Race Legislation in The United States - Aftermath of World War II

Aftermath of World War II

The United Nations Participation Act of 1945, passed after the victory of the Allies, included provisions that immigration policy should be conducted in a fair manner and non-discriminatory fashion.

In 1946, the Democratic President Harry S. Truman ended racial segregation in the Armed Forces by Executive Order 9981. Later that year, the US Congress passed the Luce-Celler Act of 1946 effectively ending statutory discrimination against Filipino Americans and Indian Americans, who had earlier been considered 'unassimilable' along with most other Asian Americans.

The 1947 Mendez v. Westminster case challenged racial segregation in California schools applied against Latinos. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, in an en banc decision, held that the segregation of Mexican and Mexican-American students into separate "Mexican schools" was unconstitutional. In the 1954 Hernandez v. Texas case, the federal court ruled that Mexican Americans and all other ethnic/"racial groups" in the US had equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 (or Immigration and Naturalization Act) “extended the privilege of naturalization to Japanese, Koreans, and other Asians.” “The McCarran-Walter Act revised all previous laws and regulations regarding immigration, naturalization, and nationality, and brought them together into one comprehensive statute.”