In his closing remarks to the landmark Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), the United States Supreme Court stated that a Black person had no rights that the white man is bound to respect. Furthermore, the Court
stated that neither the framers of the Constitution nor the Founding Fathers imagined Black people to be citizens of the United States. The debate over who is an American and who should be an American citizen is as old as the
country itself, and is a recurrent topic in elections. From Dred Scott to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, providing temporary relief from deportation (deferred action) and
work authorization to certain young undocumented immigrants, the debate about American citizenship has reflected ideas and ideologies about national belonging as tied to skin color, ethnicity, origin, and administrative status. At
the same time, individuals and groups have also been claiming for full American citizenship, which epitomizes their agency in the face of reluctant institutions and organizations.

American Citizenship Exclusion Gender Inclusion Minorities Origin Race