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Immigration in the United States is a complex demographic activity that has been a major contribution to population growth and cultural change throughout much of the nation's history. The many aspects of immigration have controversy in economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, crime, and even voting behavior. Congress has passed many laws that have to do with immigrants especially in the 19th century such as the Naturalization Act of 1870, and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, or even the Immigration Act of 1903 all to insure specific laws and boundaries set on immigrants. The life of immigrants has been drastically changed throughout the years of 1880-1925 through aspects such as immigrants taking non-immigrants

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

Over time many factors have been a part of molding the immigration policy that we know and hold true to. Not just one argument caused the view we see threw when pondering immigration, but many have settled their opinions into our policy. One of the many arguments used was the argument against the Chinese and how they were so-called dangerous. Horace Davis states, “The experience of other nations who have permitted Chinese immigration and showed you that wherever it has been allowed the same unvarying features mark their presence, and that after centuries of contact with other people in the islands of the East Indies their race peculiarities are just distinct as they are today in California; so that our only hope lies in a law restricting their

It is crucial to recognize the huge toll the Chinese Exclusion Act took on Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans, and the negative influence of racialization it had on immigration policy of other countries. In this paper, I will discuss the consequences of the Chinese Exclusion Act on Chinese culture and society in the United States, regarding to the isolation of Chinese society in U.S., paper identities and lives of illegal Chinese immigrants and how this Act guided the establishment

Other Asian American groups were able to attain better economic opportunities for themselves because of a booming wartime economy. Through the process of naturalization, they were also recognized as citizens who had the same rights as other American citizens. This process helped to uplift their communities and change the perceptions of Asian Americans at the time. Conversely, Japanese Americans’ responses towards their mistreatment show their conviction in their rights as American citizens. These efforts were recognized with the passage of the McCarran-Walter Act, which allowed for the naturalization of Japanese and Korean immigrants. The act also eliminated the formal racially exclusive legislation that had been affecting Asian American communities. Along with the War Brides Act, which allowed for the immigration of women who had married American servicemen, new legislation after World War II helped to facilitate Asian immigration to America. This increased immigration helped to create more families in Asian American communities and bring about an end to the “bachelor societies” of Asian immigrants who had never been able to raise families. While the discussion of race and belonging during World War II featured the polarization of the Asian American communities, it is interesting to know that the struggles of Asian Americans during World War II would set

But the Chinese were considered inferior and the Anglo Saxon American didn’t understand their religion. Subsequently with the “Chinese Exclusion Act” of 1882 new Chinese immigrants were severely limited to coming to America until the 1940’s. As the “Chinese Exclusion Act” prevented the Chinese from immigrating to America from 1882 to 1943. Once the Chinese were denied immigration in 1882, their agricultural jobs in California were quickly filled with Japanese and Mexican immigrants, eventually dominated by the Mexican migrant worker, still today agriculture in the United States is mostly harvested off the backs of the Mexican migrant worker. Many immigrants coming to America today arrive with the dream that they can work hard and earn a decent living, eventually owning their own slice of the American pie called, “The Home.” Immigration reform present day revolves around closing our borders, mainly the border with Mexico, as you read this paper new sections

When analyzing events or people, an important factor to consider is the historical context revolving the object of interest. Historical context provides reasoning and rationalization on why certain events occurred, what caused people’s action, among many other examples. When discussing the dominant-minority group relationship and condition of entry in relations to immigration of certain ethnicities, the historical context provides almost all understanding necessary to provide insight on what happened during these times. In this essay, the Irish Immigration in 1845 and, later, the immigration of the Japanese in the 1880’s will be examined through historical context such as what brought the group to the United States, what roles did they play

 The United States was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, but during an immigration boom in the late 1890s and early 1900s, Asians and Europeans faced discrimination and violence because of their difference in language, appearance, and religion. People came to America from all over the world to experience the wealth and prosperity that was associated with this great country, but certain ethnicities were excluded from the hope and freedom they were promised by the forefathers. When coming through California, Asians faced with hardships and trials that caused them to return to their country and sometimes to end

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

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

In the early twentieth century, Asian Americans in the United States faced to lots of obstacles. Since they lived in a “different shore”, they were treated as unassimilable people, and therefore, they experienced many unequal and discriminative treatments. Both Asian Americans lived in Hawaii and the mainland lived in unbearable life under racial discrimination. However, due to geographical and ethnic differences, Asian Americans in the mainland had more difficult time, since majority of the United States’ population were white people. Asian Americans in the mainland had an intense competition with white working class. In other words,

The growing animosity between Japan and the United States was clear, even before the Attack on Pearl Harbor. The Spanish-American War of 1898 gave the United States Guam and the Philippines, which Japan saw as part of the sphere of influence. Outside superpowers also saw the competition between Japan and the United States, as Lenin said that they “cannot live in peace on the shores of the pacific…” and, “that war is brewing” (p.2). In 1882 the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which created a long period of racial tension towards Asia-Americans during its time. Although the competition was growing between the two nations, the United States Congress passed the 1924 Immigration Act that made it much easier for trans-pacific immigration. This saw an increase of immigrants from Japan into the West Coast grow dramatically.

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

In 1889 America colonize the Philippines because of imperialism. After the colonization of the Philippines the Filipinos could come and work in the United States because they had passports that allowed them. The Filipinos then work in agriculture, fishery and service industry, however when they are in the mainland and technically they were not aliens because the Philippines is U.S. territory, the Filipinos weren’t exempted to racism. In the 1930 signs that says “Positively no Filipinos allowed” can be seen in stores. In the United States. The signs show an example of how Filipinos were racially discriminated against. Filipinos were racially discriminated against because they’re not white and pro-imperialist animators created cartoons that depict Filipinos and created stereotypes against them. These stereotypes were created and shown to the people to justify the means of the United States in colonizing other countries. The two main Filipino stereotypes are they are uneducated and uncivilized.