Emanuel Celler: Immigration and Civil Rights Champion

Congressman Emanuel Celler (1888-1981) was a New York City congressman who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1923 to 1973. Celler's almost fifty-year career was highlighted by his long fight to eliminate national origin quotas as a basis for immigration restrictions and his battles for civil rights legislation. In Emanuel Celler: Immigration and Civil Rights Champion, author Wayne Dawkins introduces new readers to a figure integral to our contemporary political system.

Celler's own immigrant background framed his lifelong opposition to immigration restrictions and his corresponding support for reducing barriers for immigrant entry into the United States. After decades of struggle, he proposed and steered through the House the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which eliminated national origins as a consideration for immigration, profoundly shaping modern America.

Celler was also a consistent advocate for civil rights. As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from 1949 to 1973 (except for a break from 1953 to 1955), Celler was involved in drafting and passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. During his career he was also deeply involved in landmark antitrust legislation, the establishment of US ties with the state of Israel, and the Gun Control Act of 1968, and was the author of three constitutional amendments, including the 25th that established presidential succession.

Dawkins profiles a complex politician who shaped the central tenets of Democratic Party liberalism for much of the twentieth century and whose work remains central to the nation, and our political debates, today.

Author: Wayne Dawkins
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 10/01/2020
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.55d
ISBN: 9781496829870

About the Author
Wayne Dawkins is associate professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. A former newspaper reporter and editor, he is author of Rugged Waters: Black Journalists Swim the Mainstream and Black Journalists: The National Association of Black Journalists Story, as well as a contributor to Black Voices in Commentary: The Trotter Group and My First Year as a Journalist: Real-World Stories from America's Newspaper and Magazine Journalists. He is also author of City Son: Andrew W. Cooper's Impact on Modern Day Brooklyn, published by University Press of Mississippi.