America’s Changing Definition of “White”

Once, the Irish weren’t white.

Neither were Italians.

Or Jews.

Or Greeks, Poles, and Slavs.

For decades, these groups were seen as too foreign, too Catholic, too “un-American” to belong.

They were called unskilled, dirty, dangerous. They were blamed for crime. They were kept out of neighborhoods, businesses, and opportunities.

But over time, something changed.

Slowly, they were absorbed into whiteness.

By the mid-20th century, Italians, Jews, and the Irish—once treated as outsiders—were accepted as part of the dominant group.

The borders of whiteness had expanded.

But not for everyone.

Because as some were welcomed in, others were still locked out.

Black Americans, AAPI Americans, Latinos, and Indigenous peoples never got the chance to assimilate in the same way.

Whiteness wasn’t just about skin color. It was about power.

And the lines kept shifting—not based on who people were, but on who America needed them to be.

So the question remains:

Who will be let in next?

And who will be left standing on the outside?