User:Tatimejiaa/sandbox

Bibliography/Notes

Ozawa v. United States | Densho Encyclopedia - In this wesbite we can get a look at the time that Ozawa decided to go to court with his case and really the tone of what was happening in the world at that time. We get a little insight of where Ozawa came from and what he did once he came to the United States.

Episode 1, Lesson 7: Racial Identity and American Citizenship in the Court | Asian Americans Advancing Justice - LA : In this short video we learn about the struggles that immigrants face once they come to the United States and they touch on the case and reveal how Ozawa tried to declare that he was white, just like many other immigrants did at the time, in order to gain citizenship under the Naturalization act.

TAKAO OZAWA v. UNITED STATES. | Supreme Court | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu) - Gives background on the case itself and the break down of the decisions being made with reasoning.

1922 Seventy-five Years Ago | AMERICAN HERITAGE - This website gives background on Ozawas life and on top of that some history of the type of discrimination that Chinese and Japense immigrants faced.

Background
{Background}

Everyone knows Takoa Ozawa from the impactful case he had with the United States Supreme court, but he is more than just that case. Takoa Ozawa was born June 15, 1875 in Kanagawa, Japan. In 1894 he migrated to San Franciso California where he attended a number of schools, but finally graduated from Berkeley High School. Once he graduated from high school Takoa went to the University of California till 1906, three years, and then decided to move to Honolulu, Hawaii. After Takoa settled down in Honolulu he learned English fluently, practiced Chrisitanity, and obtained a job from an American Company. While in Hawaii he also married a Japanese women whom he had two children with. Takoas wife was educated in the United States, not Japan. Ozawa's family was very much Americanized, they all spoke fluent english and focused on the American culture more than they did their own, Japanese, culture.

October of 16,1994 Takoa Ozawa decided to apply for his American citizenship since he had been living in America for 20 years and practiced many American cultural things. On paper Ozawa looked like a modled citizen and his character and/or education should grant him citizenship, but that wasn't the case. Ozawa tried to petition his citizenship under the naturalization, but he was ineligable to because he was not only classified under the Japanese race he was also born in Japan. Despite Ozawa Americanizing his family and meeting the requirement for the amount of time needed to live in America it looked as if they were looking more at his race/apperance rather than the cold hard facts one needs to qualify as a citizen.

Impact of Case
{Case impact}

Takoa Ozawa's case was very impactful to the world because we take a look at how race can impact ones citizenship. It really posed the question that if "any suggestion of individual unworthiness or racial inferiority". It also makes us as a society rethink what things contribute to what makes one white when it comes to ones appearance. Takoa Ozawa even commented that his skin is so white if not whiter than other caucasians, so appearance wise he would pass as white. Also, with this case we see that being white is superior than other races. For Ozawa to have to say that he is white and totally disregard his own race is really impactful. Ozawa was one of many Japanese Americans to denounce their race in hopes of gaining citizenship in America.