IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT

1965

On October 3rd, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 into law. It officially lifted the federal quota system that placed strict limitations on the immigration into the United States for Asian countries. It was not until this act that the Chinese Exclusion Act was fully abolished. The law opened the door for immigrants seeking new opportunities, especially for those from Asian nations. Annual immigration spiked to nearly a half million people, with only 20 percent coming from Europe. 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Archive of immigrant voices [Data set]. (2012). Center for Global Migration Studies, Department of History, University of Maryland. https://archiveofimmigrantvoices.omeka.net/immigration-history

Barbar, R. (2017, February 03). How the civil rights movement opened the door to immigrants of color, Facing South. https://www.facingsouth.org/2017/02/how-civil-rights-movement-opened-door-immigrants-color

Chow, K. (2017, May 05). As Chinese exclusion act turns 135, experts point to parallels today. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/05/05/527091890/the-135-year-bridge-between-the-chinese-exclusion-act-and-a-proposed-travel-ban

Davies, D. (2019, January 16). How the 1965 immigration act made America a nation if immigrants. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/16/685819397/how-the-1965-immigration-act-made-america-a-nation-of-immigrants

Immigration and nationality act of 1965 – Civil rights movement era [Video]. Advancing Justice-LA. https://archive.advancingjustice-la.org/what-we-do/curriculum-lesson-plans/asian-americans-k-12-education-curriculum/episode-3-lesson-5