Did The Scripps National Spelling Bee end the Chinese Exclusion Act?

 There's been a buzz in the news lately about immigration causing all sorts of issues around the world. This isn't the first time that proposals to ban entire groups have been championed, and that has caused some serious problems in the past. This week on Seemingly Unrelated, find out how Spelling Bees helped bring an end to the disastrous Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and proved that diversity is a strength, not a problem needing to be solved. Anna P. Kambhampaty, “How Indian Americans Came to Love the Spelling Bee,” The New York Times, July 3, 2021, sec. Style, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/style/spelling-bee-south-asian-americans.html; https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/05/07/learning/07LODTimesMachineLN/07LODTimesMachineLN-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.png; “About the Bee | Scripps National Spelling Bee,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.spellingbee.com/about; “Daily News from New York, New York - Newspapers.ComTM,” , https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/435742927/; “Daily News from New York, New York - Newspapers.ComTM,” , https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/435742927/; “Immigration and Nationality Act,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.lbjlibrary.org/news-and-press/media-kits/immigration-and-nationality-act; “Immigration Laws.,” image, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdclccn.22019016/?st=gallery; “Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian,” https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act; “NPC Centennial Spelling Bee | National Press Club,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://www.press.org/events/npc-centennial-spelling-bee; “The Women Win in Congress Spelling Bee | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives,” accessed January 20, 2025, https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2007/2007-111-002/; “Today In History: Luce-Celler Act Signed in 1946 | South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA),” https://www.saada.org/news/20140702-3609; “Chinese Exclusion Act (1882),” National Archives, September 8, 2021, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/chinese-exclusion-act.  -- Andrew D. JohnstoneE-mail: [email protected] Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture.🎵 Subscribe to the show everywhere 📽️ Find the videos on Youtube🎰 Want even more? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month and a list of sources for this episode on our Patreon Follow us on Substack Instagram TikTok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.