigration Act of 1924: Ongoing History of the Literacy Test; To Redefine a "White" America: Congress, the courts, and the states; American Citizen Yes, Voter No: Double Allegiance to State and Nation English as a Test of Being a Good American Citizen CHAPTER 5: The English Literacy Test in New York State: An Added Way of Making a "White" America; The English Literacy Test Election law of 1921 in New York State and Its Implications; A Step Towards Uniqueness: The 1923 Amendment; Two Kinds of Assimilation: Intended and Unintended Consequences; CHAPTER 6: Conclusion; Bibliography; Index Summary Oh argues that the introduction of literacy tests influenced both the possibility of immigrant admission to the United States and the exercise of suffrage. The Literacy Test Act of 1917 was the first national language restriction on immigration and was used as a means of excluding?undesirable? linguistic minorities. Focusing on New York State, Oh shows how literacy tests were used to preserve the political hegemony. She argues that linguistic assimilation carried different meanings for different people. For Europeans, it meant swifter assimilation into American society, while for non-whites i Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Subject Literacy -- Social aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century Literacy -- Ability testing -- United States -- History -- 20th century Immigrants -- Education -- United States -- History -- 20th century EDUCATION -- Students & Student Life. Emigration and immigration Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects Immigrants -- Education Literacy -- Ability testing Literacy -- Social aspects SUBJECT United States -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects United States -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 20th century Subject United States Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2011046873 ISBN 9781593325329 1593325320 1593324774 9781593324773

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