At America's Gates Analysis

After reading Lisa Lowe’s article, “Immigration, Citizenship, Racialization: Asian American Critique,” it was clear that her thesis and main idea was about the Asian immigrants cultural politics. She tries to situate the legal, political, and economic meaning as a formation of the Asian American emergence within a “United States national and international comprehension.” Lowe also looks at how the asian citizen is defined against the Asian immigrant, “legally, economically, and culturally.” Throughout my essay, I will discuss the political restrictions against Asian immigrants through the help of Lowe’s text and the class presentations.

In “Chinese Immigrant Lee Cew Denounces Prejudice in America, 1882”, we read the account of Chinese immigrant Lee Chew who, writing in 1882, finds himself discontented with the treatment he endures as an immigrant from China. Lee Chew’s experience was not unique; the Chinese immigration experience was one that was marked by discrimination and general exploitation. However, this pattern of discriminatory behavior was much more comprehensive than being directed at a specific race, and the Chinese experience is controvertible with the immigrant experience at large. Prejudice and discrimination in

In 1965, the last legal barrier to Chinese immigrants fell with the signing of a new law that ended immigration quotas based on race. In the 19th and early 20th centuries the story of the Chinese in America was primarily a legal drama, played out on the nation’s borders and in courts. After the new immigration law went into effect, it became a personal story told by one individual and by one family at a time.

Sui Sin Far’s short story, “In the Land of the Free” touches on the reality of being a Chinese immigrant in late-19th century America. The story revolves around a Chinese couple. The husband is ready for his wife, Lae Choo, to arrive from China with their new son, later named Kim. However, due to policies on immigration, the American government was forced to take possession of the child due to a lack of paperwork. However, Far’s short-story has a deeper meaning than just focusing on unfair immigration policies. She takes advantage of the story’s ending to symbolize a rejection of immigrant culture, most especially Chinese immigrant culture, by taking advantage of Kim’s change in behaviors, appearance, and dialect.

Daniels, Roger. Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004.

During the 1860s, industrialization was booming and as a result, new jobs were created, which persuaded millions of Chinese people to immigrate to the United States. For immigrants, the U.S. represented the American Dream; an ideal that anyone can achieve success through hard work and determination. But what did the American Dream for immigrants mean for the future of everyday Americans? How would the influx of Chinese immigrants affect their opportunity, their American Dream? As a result of concerns such as these, the belief in Nativism became strongly held by the American people, which was commonly showcased through family values, private organizations, and federal laws. However, Nativism wasn’t universal. Advocates for Chinese

Finally, the people have found their beacon to pass the act, Chester Arthur, in 1882 who is going to put his signature on the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act halted all Chinese immigration into the US unless you were a diplomat etc. This created huge problems for the Chinese, leaving thousands of Chinese immigrants who were already in the US and not let them become US citizens. This

“America the land of opportunity, to all” has always been a driving force for many people from poor, undeveloped societies far away from America. This simple saying has brought over millions and millions of people from they’re native countries, leaving behind families and friends. Some never to return. Once in America, reality sets in for most of these groups as that suffer thought unequal treatment, racism and discrimination. One such group involved similar treatments were the Chinese- Americans, in the documentary “Becoming American- the Chinese Experience” we are given a first hand looks and descriptions of the hate that Chinese- American suffered in America. This paper will discuss these events including the documentary and class notes, further it will also describe the difference treatment that Chinese- American face in present day compared to the past.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act, otherwise named the Immigration Act of 1882, was the first law passed by Congress restricting and controlling immigration, specifically targeting chinese people moving to the United States for economic opportunities in California. Most Americans supported it because the Chinese people were, supposedly, taking their jobs, were inhumane, and other reasons backed by the Anti-Chinese Movement. Many immigrants came to the United States because of economic reasons.

The influx of immigrants that came over during the late 1800s were “different” than what Americans were previously used to. Due to this they were considered “new immigrants”. They came from places such as Russia, Poland, Italy, and Greece, rather than the more north western European nations. A majority of the immigrants that came from these countries, instead of being slightly wealthy and literate were dirt poor, illiterate, and unskilled. The Americans treated them poorly and considered them to be lesser people. The Chinese were also were a group that were treated very poorly when they came over, and that ultimately led to the Chinese Exclusion Act which prohibited immigration of Chinese laborers. The immigrants were split socially into different neighborhoods not only by wealth, but by race, many of which can still be distinguished by name in big cities

For this week’s PSD-A, I decided to analyze the lengthy article published in 1898 (sixteen years after the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed) by J. Thomas Scharf, a former United States Chinese inspector at a port in New York. I wanted to see the difference between the immigration of the Chinese in the late 1800s versus immigration in the late 1900s (about the time my parents came to America). Overall, this opinion essay was a bit offensive to me, but I did learn a lot from it, which is always a great thing ;).

Between the 1880 and 1924, the U.S economy experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization and received over 20 million of immigrants. The majority of immigrants were from Europe and Asia. The government was silent about the increase of immigrants from Europe but it wasn’t the case for immigrants from Asia. The Chinese immigration Act signed in 1882 aimed to stop Chinese immigration and barred Chinese immigrants to become citizen (Tichenor 2002, 88). American native-born were strongly opposed to the presence of immigrants because they believed that they were

In 1882, Congress made considerably stronger move in the Chinese Exclusion Act, the country's first supremacist, prohibitive movement law. The Act suspended all movement of Chinese workers for ten years and precluded any court to concede Chinese individuals for citizenship. What brought the Chinese to America in any case? Likewise with numerous migrant gatherings, it was a combo of "push" and "draw" components. Numerous meant to escape destitution and oppression in China and would have liked to make a fortune in America, particularly after John A. Sutter uncovered gold in California in 1849, starting the Gold Rush. Maybe nothing better exhibits the gigantic trusts that the Chinese had for their lives in America than the way that they

When thousands of Chinese migrated to California after the gold rush the presence caused concern and debate from other Californians. This discussion, popularly called the “Chinese Question,” featured in many of the contemporary accounts of the time. In the American Memory Project’s “California: As I Saw It” online collection, which preserves books written in California from 1849-1900, this topic is debated, especially in conjunction with the Chinese Exclusion Act. The nine authors selected offer varying analyses on Chinese discrimination and this culminating act. Some give racist explanations, but the majority point towards the perceived economic competition between

In the mid 19th century, America was viewed as a hotspot for freedom and wealth. When the noise of the gold rush flooded the world, immigrants started to see America more appetizing than ever. The Chinese saw America as a place to have a fresh start and as a place of refuge because of it’s generosity, so they immigrated to the west in great numbers. There was a large Chinese population in Virginia and all along the Pacific coast. Writers Mark Twain and Maxine Hong Kingston both wrote in great detail about the Chinese Immigrants. They went into detail about the immigrants and how they came over and why. Although Twain and Kingston both wrote about the immigrants in a positive light, Twain was sympathetic of the immigrants and Kingston focused more on their image and her ancestors.