...How did the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act influence Chinese Immigrants life for almost twenty years until now? American’s protests to Chinese immigration took numerous forms, and for the most part originated from financial and social pressures, and additionally ethnic separation. Most Chinese workers who went to the United States did as such keeping in mind the end goal of migrate to USA was to send money to China to help their families. non-Chinese immigrants felt that Chinese migrants were taking they employments, which prompted non-Chinese to loathe about Chinese workers. Moreover, as with most immigrant societies, a lot of Chinese settled in their own neighborhoods, and stories spread of Chinatowns as spots where extensive quantities of...
Words: 447 - Pages: 2
...Why did Chinese immigrate to the United States? After civil war had settled down, many immigrants came to America to live from many countries such as Germany, Ireland, and England. There are as many as 12 million immigrants at this time. Regarding Chinese immigration, they immigrated to the United States from 1849 to 1882. Between this period, America had California Gold Rush, which is one of the reasons Chinese people immigrated. Because the Chinese Exclusion Act was taken into practice, no more Chinese people could immigrate to the United States after 1882. Chinese immigration is the divergent point for Chinese’ lives who lived in America. The main reason Chinese immigrants came to America after Civil War was for work. As a consequence, most of the Chinese immigrants were single men. Especially in California, Chinese people arrived. There is the promise of gold in California during 1850s. It was called California gold rush. After they gained money in America, they usually went back to their country. Chinese immigrants began doing their own business such as running restaurant and laundries. In addition, they started their agricultural laborers. Even though the hard work such as transcontinental railroad construction that connects the coast to coast did not give them good pay, they just work for money. There were two large rail road companies in the United States at this time: Central Pacific and Union Pacific. They began competing as soon as congress took the Pacific Railroad...
Words: 1053 - Pages: 5
...beliefs against various groups of people. Many statues in our country’s history were built upon a pedestal of prejudice, but one of the most significant of these was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This law made it nearly impossible for Chinese immigrants to become United States citizens. However, historical evidence shows that female Chinese immigrants faced more difficulties in the United States than did their male counterparts. Although all Chinese immigrants faced hardships in migrating to America, females were more harshly impacted by anti-immigration laws than males were due to a potent combination of racism and sexism. One of the first things that may come to mind when we think about Chinese immigration to the United States is the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and it is not hard to see why. As the name implies, politicians created...
Words: 1277 - Pages: 6
...Becoming American: The Chinese Experience SOCY 100 February 18, 2012 Introduction The Chinese Experience records the history of the Chinese in the United States. The three-part documentary shows how the first arrivals from China, their descendants, and recent immigrants have “become American.” It is a story about identity and belonging that is relative to all Americans. The documentary is divided into three programs, each with a focus on a particular time in history. Program 1 describes the first arrivals from China, beginning in the early 1800’s and ending in 1882, the year Congress passed the first Chinese exclusion act. Program 2, which details the years of exclusion and the way they shaped and distorted Chinese American life, opens in 1882 and ends soon after Congress repealed the exclusion acts in 1943. Program 3 examines life during the Cold War, in the wake of immigration reform in 1965, through the years of the Civil Rights Movement, and to the present day with new opportunities and new challenges for Chinese Americans. These three themes discussing the history will be the focus of this paper documenting the journey of the Chinese American dream. Becoming American: The Chinese Experience Program 1 begins in the mid-1800s a time of civil war and famine in southern China. Young Chinese men left their villages to search for better opportunities in other parts of the world. When the news of a gold rush in California reached China in 1849, thousands headed...
Words: 929 - Pages: 4
...Introduction The Chinese Exclusion Act was a law of United States that passed by president President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882. It was established based on the revision of Burlinggame Treaty of 1868 made in 1880 .The Chinese Exclusion Act is the first immigration law of United States for a specific ethnic group. It marks a major turning point of the American foreign policy over immigration. This act prohibited Chinese workers into United States and deprives the American citizenship from Chinese immigrants for ten years .The amendment of 1884 further enhanced the requirements that allow earlier arrival immigrants to leave and return the U.S. Then, the Chinese Exclusion Act was extended by Scott Act that mainly written by William Lawrence Scott of Pennsylvania, prohibiting Chinese from returning again after leaving the United States. In 1892, the Geary Act that written by Thomas J.Geary was passed, which extended the Chinese Exclusion Act for a decade. In 1902, the exclusion act was made permanent. It required Chinese resident to register and obtain a proof of residence. The Chinese Exclusion Act was finally repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943. The Magnuson Act set the immigration quota to 105 every year for Chinese immigrants.( “ Exclusion“,Library of Congress.) Background American had a series of changes in the attitude upon Chinese. The Chinese Exclusion Act is one of the most severe restrictions of immigration in American History...
Words: 837 - Pages: 4
...Becoming American: The Chinese Experience SOCY 100 February 18, 2012 Introduction The Chinese Experience records the history of the Chinese in the United States. The three-part documentary shows how the first arrivals from China, their descendants, and recent immigrants have “become American.” It is a story about identity and belonging that is relative to all Americans. The documentary is divided into three programs, each with a focus on a particular time in history. Program 1 describes the first arrivals from China, beginning in the early 1800’s and ending in 1882, the year Congress passed the first Chinese exclusion act. Program 2, which details the years of exclusion and the way they shaped and distorted Chinese American life, opens in 1882 and ends soon after Congress repealed the exclusion acts in 1943. Program 3 examines life during the Cold War, in the wake of immigration reform in 1965, through the years of the Civil Rights Movement, and to the present day with new opportunities and new challenges for Chinese Americans. These three themes discussing the history will be the focus of this paper documenting the journey of the Chinese American dream. Becoming American: The Chinese Experience Program 1 begins in the mid-1800s a time of civil war and famine in southern China. Young Chinese men left their villages to search for better opportunities in other parts of the world. When the news of a gold rush in California reached China in 1849, thousands headed...
Words: 929 - Pages: 4
...Exploration: Chinese laborers explored building rail roads. The majority of people who built the railroads, were Chinese (9/10 were Chinese and 1/10 were Irish). They were super-fast at learning how to do their duties and did them quickly and safely. At first, Superintendent James Harvey Strobrigde of the Central Pacific didn’t like Chinese laborers, but after white laborers didn’t keep their jobs, their investor suggested that they hire Chinese laborers. After about a month of watching the Chinese laborers work on the railroads, he thought they were excellent at what they were doing and started hiring them. When the railroad was done, he invited most of the Chinese laborers to his boarding car to dine with him. When they entered, all of the guests and officers cheered for them. Life on the Railroads:...
Words: 761 - Pages: 4
...A Scholarly Review of “The Very Recklessness of Statesmanship: Explanations of Chinese Exclusion” Passed in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the apex of more than thirty years of advancing racism. Anti-Chinese sentiment began with the great migration from China during the California gold rush. White miners and prospectors began imposing taxes and laws that inhibited the Chinese from successfully panning for gold in the rivers. Soon enough, Chinese immigrants began to occupy other jobs and partially created more competition in the job market. Originally, the only law passed was the fifteen passenger law, but the Chinese Exclusion Act was much worse. By 1882 the Chinese were hated enough to be banned from immigrating; the Chinese Exclusion Act, initially only a ten year policy, was extended indefinitely, and made permanent in 1902. Naturally, the Chinese felt aggrieved, but for the most part remained calm and quiet. The Act would not be repealed until 1943 when China would be a strong ally against Japan. The article, “The Very Recklessness of Statesmanship: Explanations of Chinese Exclusion”, is exactly what it sounds like—an argument for why Chinese Exclusion was acceptable. From a modern 2012 viewpoint, most would say that Chinese Exclusion was a terrible part of history (and of course it was) but reading the article from a scholarly viewpoint, it is not so wrong to say that the author had the right idea. Also, one must look for any bias commentary, which there...
Words: 661 - Pages: 3
...For the first time in American history, a national group was being restricted from entering the United States. In 1882, the U.S. Congress officially passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act suspended the entry of Chinese immigrants to the United States for ten years (Kwong, Miscevic 101). The west coast cheered in happiness; their efforts were coming closer to a solution. However, anti-Chinese agitators were still not fully pleased because the Chinese Exclusion Act was to only temporarily stop the immigration of the Chinese; the anti-Chinese supporters wanted full extermination of any Chinese presence in the United States. Anti-Chinese reformers only worked further to diminish any of the Chinese left in America. Discrimination and segregation...
Words: 406 - Pages: 2
...Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges…” (Spalding, 1994, p.36). 233 years later and the open bosom that Washington spoke of has been encased in armor, sealed behind stout oak. The tenets of the USA Patriot Act have made the process of immigration to the United States an almost impossible task for many of the world’s population. However the Patriot Act alone did not make Washington’s statement seem quaint and idealized. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1892, the cold inhospitable surroundings inside the fortress like Ellis Island, and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 made Washington’s welcoming bosom an impossibility, a dream which remains unrealized. On May 6, 1882 the corpulent, mustachioed 21st inhabitant of the executive mansion, President Chester A. Arthur signed into law The Chinese Exclusion Act which placed an absolute 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration, and imposed new requirements on and Chinese born immigrant who had already entered the country ("Our Documents - Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)," n.d.). For the first time in this nations’ history, Federal law denied entry into the United States to an ethnic group and...
Words: 2109 - Pages: 9
...about 40,000 Chinese immigrants have come to the U.S (Holland, 2007). But, how much truth is actually found in these widely used phrased? Sui Sin Far has proven through her story “In the land of free” that America is not the magical place everyone expects it to be. In the story, Hom Hing and Lae Choo were immigrants from China who also were attempting to build a family here in the United State. Hom Hing were running a grocery store in San Francisco while his wife Lae Choo was giving birth to the little one in China as well as taking care of her in laws until they passed away. Hom Hing and Lae Choo were supposed to reunite afterward. However, US government decided to make the life of Chinese immigrants difficult by taking away little one when the couples could not provide any official documents to prove the identity of their baby. Hence, little one was being sent into the missionary school. Lae Choo had fall into depression being apart from her son. In addition, in order to get back little one, the couples had to go through difficulties, to be ignored for months from the government, and to be taken advantaged by the lawyer who took all of their money and Lae Choo’s jewels as payment for his help. The saddest part is that after ten months, little one could not remember his language or recognize Lae Choo, his birth mother, anymore. Hom Hing and Lae Choo’s experience is one of the examples revealing the inhumane and discrimination policies of U.S government toward Chinese immigrants...
Words: 929 - Pages: 4
...America even had new people from other places, such as China and Ireland, that were coming to work for the railroads and the mining companies. There were many things that led to the settlement such as economic, social and cultural, and political factors. Settlement in the West was caused by some economic factors such as railroads being built, gold and silver being discovered, and farming. The building of the railroads brought in the Chinese before the American government established the Chinese Exclusion Act, and they were able to do the work Americans did not want to do and for lower pay than what Americans would have wanted; and the railroad would help bring small businesses that people would want around the railroads....
Words: 698 - Pages: 3
... Chinatown is the best and favorite destination for Chinese and immigrants. Chinatown was born The first Chinese person officially became an American Chinese as having permanently immigrated to Chinatown was Ah Ken who is Cantonese businessman; He eventually founded a cigar store on China town in New York. He first arrived in New York around 1858. Chinese business people and sailors start to explore into the United States in the mid eighteenth century; while this population was greatly transient, small numbers of people stayed in New York and got married. Beginning in the mid nineteenth century, Chinese arrived in significant numbers, landed at the Pacific coast of the United States by the stories of "Gold Mountain" California during the gold rush of the 1840s and 1850s and brought by labor brokers to build the Central Pacific Railroad. Most arrived expecting to spend a few years working, thus earning enough money to return to China, build a house and marry. Most the Chinese immigrants worked at gold mines and railroad in California. As the gold mines began yielding less and the railroad neared completion, the broad availability of cheap and willing Chinese labor in such industries as cigar-rolling and textiles became a source of tension for white laborers, who thought that the Chinese were coming to take their jobs and threaten their livelihoods. Mob violence and rampant discrimination in the west drove the Chinese east into larger cities, where job opportunities were...
Words: 1187 - Pages: 5
...hardships experienced by Native American Indians and Asian (specifically Chinese) immigrants in America. In this paper I will talk about three specific factors that have separated the gap between equality in the political and social system for minorities in the United States: the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), the Black Civil Rights Movement (specifically Brown v. Board of Education, 1954), and the presidency of Andrew Jackson and the resulting fate of American Indians. Instead of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the main factor of why the immigration of Orientals in the West became an issue could be the California Gold Rush in 1849. This led to mass migration to the Western U.S., and we began importing Chinese laborers to fulfill the need for cheap work. The number of Chinese in the U.S. rose from 25,000 in 1850 to over 300,000 by 1880 and 77% of that number went to California. This led to a debate about the status of the Chinese in America. In 1878 the Supreme Court ruled that Orientals, who were seen as “not white”, were also seen as unfit for self-government because Asia was not democratic, so they should be ineligible for citizenship (Fraga, Jan. 21). Then on May 6, 1882, President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first law ever passed in the U.S. that banned any group of people from coming to America solely because of race. This was not the only time, Americans also told the Chinese they were not allowed into the U.S. again in 1892,...
Words: 1214 - Pages: 5
... A. The Indian Removal Act of 1830- sign by A.J -relocate to Oklahoma Represent one The Indian removal act will place a dense and white civilized population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few They re not unique Burlingame Treaty 1868 allowed 1. China to open up economic opportunities with US merchants in China In return, the US welcomed Chinese to migrate freely to the US continent The US doesn’t realize the US California as US resident Chinese Migration and movement Motives and Mean Number of Chinese migrants to us 1851-1900: increasing In 19th is cheaper to travel Born and reared under different governments and speaking different tongues we nevertheless meet here in California as brothers. You stand among us in all respects as equals Filial Piety Foot binding is kind of painful dress Transcontinental Railroad: Chinese migratory patterns Produced a network of remittances where by young men sent monies home to their parent Initially encouraged the men to be sojourners, temporary residents rather than settlers Later produced a disproportionate gendered ration, which meant the by 1890, for every 26 Chinese men there was one Chinese women Finally the massive in-migration of Chinese male labor produced the transcontinental railroad route After we got Chinamen to work, we took the more intelligent of the wither laborers and made foremen of them. They got a start by controlling Chinese labor on our railroad. Chinese labor entered the US for...
Words: 347 - Pages: 2