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.
Since the early 1900s, Filipino immigration to the United States has reflected a complex combination of push and pull factors. Between 1898, when the U.S. took control of the Philippines from Spain (,[object Object],), through 1934, Filipino immigration to the continental U.S. was unrestricted. Poverty and lack of economic opportunity in the Ilocano islands pushed migrants toward the United States where they worked in agriculture, fishing, and canning. At the same time, the opportunity to enroll in U.S. colleges in universities through the 1903 Pensionado Act attracted students. Filipino immigrants settled mainly in Hawaii, California, Washington State, and New York.
