Timelines

Migration is a natural part of living systems, and human history is no exception. Yet it remains one of the most debated public issues of our time.

Both people and borders move. Who is allowed to move, and who is granted rights, lies at the heart of how nations define belonging. In Germany and the United States alike, these debates have been deeply intertwined with evolving ideas of race and ethnicity.

These timelines trace how citizenship and belonging have been constructed, challenged, and redefined through laws, social movements, global events, and cultural works — and how those histories continue to shape the present.

1790

First Citizenship Laws Reserved for Free Whites

The Naturalization Act of 1790 set the first rules for U.S. citizenship, reserving it for "free white persons" of "good moral character" and excluding non-white persons.

This Act set the first rules for U.S. citizenship, reserving it for "free white persons" of "good moral character" with a two-year residency. It excluded all those determined non-white and indentured servants. Unable to obtain citizenship, Native Americans as well as African and Asian Americans were denied basic protections under the law, such as the right to vote, own property, or testify in court. Each group finally won the right to citizenship through long struggles. White women could gain citizenship through the 1790 Act, but couldn't vote until the 19th Amendment in 1920.