Bhagat Singh Thind

Monday, January 01, 1923

Bhagat Singh Thind was born in India in 1892 and immigrated to the United States in 1913 to attend graduate school. Thind was a World War I veteran and civil rights advocate whose legal battle over U.S. citizenship became a landmark case. While in the U.S. Army, Thind applied for U.S. citizenship, which was initially approved. However, the Bureau of Naturalization opposed it, overturning the court order as he was not considered "white" under The Naturalization Act of 1790. Thind applied for citizenship again and was granted citizenship in 1920. Again, the Bureau of Naturalization opposed it and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1923, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Thind in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, determining that he was not considered “white” under naturalization laws. This decision reinforced racial restrictions on citizenship. Thind regained citizenship in 1935 after Congress granted legal status to all World War I veterans. In 1940, immigrants from India were eligible for naturalization. Thind spent his life writing and lecturing on philosophy.