We have learned in California laborers despised Chinese workers, in a much similar mannerism as today non-citizens or natives are feared, the immigrants were feared for taking jobs from the nation’s population and were blamed unjustly for the decline in wages as well as the economic disparity of the time-period of railroad reform. The treatment of the people in America, the restriction of the people led to the sentiment evolving into the creation of an unjust law, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, that lasted for a long time affecting Chinese immigration up until the year 1943, this hatred, was imbedded well past the period of the railroad reform. I wanted to look into how the Chinese people were impacted that were living in America when the …show more content…
The most immense aspect of restricting the Chinese people, was purging Chinese residents by vigilantes. Vigilantes were basically citizens who took matters of the law into their own hands, which the government did not prevent. The idea of restriction appears outright that the Chinese people were driven to leave the country, by loss of opportunity to live, make livelihoods, as vigilantes refused employment and rejected the Chinese residents, this is true, however, the vigilante mobs resorted to physical force to get Chinese individuals to leave their communities, between 1885 – 1886 over one hundred and sixty eight communities in America pushed residents to leave, there was immense racial violence driven from prejudice, this use of force was used purposely to cause harm, physical pain. The mobs did not care if there were families with young children, everyone was an enemy regardless of gender, wealth and even age. The mobs placed bombs under businesses that belonged to Chinese residents, they would set homes on fire of Chinese families. These were their intimidation tactics of fear, they also harassed the people by posting deadlines for departure from the communities and did not point out the cruel consequences of not complying to the deadline. They used coercion tactics of taking …show more content…
The Chinese residents also experienced lynching, some were photographed in celebration by the communities. The intention behind the Anti-Chinese violence was to exclude the Chinese population that was in America. There was a massive racial purity effort, to have entitlement for white citizens, resulting in growing nativism in America. In the period in which the Act went from restriction to exclusion, from 1888-1943, over three hundred thousand Chinese migrants managed to successfully settle in America as “illegal aliens”, out of the many who were refused, the concept had never before existed, they lived with intense legal, social disadvantages, similar to the way people lived under the history of Jim Crow laws. The concept of citizen was formed from this, as well as national exclusion. Chinese individuals only became eligible for citizenship in America after
One particular ethnic group that suffered severe discrimination was the Chinese people. They first came to America for several reasons. One of them was the gold rush in California in 1849, in which they were included in a group of immigrants called the “Forty-Niners” (179). From gold mining, they switched to other jobs with resulted in the rise of anti-Chinese sentiments. People felt that Chinese people were taking the jobs away from them, because Chinese people worked for much smaller salaries that businesses preferred. This mindset gave way to the creation of The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, which prohibits more Chinese immigrants from coming to America. In addition, the act states “no State or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship”. Like the Naturalization Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to hinder Chinese people from becoming citizens so that America could remain homogenously white (186). It also aimed to stop Chinese people from establishing a bigger community in the country in hopes of eliminating the threat of competition to their white counterparts (186). Like African-Americans, Chinese people were considered racially inferior and have struggled to prove that they were worthy to be called true Americans, rather than
Many came for gold and job opportunities, believing that their stay would be temporary but it became permanent. The Chinese were originally welcomed to California being thought of as exclaimed by Leland Stanford, president of Central Pacific Railroad, “quiet, peaceable, industrious, economical-ready and apt to learn all the different kinds of work” (Takaki 181). It did not take long for nativism and white resentment to settle in though. The Chinese, who started as miners, were taxed heavily; and as profits declined, went to work the railroad under dangerous conditions; and then when that was done, work as farm laborers at low wages, open as laundry as it took little capital and little English, to self-employment. Something to note is that the “Chinese laundryman” was an American phenomenon as laundry work was a women’s occupation in China and one of few occupations open to the Chinese (Takaki 185). Chinese immigrants were barred from naturalized citizenship, put under a status of racial inferiority like blacks and Indians as with “Like blacks, Chinese men were viewed as threats to white racial purity” (188). Then in 1882, due to economic contraction and racism Chinese were banned from entering the U.S. through the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese were targets of racial attacks, even with the enactment of the 1870 Civil Rights Act meaning equal protection under federal law thanks to Chinese merchants lobbying Congress. Chinese tradition and culture as well as U.S. condition and laws limited the migration of women. Due to all of this, Chinese found strength in ethnic solidarity as through the Chinese Six Companies, which is considered a racial project. Thanks to the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco, the Chinese fought the discriminatory laws by claiming citizenship by birth since the fires
How and why did white attitudes change (can you make any connections to the video and readings about the Chinese Exclusion Act)? Around1852 things began to change as more of the Chinese culture began to show in America. There was a Chinese Opera troop that began to tour mining towns. Their performances were not understandable to the American culture and a lot of old animosity between Chinese began to arise which was now on full display. Fights broke out between Chinese people because some were apart of different regions or clans that originated in their homeland. When this began to happen the way Americans viewed Chinese changed drastically. They were now viewed as people trying to invade the land. In the1850’s the first anti Chinese laws were established and even made them pay a special tax just for being Chinese. They were now viewed as outcast just as Native Americans and blacks were. They were not able to testify against whites and which gave way to attacks against Chinese. The main connections I was able to make between the two videos and readings is that the first Chinese laws established in the 1850s created a dominion effect of negativity that lead to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. There was now a green light for whites to do whatever they would like to Chinese without having to worry about repercussions. The Snake River Massacre of 1887 which was lead by Bruce Evans was just one of many acts of terror against Chinese after the Exclusion Act, in this particular incident Evans lead his group to hunt Chinese miners at campsites that resulted in many deaths of innocent Chinese (The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act). In states all over Chinese were being driven out or kilt. Even before the exclusion law act that was signed in 1882 there were several instances were Chinese were mistreated and even kilted. The Exclusion Act only elevated hate crimes against Chinese. Mr. Taylor from the House of General Garfield made a speech that argued against Chinese bill. One
This investigation is designed to explore to what extent did attitudes toward the Chinese immigrants during the building of the transcontinental railroad differ from those towards Irsih immigrants? To assess the attitudes toward the Chinese immigrants, this study focuses on the building of the transcontinental railroad in the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. This study investigates the views, tasks given during the building of the railroad, and benefits given to the Chinese and Irish immigrants and the impact of their work on the views toward each group of immigrants.
Socially, those immigrants, especially Asian immigrants, were frequently the target of raids, boycotts, and scapegoats by the white mainstream. Legally, through formal denial of citizenship of Asians through Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese Internment Camp during the World War II, Ozawa v. United States (1922) and United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923), the Asian American communities were ripped out of their possessions and properties. The message of the government and Supreme Court was clear: membership to the U.S. was available for those who are both scientifically and commonsensically ‘white’ (What is an American?). One dimensionally, the decisions impacted the definition of whiteness, and fixed the racial relation of the U.S. to be between whites and African Americans; furthermore, the decision racialized Asians as unauthorized, inassimilable, and
According to Lee, Erika, and Reason (2016), “The Chinese Exclusion Act ...barred Chinese laborers for a period of 10 years and allowed entry only to certain exempt classes (students, teachers, travelers, merchants, and diplomats” (p. 4). The Chinese immigrants were excluded from certain rules and laws like Blacks and other minority groups. Also, they were not permitted to request citizenship or settle in the United States. For decades, the Chinese laborers did not have legal rights to enter into the United States until the decision was overturned. Lee, Erika, and Reason noted, “Chinese activist turned their attention to opening up additional immigration categories within the confines of the restrictions…some 300,000 Chinese were admitted into the United States as returning residents and citizens” (p. 4). The activists fought for the rights of the Chinese people to overturn the decision for leaving and entering as pleased to the United
The Burlingame Treaty of 1868 encouraged Chinese immigration for work on railroads and southern plantations while simultaneously withholding the privilege of naturalization. This encouraged the emergence of ‘coolie’ laborers, whose passage into the United States was paid for under the agreement that they would work as indentured servants for a pre-determined period of time. Although the Chinese helped build the transcontinental railroad, their unusual style of dress still created prejudice against their ethnicity. This lead to the creation of Chinatowns as a necessary cultural barrier used for protection against the rest of society. After encouraging Chinese immigration, the government realized that these immigrants would procreate and needed to decide what immigration status children born in America would hold. The Naturalization Act of 1870 was the solution to this question, declaring any child born in the United States a citizen of the country, regardless of the race of the child. This necessarily lead to more immigration restrictions since a...
As the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, so did the strength of anti-Chinese sentiment among other workers in the American economy. This finally resulted in legislation that aimed to limit future immigration of Chinese workers to the United States, and threatened to sour diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
As gold discoveries slowed down and the Civil War gradually came to an end, the First Transcontinental Railroad was finally completed between Omaha and Sacramento. Over time, unemployment began rising across the country, especially in California, where a vast majority of Chinese immigrants resided in. The welcoming of Chinese immigrants slowly began to wear off as the white working class perceived a threat to their livelihood that these immigrants could potentially cause, leading to an increase in racial tensions. These growing tensions culminated in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and eventually closed U.S. borders to all Chinese laborers, with the exception of ethnic Chinese individuals. This paper highlights the significant impact of large-scale Chinese immigration to California during the Gold Rush, the lasting contributions made by the Chinese towards Western ...
When the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law in May 1882, it was followed by a rapidly decreasing amount of new immigrants to the United States. Regardless of problems that the United States attempted to solve with the Act, violent massacre and persecution of Chinese people in the United States continued. Because of this, many Chinese immigrants that did stay in America continued on for years to receive prejudice and racism in the labor market and cultural society. This then continued to force many Chinese immigrants further and further down the path of segregation and into the protection of Chinatowns and poverty, counteracting the great American idea of the “melting pot.”
In chapter thirty five, author Shelley Sang-Hee Lee explains that “Immigration is an important part of our understanding of U.S. social experience” (Hee 128). Asian immigrants bring their diverse culture, language and custom from various Asian countries. They help improve American economic development. Also, they play an important role in American society. The first Asian immigration flow is the Chinese Immigration in the mid-19th century to work in the gold mines and railroads. The Asian immigrant population grew rapidly between 1890 and 1910 (Hee 130). The increasing of population of Asian immigrants have brought a lot of problems. Many of them were facing the issue of ethnicity, discrimination, and the process of assimilation. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which banned the immigration of Chinese laborers and proscribed foreign-born Chinese from naturalized citizenship and the Asian Exclusion Act League in 1907 which limited the entry of Asian immigrants have reshaped the demographic of Asian immigrants in the U.S (Hing 45). With the rise of anti-Asian movements, many Asian immigrants were rejected from entering America or deported to their homeland. In the early history of immigration in America, the issue of deportation is an important part of the Asian American experience in the
Kwong, Peter. 1999 “Forbidden Workers: Illegal Chinese Immigrants and American Labor” Publisher: The New Press.
This discrimination initially began with the Naturalization Act of 1790, allowing free white-men of “good character” naturalization while excluding Native Americans, indentured servants, free Blacks, and Asians. In addition to extreme acts, the Chinese Exclusion Act, signed in 1882, had prohibited the Chinese from entering our country. Another example of the racism Asian-Americans faced occurred during World War II due to the war’s propaganda and the slurs that came about as a result of the war. The historical background of Asian-Americans and racism not only left scarring tendencies, but managed to transcend into modern society within a lower degree.
...xperienced harsh discrimination and even legal exclusion from our country. They were blamed for the lack of job opportunities and low pay of jobs and received extremely unfair treatment that labeled them as an inferior race. However, the inter-ethnic tension blinded us from seeing how the immigrants were contributing to our country in positive ways. They not only created economic and social gains for us, but also opened our minds to a whole new way of life and prepared us for the multicultural years to come. With all of the help and modernization that they contributed to our country, the racism and discrimination that the Chinese immigrants received day-in and day-out was not rightly justified or deserved.
This delayed them from becoming American citizens as they had to finish their debt first. Even so, through the Naturalization Law of 1790 they were able to gain citizenship. This law stated that “Any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen” (1790 Naturalization act). This differs from the Chinese as the Chinese were blocked in every way possible to gain their American citizenship. Both immigrants arrived the same time and worked in similar jobs. They equally worked as hard when contributing to America, such as the building of the transcontinental railroad, but the Irish were given the first privilege because they were white. Having Takaki share this again shows how the Master Narrative does not provide the meaning of an American as being white should not be the main reason. The Irish were chosen because, as Toni Morrison observed, the Master Narrative states that “‘American’ has been defined as ‘white’” and “Not to be ‘white’ is to be designated as the ‘Other’- different, inferior, and unassimilable” (Takaki, 4). Therefore, the Chinese were seen un-American because they were different. This then caused the white Europeans to believe that they are unworthy to be involved in America’s history when it comes to the Master Narrative. Now this country consists of different races that have done a lot to build up what America is today. These minorities are Americans, like the Chinese, but the Master Narrative was not able to see that these