Notes 4-1-14

• Heterogeneous means a mix of dissimilar things, but in social studies it means having a bunch of different people or cultures.
• Immigrants are people from different countries, they are assumed to be legal.
• We are here due to migration of our ancestors.
• A reservation is public land given to the Native Americans by the United States government because the government took their original land to compensate them we gave them land that wasn't wanted by anyone else.
• A refugee is someone who flees from their country or homeland for their protection.
• An Assimilation means to change yourself and your culture to adapt to a different culture.
• The population of the US is mostly white-today.
• Population that has grown are African American, Hispanic, Asian, and  Native American. They have grown at rates higher that the white population.
• More females than males.
• African Americans : There is so much focus on discrimination against African Americans because they have been victims of consistent and unjust treatment for a longer time, they constitute a huge minority group in the U.S 14% of all Americans, most of the games in the nation has made in translating the Constitution's guarantees of equality.
• Native Americans: When American settlers arrived in American settlers brought diseases that hurt the Indian population and also political agendas that eventually sent them westward to live. The American settlers brought diseases with them.
• Hispanic Americans= have a Spanish-speaking background, they can be any race, they are the largest minority group in the U.S.-50 million. Divided into four main subgroups.
• Asian Americans= Chinese laborers were the first Asians to come to America in large numbers in the 1850s and 60s. During this time a major wave of immigration was starting, also we were building railroads.
• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882-80 years.
• WWII-all Japanese were evacuated to the Pacific Coast, even Native born. They were put into concentration camps.
• Congress eventually admitted this was wrong and unjust and it is now illegal to evacuate certain races.

Section 3:

• Those who oppose civil rights often believe you can't change morality by passing a law.
• Dr. King "Judicial decrees...may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless".
• 1870s-1950s- No meaningful legislation passed in regards to civil rights.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964: passed after the longest debate in senate history, 83 days straight. Made changes: 1.) Voting provisions. 2.) Public Services(restaurants, hotels, theaters.) could no longer deny access based on race, religion, national origin physical disability. 3.) Federal funding programs could not discriminate for those reasons listed above. 4.) Employers and labor unions also could not discriminate.
• Civil Rights Act of 1968- Open Housing Act- cannot refuse renting or selling a living space to a person due to any form of discrimination. Housing is still one of the most segregated areas in American life today.
• Title 9- forbids discrimination on the basis of gender and any educational program or program regarding financial assistance. Equal funding and opportunities must be given to women athletics.
• Affirmative Action: requires employers take positive steps to fix the affects of past discrimination.
• Employers must meet quotas for minority groups genders.
• Many argue this results in reverse discrimination against the majority, they are denied opportunities so minority groups have more opportunities.
• California, Washington, Michigan, and Nebraska voters passed measures to eliminate all affirmative actions plans.
• The Bakke Case: Allan Bakke sued the University of California because he was denied access to their medical school due to Affirmative Action. He won the case. Since then the Court has made decisions regarding similar cases, quotas can be used when needed.
• Justice Sandra Day O'Connor predicts in 25 years, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary.

Section 4:

• An American citizen is a person that swears allegiance to the U.S. and to it's protection and privileges of its laws.
• Before the 1860s, citizenship was not important to people living in the United Stated- immigration was at an all-time high and little was done to distinguish citizens and noncitizens.
• the 14th amendment finally gave a constitutional definition to what was an immigrant (1868) "All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the U.S. and of the state wherein they reside."
• The constitution declares that a person becomes and American citizen one of two ways: By birth: 90% are citizens by birth. Citizenship by Naturalization-legal process by which a person can become a citizen of another country at some time after birth. Congress makes the regulations and rules, approve the citizenship tests. Normally it is a self decision.
• Entire groups can be granted citizenship through en masse which is when the U.S gains a new territory.  Nationalized by a treaty or an act and don't have to take the citizenship test.
• You can decide whether or not you want to no longer be an American citizen.
• Expatriation is when someone voluntarily gives up being a U.S. citizen.
• Congress can not take away your citizenship. You can lose it through denaturalization- only occurs by a court order and only after it has been shown that the person became an American citizen through fraud or deception.
• Marriage: does not make a person a citizen, it only shortens the time of the naturalization process.
• Congress has the power to decide who arrives and leaves the country.
• Quotas for immigration limit the number of territory you can have coming into the U.S.
• Immigration Act of 1965 did away of the immigration quota, up to 270,000 immigrants are allowed into the U.S each year- preference given to immediate family of someone in the U.S
• Today we allow 675,000 immigrants into the U.S each year, special preferences are still given, and those with occupational talents are given special preference.
• Some people are denied entrance based on their characteristic: criminals, mentally ill who might be a harm, etc.
• Deportation-legal process by which aliens are required to leave the country.
• Biggest reasons are: illegal immigrant, conviction of a serious crime.
• The government can deport anyone who isn't a citizen, there's not trial they can make them leave immediately.