Bhagat Singh Thind

The subject of the landmark 1923 Supreme Court case that determined his eligibility for US citizenship based on racial classification.

“Sotomayor and the idea that the US stripped people of their citizenship based on their nation of origin, that might raise some questions from people who are not familiar with this history. The case that Sotomayor was referencing was United States versus Bhagat…”

The subject of the legal case and the primary focus of the biographical narrative regarding his journey from India to the US.

“Right. Correct. Correct. So Thind graduated from high school in 1908 and went on from there to Khalsa College, which was established in 1892 by the leaders of the Singh Sabha movement. This movement developed after Britain defeated the Sikh Empire in 1849, and…”

An advocate for Indian independence who served in the US Army and was a central figure in a landmark citizenship case.

“independence for the rest of his life up until that independence actually was achieved. Thind, however, did not try to ally with Germany. He volunteered to join the US Army in 1918. He was inducted on July 22nd of that year and served in the 166th Depot Brigad…”

An individual who applied for US citizenship in 1917 and faced revocation of his status based on racial eligibility requirements.

“In 1917, Bhagat Singh Thind had applied for US citizenship. He was naturalized in the state of Washington on December 9th, 1918. He was still serving in the Army at that point, and he took his oath while wearing his uniform. And then four days later, immigrati…”

The subject of a Supreme Court case regarding citizenship and race, who later became a spiritual teacher.

“considered Mexicans to be white is something else that we have talked about on the show before, including in our episode on Hernandez versus Texas in 2017. The Supreme Court did not hear any cases on whether Mexicans were white in c- the context of the Thind r…”

An Indian immigrant and activist whose Supreme Court case is central to discussions on naturalization and denaturalization.

“was taken from him and he was given bologna sandwiches to eat even though he was a vegetarian. News coverage of all of this made him sound really paranoid and sort of obsessed with the idea that the British were spying on him, even though British intelligence …”

The petitioner in the Supreme Court case who was denied citizenship based on a narrow definition of whiteness.

“In spite of its earlier decision in Ozawa versus United States, on December 10th, 1923, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Bhagat Singh Thind. The court's opinion was authored by Justice George Sutherland, who was a naturalized British immigrant. He w…”

An applicant for US citizenship whose case reached the Supreme Court regarding his racial eligibility.

“wasn't just a matter of filling in a blank with a color. A lot of Asian applicants for citizenship, including Thind and his attorney, also leaned on racist stereotypes to differentiate themselves from Black people and align themselves with this idea of white. …”

His Supreme Court case resulted in a ruling that he was ineligible for citizenship because he was not white.

“The Supreme Court's ruling that Bhagat Singh Thind was not eligible for citizenship on the grounds that he was not white did not apply only to him. It applied to other South Asians whose applications were in process or who might try to apply after this, and it…”