The Whites-Only Immigration Regime: 1896–1952

Join in for a public lecture by historian Kelly Lytle Hernández, the 2025-26 Nannerl Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill. In "The Whites-Only Immigration Regime: 1896-1952," Hernández will discuss how between 1896 and 1952, U.S. federal authorities built a whites-only immigration system that banned, blocked and punished almost all non-white immigration to the United States. Hernández will detail why and how they did it, as well as indicate how their designs continue to shape the modern immigration system.