Becoming American: the Chinese Experience

The United States has had tension with Asian immigrants since the first wave of migration in the 1840’s, and in 1882 the United States declared a Chinese Exclusion which was to keep all Chinese from migrating into the United States. For the Chinese already in the U.S this created worry and tension. With the Chinese people no longer being welcome the freedom for the Chinese inside which was already not much was even more condensed. The little equality that they had was taken away and they were excluded, and looked down upon everywhere they went. They had trouble living and socially because of the prejudice they were facing. An example of the Chinese struggle before the exclusion act would be the Chinese Lynching that took place in 1871. In Los Angeles a mob captured men and in this case a 12 year old boy and hung them all at a Spanish hacienda because of the citizens strong discrimination against

In the 1800’s, immigrants from different areas of the world began coming more frequently to the United States. With these immigrants, came the Chinese. After some time, an Exclusion Act was passed by the United States to keep the Chinese from immigrating. This happened in 1882 and was even extended in 1892. This act was supported in being passed because the Chinese were taking many jobs from the Americans, and also because the Chinese brought conflicting cultural elements to America.

The Chinese population of the United States used perseverance, resiliency and hard work to prove that they could succeed in a country that has blatantly discriminated against them and labeled them as “undesirable” and “ineligible for citizenship.”

During the beginning of the time period between 1882 and 2000, the United States policies towards immigration and naturalization became more and more restrictive due to American’s fear of competition with immigrants for jobs and their buildup of racism towards those immigrants. Chinese immigrants were the first

Although, not all Chinese migrants made it to America. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the only act in American History to deny citizenship or entry based on a specific nationality. It was meant to last 10 years, but was renewed twice, so it lasted for a total of 30 years.

Ideally, immigration to America has been noted as a step in the right direction for several years. The concept of the “American Dream” has been one of the main reasons behind immigrants choosing to leave their hometown and in other cases, changes in government and enslavement has led immigrants to the States. It is no wonder why they fight through battles most would have never known existed. Asian American Thuy Lee, is daughter to immigrant parents who escaped Vietnam during the communist takeover. Her story in particular, was a very detailed experience with words that helped me perfectly envision her family’s hardships on

On May 6th, 1882, the United States Congress passed the first racially restrictive immigration bill in American history. Known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, it supposedly only prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the U.S., allegedly for a ten year span; but ten years passed and the Act was renewed, and another ten years later, it was permanently instated in 1902. The Exclusion Act executed its intended purpose; due to a clause within the Act that specified both “skilled and unskilled” laborers were to be kept out and the refusal of the government to re-admit already settled immigrants who left the country for even the shortest amount of time, the Chinese population within the U.S. dipped rapidly as nearly every Chinese would-be immigrant was denied entry.1

Before the war, Chinese Americans were known as non-citizen immigrants who aren’t allow to go back to visit China. They can’t bring their spouse over from China or marry Americans legally. If an American woman marry a non-citizen Chinese man, she would lose her citizenship. The Chinese communities in the United States were fill with single men with no children. But due to the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, it destroyed all the immigrants and birth records. This incident allow many Chinese to fraudulently say that they were born in San Francisco and that makes them US citizens. (Sasaki) Later on, the congress began to consider to repeal for the Chinese Exclusion Act. Madame Chiang Kai-shek took a tour to the U.S. and spoke to several congressmen

In 1852, there were over 20,000 Chinese immigrants living in California (Franks). Americans reacted very negatively to this influx, and their negative sentiments were made apparent in the California Supreme Court’s People v. Hall verdict, which rendered Chinese testimony unreliable. Then, in 1882, President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law that prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the United States (Foner, 651). From the 1850s up to the Exclusion Act of 1882, Americans felt increasingly negative sentiments towards the Chinese. As illustrated through newspaper and magazine depictions along the Pacific Coast, the Americans perceived the Chinese as inferior and

The United States’ relationship with immigration fluctuated a lot over the years. Nonetheless, one can observe how towards the 19th century, the government began to restrict the influx of immigrants it was received each year. The first official measure that triggered drastic change in American perception of immigration and of immigrants themselves was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed on May 6th, 1882, and it was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States, especially to a specific race/ethnicity. One of the narratives to justify this measure was that Chinese workers cause economic ills and declining wages, even if they only represented less than a percent of the population. However, the Congress still passed that act to satisfy popular worker demand. This essay will discuss the ideological and institutional consequences of the Chinese Exclusion Act, such as gatekeeping, creating a framework to racialize other races, a nativist ideology and how it shaped immigration laws.

When most American think of immigration, we consider the Mexican and Hispanic populations. Yet, Chinese Americans make up a vast population of individuals who make the United States home each year. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tran brings to light the struggles of

As societies change and adapt to the changes happening around them, so to will the people change. Each generation will be different in some little and some large areas from the generation before them. The cultural differences in the experienced of women, seen generationally, is most evident in the lives of immigrant and minority women. The differences in each generation can easily be seen within the Chinese and Mexican women who immigrated to America. In Judy Yung’s 1999 collection, Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco, she has gathered the narratives of each generation of Chinese women when the immigrated to the United States. Yung presents the narratives of each woman as the struggle first for freedom from slavery then to trying to fit in with the dominating white Anglo society that surrounds them. Each generation of women was treated different, not only within their own community but by society at large. With each new generation, the next generation would assimilate into the American culture trying to fit in. While some succeeded in assimilating to the American culture, the previous generations of women, their mothers, aunts, and grandmothers, were there to remind them of their history. As each generation assimilated to the white Anglo dominated society, they still retained their cultural heritage.

When the chinese immigrants came to america it was divided into three periods. 1849-1882, 1882-1965, and 1965. The first period began shortly after the california gold rush. The chinese left their country to work in the gold mines, but they also wanted to take over agricultural jobs. They wanted to build railroads in the american west. As the labor grew they became used to their own rights. As soon a more chinese came to america the U.S started to dislike them even more. The americans finally made an exclusion act called the Chinese Exclusion act. The Americans thought if they made this act then it would help limit the Chinese people. And it did. If the chinese wanted to move to america then they had to send money back to China to help support their families. By doing this it left them very

In the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Chinese immigrants migrated to the United States. In The History of Chinese Immigration to the U.S., Leo Luo’s contended, “These foreigners came in three separate time periods: 1849-1882, 1882-1965, and 1965 to today.” (Luo) From 1849 to 1965, the Chinese wanted to earn more money to send back to their families in China because the economy was dramatically decreasing. The Chinese heard about the Gold Rush in California and began to move to the United States. When they first migrated to the United States, they were placed in harsh conditions and were discriminated without knowing what they had done to the Americans. Their children had to go to school with a variety of races besides whites. Many Chinese immigrants moved to United States for freedom, gold, and jobs, and as a result, Americans created laws against the Chinese, and placed them in Angel Island.

With the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first federal law was enacted restricting immigrants of a specific nationality from entering the United States due to Americans attributing dire economic uncertainty to Chinese laborers who take away jobs from native-born Americans. Anti-Chinese sentiments greatly proliferated throughout the United States during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Sui Sin Far, the author of the short story “Her Chinese Husband,” delineates how the prejudice of society against interracial marriage between a white woman and a Chinese man challenges both Minnie Carson and Liu Kanghi as a couple in the late 19th century. On the other hand, Frank Norris, the author of the short story “The Third Circle,” depicts an engaged white couple, Hillegas and Miss Ten Eyck, exploring Chinatown in San Francisco with a 19th century setting and the disappearance of his fiancée into white slavery; throughout the story, Hillegas, who has strong thoughts on binary oppositions and ideologies between the West and the East, practices Orientalism by looking at the Chinese culture as barbarism. From looking at these two stories together, one can conclude that American racial stereotyping hampered Chinese immigrants from being part of the mainstream society.