In 1854 the California State Supreme Court sought to bar all non-Caucasians from equal citizenship and civil rights. The court stated: The word Black may include all Negroes, but the term Negro does not include all Black persons . . . . We are of the opinion that the words White, Negro, Mulatto and Black person, whenever they occur in our constitution . . . must be taken in their generic sense . . . that the words Black person, in the 14th section must be taken as contra distinguished from White, and necessarily includes all races other than the Caucasian.[1] As convoluted as the quote may be, it tends to express a strong tendency in the history of the United States, toward creating two broad classes of people: white and non-white, citizen and non-citizen (or semi-citizen)
