A year after ratification, the 1790 Naturalization Act further cemented the supremacy of whiteness by limiting American citizenship to any “free white person . . . of good character.” And if you think the concept was limited to Southern states or slaves, nope. This adoption of white supremacy was found up and down the coast. In 1821, New York changed its constitution to take away the right to vote from free Black citizens. Delegate Samuel Young justified the change with Enlightenment race theory, explaining, “The minds of the blacks are not competent to vote.”6 Delegate Peter Livingston asked
...more
