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Asian American Immigration Research Paper

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The United States constructed the notion of race to divide the various groups. Race divides people and categorizes various groups based on physical differences such as the color of skin. However, there are far fewer physical differences between than there are similarities. The racial division of people ultimately leads to inequalities among the various groups created as a result of the social construction of race. Whites received the most privileges, while minority groups including Mexicans Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans received lesser privileges. This can be seen in legal policy, such as the Naturalization Law of 1790 when Whites could obtain citizenship while other groups could not obtain citizenship. The United States …show more content…

During the early immigration of Asian Americans, majority of the Black slaves had already been subjected to many years of slavery, and some slaves had even been born into slavery. The centuries of oppression had led to a weakened and disinterested population. However, the incoming Asian American population, consisting heavily of young men who starved for work to feed their families back in their homelands, was ready to work. In “Searching for the Golden Mountain,” Ronald Toshiyuki Takaki noted “planters saw that the Chinese could be employed as models for black workers: hardworking and frugal, the Chinese would be the ‘educators’ of former slaves.” The United States wanted to “educate” and shame the Black population on labor through the experience of Asian Americans. The United States government utilized this opportunity to further oppress the Black population by giving greater privilege to the Asian Americans while limiting privileges of the oppressed Black population. This ultimately leads to ideas such as the “Model Minority” and the notion of “good” and “bad” immigrants. The hard work by the Asian Americans promoted the notion of “good” immigrants, and presented a “model” for which the Black population should achieve. This “model” could not be achieved, because the United States created a system in which the Black population had …show more content…

Minority groups, socially created through the division of people, struggled to obtain privileges in a world influenced heavily by Whiteness. Legal policy, such as the Naturalization Law and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, differentiated racial grups and oppressed people. The United States used Whiteness as the scale of privilege and ensured other racial groups would not receive the same

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