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<strong>Scripps Howard Foundation Wire</strong></p>
<p><strong>WASHINGTON</strong> <span style="font-size: medium;">– A pathway to citizenship was the main topic of discussion Tuesday at a House hearing, the first to take place since proposals for immigration reform were introduced in the new Congress.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Many are those who know that it was Mexican president, Vicente Guerrero, who said,”Mi patria es primero – my motherland comes first,” – but few realize the man who abolished slavery in 1829 was of African heritage.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>The Root</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium;" data-mce-mark="1">The National Committee for Protection of Foreign Born Workers was established in 1923 in reaction to the virulent xenophobia of a Republican Congress and President toward immigrant workers, and their right to organize and strike. This campaign resulted in the Immigration Acts of 1921 and in 1924. The latter ushered in an era of racial engineering designed to keep America American, which meant not only white, but northern European and Protestant. </span></p>