There are many Asian immigrants that come to the United States in hopes of living out their American dream of becoming United States citizens. My parents came here exactly for that same reason, so they can give my sisters and I the opportunity to live a better life. We were fortunate enough to have our relatives help us get here, making it a little less difficult for us compared to other families that took a different path to becoming citizens. However, it was not always this easy for an Asian immigrant family like ours to become naturalized citizens. It used to be near impossible for immigrants of Asian descent to become a United States citizen, but in recent years, there have been a spur of people with Asian ethnicity who are able to naturalize.
From the time the Puritans touched the soil of this land to the creation of this country’s new government, America was always envisioned as a “homogeneous” nation of people of European decent. John Winthrop and his Puritan followers came to this new land with the “errand” of creating the “new” England, a colony of one racial identity (Takaki 15). It is surprising to learn that even the founding fathers of this country were against having people other than “whites” to settle in this land where according to them “..all men are created equally”. Ben Franklin, for example, shared the same belief in his 1751 essay Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind. “The English were the ‘principle Body of White people’, and Franklin wished there were more of them in America” (Tanaki 16). Thomas Jefferson also shared the same view in his Notes on the State of Virginia, expressing his fear of possibly tainting the country with people of colored skin (Tanaki 16). With that i...
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United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, Certificate From The Circuit Court Of Appeals For The Ninth Circuit., No. 202. Argued January 11, 12, 1923.—Decided February 19, 1923, United States Reports, v. 261, The Supreme Court, October Term, 1922, 204–215.
Waldo R. Browne (ed.), "Japanese-American Passport Agreement," in What's What in the Labor Movement: A Dictionary of Labor Affairs and Labor Terminology. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1921; pg. 261.
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‘The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority’ by Ronald Takaki and ‘Growing up Asian in America’ by Kesaya E. Noda are both essays that depict the state of Asian immigrants in America. The authors are both Asian Americans themselves and their words bear fruit from a lifetime of personal experiences of being a viewed upon as an alien in their own land.
Remy, Richard C., Gary E. Clayton, and John J. Patrick. "Supreme Court Cases." Civics Today. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe, 2008. 796. Print.
Ray v. Blair. No. 649. Supreme Court of Alabama. April 3, 1952. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.
These are the two questions that I get asked regularly by non-Asians. I always reply “Well I was born and raised in America but my family comes from Hong Kong.” I grew up constantly being told to take pride in being Chinese, however, I was also consistently told by my family to be proud that I even have the opportunity to grow up in America. There was never a definite answer as to what I was, so I learned to accept both. I am Asian American. Many people have questions about what “Asian American” really means and their questions brought on questions of my own. It was not until recently that Asian American influences became more prominent in my life. I was able to find books,
The period between the late 1800s and 1900s saw the outlook of US population shift and change drastically. The Gilded age contributed a lot in this change through its massive economic expansion and influx of new immigrants from Europe and Asia. Japanese, Chinese and Jewish immigrants became an integral part of the nation despite the huge challenges they faced in their new home. America to them just like all other earlier immigrants was a land of hope and opportunity. However, reality struck once these immigrants settled since they were constantly under attack from natives (Jones et al 747). This paper examines the nature of Asian immigration into the United States in the gilded age and early 20th century; it will examine the push and pull factors of immigration and sentiments they evoked among natives.
“They are willing to sell themselves in order to find a better life for themselves or
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Dalkeith Railway Co. v Wauchope (1842) 8 Cl & F 710. In this case a
Sheppard v. Maxwell - 1966. (n.d.). Justia US Supreme Court Center. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/384/333/
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
The United States of America is the best place for immigration. The history proved that the United States was the dream land, the place of chances. That started when Europeans escaped form their countries because there were no jobs and no safe places to live. America became the best choice for people who were looking for political asylum, jobs, or freedom, but after a few generations something changed the Americans look to immigrants as strangers and they forgot where they are from because America is multicultural place and immigration movement should be understandable, but this is not the case. Governments should develop good laws for immigrants by giving rights to immigrants to stay in America, to protect them, and to allow people who deserve to come to America.