The Chinese Exclusion Act

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Recommended: A comparative analysis of culture between China and the USA

The Chinese Exclusion Act has a lot to do with racism. First off, it was the first law that restricted immigrants from coming to the U.S. There were many other laws that restricted immigration, but those came after the Chinese Exclusion Act. Many people were racist to the Chinese before the Act because of the Gold Rush and their religion.
Religion
Because of the Chinese coming to America and practicing their religion, they set up places of worship and practiced Buddhism. The Pigtail Ordinance was a law that was passed that would make Chinese people who had long hair, to cut it off. This law was the first step that lead to a lot of racism to the Chinese and other Asian cultures and people. The flow of immigration was stopped by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act outlawed all Chinese immigration to the U.S. and denied citizenship to those already settled within the country. Revived in 1892 and extended fully in 1902, the Chinese population decreased till the act was repealed in 1943 by the Magnuson Act.

Taxes and Laws
Many Western states passed discriminatory laws that made it tough for Chinese and Japanese immigrants to have land and get work. A number of these Anti-Chinese laws were the Foreign Miners' licensing fee that needed a monthly payment of 3 bucks from each foreign laborer. Foreign Chinese couldn't become voters as a result the Naturalization Act of 1790 that reserved naturalized citizenship to "free white persons". This remained in until repealed by the Civil Rights Act of 1870.By then, American state had collected 5 million dollars from the Chinese. To defend Free White Labor against competition with Chinese Asian Labor and to Discourage the Immigration of Chinese into the State of California" was another ...

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...time period when white Americans discriminated Chinese immigrants. It was called the "Yellow Peril" because they would call Chinese yellow and make other racist jokes about them. This was not only applied to the Chinese but to the Japanese as well. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Yellow Peril heightened only more and many more people became racist the Chinese and Japanese.
After the 1853 recession, many Californians were looking for cheap labor to capitalize on profits. Chinese immigrants came to America for a assortment of reasons, including work in the Pearl River delta region, and the company of sensibly fast trade routes to the United States, and the attraction of gold. As a result of their lower demand for wages, and their inclination to form self-supporting communities without support, Chinese immigrants became the best option of labor for many people.

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