Essay on Asian American History

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

Historian Daryl Joji Maeda called the The Asian American movement “a multiethnic alliance comprising of all ethnicities by drawing on the discourses and ideologies of the Black Power and anti-war movements in the United States as well as decolonization movements around the globe.” By the 1960s, a new generation, less attached to the ethnic differences that plagued Asian immigrant groups, began to grow and work together. The black and white binary race treatment in the US alienated Asian-Americans as an other, causing some to begin their own rally for Asian-American civil rights.

Around the mid-19th to the 20th century, myriads of immigrants flocked to the U.S. seeking better job opportunities,or searching for religious freedom. U.S. citizens were fearful, envious, and willing to exclude immigrants who came to the US as they were viewed as an economic threat to the society. They believed that these immigrants were racially, morally and intellectually inferior to them and as such did not see or treat as their equals. These dysfunctions lead to severe and harsh treatment of immigrants. Historically, the three major immigrant groups that faced the most discrimination during this era were the Asians, German, and the Irish. American citizen’s fear of job secureness led to the resentment and discriminatory treatment towards Asian Immigrants. They believed that the majority of the Asian American immigrants were taking too many of their jobs. As such, the U.S. government decided that it would be necessary to restrict the amount of Asian Americans, in order to keep the U.S. citizens from being unemployed. The U.S. government passed numerous laws, banning Asian American immigrants from the United States. One distinct law that they passed was the 1922 Cable Act, this law “stripped a female citizen of citizenship, if she married an alien unable to become a citizen.”(Lutz 7).The law was basically passed to prevent Asian immigrants from obtaining citizenship by marrying a female U.S citizen.In fact, the government believed that female citizens that engaged in this

In his essay “Paper Tigers,” Wesley Yang discusses his own experiences as an Asian American, tying them into the larger picture of Asians functioning in American society today. Yang’s argument is that even though Asian Americans are one of the most successful ethnicities in the country, stereotypes that Asian Americans are exposed to affect the way other Americans view them. Because of personal bias and racism, human society fails to see other people for who they are and put too much emphasis on what they are supposed to or not supposed to be in America today. Stereotypes cloud people’s vision and judgment and keep some from achieving their goals because others have a pre-created

brings to our attention the die hard myth that Asians have made it in America, which

The first Chinese immigrants flooded to America, in the hopes of “striking gold” during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Unfortunately, the citizens of California greeted these newcomers with many unfair laws. Beginning with the Foreign Miner’s License Tax Law of 1850, the Chinese experienced nothing but bigotry from the citizens who surrounded them. This inequality peaked when President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, barring the immigration of Chinese workers for ten years. During that time, the immigration of Japanese in search of work rapidly increased. These immigrants also faced racial discrimination, from their ineligibility for citizenship to the laws prohibiting Japanese from owning land. The full

In the 1800s, after the Civil War (1861 to 1865), massive waves of new settlers migrated to the United States. May these were Chinese immigrants who sought to take advantage of the Gold Rush in California. Most of them were men, without family. Between that time, hundreds and hundreds of Chinese immigrants arrived, mostly in San Francisco, where they established a place called “Chinatown.” Establishing the place helped encouraged around four thousand Chinese women per year to immigrate to the United States, to be with their husband or father, helping Chinamen managing household. The gold attracted so many immigrants to California, and the desired for wealth attracted Southerners, who brought with them their racial attitude from the south. Work was well paying; a prejudice against Chinese was born. Hate and violence accompanied the competence against Chinese; and brutality against

The stereotypes of Chinese immigrants and Chinese immigrant women in particular shaped the way the government created legislation, with laws passed to keep them out of the country. This in turn caused a stigma to form around Asian immigrants. The power of perception played a prominent role in the racial discrimination and social conditions that Chinese women faced in the late 19th century and beyond.

When the Philippines became a territory of the U.S. after the Spanish-American War, Philippine could freely enter the country. Recruited by the thousands as cheap labor to work the Hawaiian sugar plantation and “the fisheries of the Northwest and Alaska” (Takai, 314). They quickly began to migrate to the U.S mainland. They were agricultural workers and domestic service workers, which is what the economy needed at that time. In contrast, in class, we learned that the first Chinese immigration to North America began with the California Gold Rush and the first railroad project. Following the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese immigrants were increasingly as their success in the farming industry. Therefore, they way they came to America makes Filipino quite distinct from the Chinese and

A Chinese immigration political cartoon by Thomas Nast from an 1871 Harper’s Weekly magazine, displays criticisms of Chinese immigrants to the US on a wall (Doc. B). These complaints include, “They are dishonest and false, vicious, immoral, and heathenish”, and, “Coolie, slave, pauper, rat-eater.” These harsh comments affected the image of the Chinese. Americans made the immigrants appear inhumane and cold-hearted. Because the immigrants were stereotyped to the point they were called the “lowest and vilest of the human race,” Americans were influenced to pass the Chinese Exclusion

The Asian American immigrants are part of the ethnic and racial groups in the United States who lives in the continent of Asia. Asian have lived in the United States for a long time. Throughout the history, Asian Americans have encountered segragation and discrimination during the periods of changes in demographics, economic recession, and war. They have been discriminated by school policies and practices due to beign different. Paul Spickard (2007) has said that Asian Americans was an idea invented in the 1960s to bring together Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino Americans for political purposes. Later, other

They were forced to separate from society and start their own businesses. Even today Asian Americans have been labeled as Laundromat and restaurant owners. This fear of Asian Americans stealing their jobs influenced the government to respond. Hence, the Asian Americans have a rich history of holding a wide range of occupations throughout their history.

Asians have migrated to and have lived in the Americas since the days of our founding fathers. The first to come from the Eastern Hemisphere were a small group of Filipinos in the early 18th century that settled in present day Louisiana. The first major influx of Asian Americans was Chinese Americans who came in the 1800’s to find financial opportunity during the California gold rush. They settled in the Golden State and eventually spread out all over the United States, creating the now-famous Chinatowns that millions of Americans visit every year. There is a continual migration of well educated South Asians and East Asians for job and education opportunities and their success has formed the basis for the “myth of the model minority” (MMM). This is the idea that all people who are Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are successful both socioeconomically and educationally. This does have a logical basis rooted in statistics—AAPI students are reported to have higher grade point averages, math scores, and overall standardized tests scores on tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing Exam (ACT). Other studies often use a racialized rhetoric comparing Asian Americans to white Americans in terms of education and socioeconomic status while contrasting them to the so-called “lazy” and “incapable” Hispanic and African Americans.

As the immigrant population currently projected to overtake latinxs and hispanics as largest group of residents in the United States of America, Asian Americans have shown their will to survive in a way that many groups have not, and that is by banding together in order to achieve the life they deserve. Taking the overgeneralization of pan-ethnicity and using it as a device for increased numbers and support for the causes of a group of people who otherwise may not have much to do with each other, is a testament to how vulnerable they must have felt as well as how successful they have managed to be many aspects of progress. What I have gained from this course is the understanding that at the root of ethnic studies and the Asian American community is the “for us, by us” sentiment that contributed to the blurred lines between the different part of their communities as social, political and cultural, structures, collectives and groups which came out of an obligation and necessity to protect those immigrants and their future generations from a country which has always pushed European superiority in all aspects of society.

     The focus of our group project is on Chinese Americans. We studied various aspects of their lives and the preservation of their culture in America. The Chinese American population is continually growing. In fact, in 1990, they were the largest group of Asians in the United States (Min 58). But living in America and adjusting to a new way of life is not easy. Many Chinese Americans have faced and continue to face much conflict between their Chinese and American identities. But many times, as they adapt to this new life, they are also able to preserve their Chinese culture and identity through various ways. We studied these things through the viewing of a movie called Joy Luck Club,