Immigration Literacy Act of 1917
The Immigration Literacy Act of 1917 was designed to reduce the superfluous amounts of immigrants flooding into the U.S. It completed this goal easily, but in a way that is not politically correct today. It created a strict definition of "undesirables" which included gays, criminals, epileptics, feeble minded persons, alcoholics etc. It also required people above the age of 16 to pass a literacy test as displayed above. But the strongest reason this act faced much opposition later but was passed in 1917 is because it created the "Asiatic barred zone." This act defined an area that included all of Asia and the middle east as unwanted, prohibiting all immigration from those areas.