Throughline

The History of Birthright Citizenship

Share this episode
Anyone with this link can open it.
Share Link
Start at 0:00

This episode isn’t summarized yet

Create a free account and summarize it. In a few minutes you’ll have the key takeaways and a section-by-section summary.

Show notes

Wong Kim Ark was born in the U.S. and lived his whole life here. But when he returned from a trip to China in August of 1895, officials wouldn't let him leave his ship. Citing the Chinese Exclusion Act, which denied citizenship to Chinese immigrants, they told him he was not, in fact, a citizen of the United States.

Today, the story of Wong Kim Ark, whose epic fight to be recognized as a citizen in his own country led to a Supreme Court decision affirming birthright citizenship for all.

This episode originally ran as By Accident of Birth.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy
Couldn't load the audio. A blocker may be stopping the show's tracking links. Open the file