The First Waves of Asian ImmigrationSojourners, Manongs, & Strangers

• How are the Chinese characterized in the photo?

• What social, economic, and political forces influence how the Chinese characters are represented?

• And what social, political, and economic forces are justified by representing the Chinese in this way?

Major First Waves of Asian Immigration• Diverse Asian ethnic groups experience

similar processes of racialization• Chinese – 1849 to 1930• 46,000 to HI; 380,000 to mainland US

• Japanese – 1885 to 1924• 200,000 to HI; 180,000 to mainland US

• Korean – 1903 to 1920• 9,000 total to US

• Filipino – 1900 to 1930• 110,000 to HI; 40,000 to mainland US

• South Asian – 1907 to 1918• 6,400 total to US

• “wah gung” = migrating laborer or sojourner

• 1840s-1850s Chinese immigration influenced by:• First Opium War• Depressed agricultural output• Peasant rebellions• Interethnic strife• Contract labor system

• 1840s-50s – beginning of recruitment of Chinese labor• Tan Heung Shan = Fragrant Sandalwood Hills

(HI)• Gam Saan = Gold Mountain (CA)

•Key to sugar plantation explosion = cheap labor•Chinese women encouraged to immigrate to HI versus formation of bachelor society of mainland Chinatowns

“wah gung”

Chinese Exclusion• late 1870’s to 1880s – after rapid economic

expansion, US experiences downturn• Chinese targeted as cause of decreased

wages• 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act• “Be it enacted by the Senate and House

of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, … until the expiration of ten years next…, [that] the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come [to] the United States.

• Population down to 61,639 by 1920

Meiji Sojourners• 1853 – Commodore Perry forcibly opens Japan to west• 1868 – Meiji Restoration unites Japan; high taxes imposed on

agriculture to fund Westernization and modernization• 1884 – Japan allows Hawaiian labor recruiters• 1885-1924 200,000 to HI; 180,000 to mainland• Predominantly young males - 60% younger than 30• Better educated and literate than most immigrants at that time

because of Meiji compulsory education• Farming but not peasant class

• Meiji immigration policies:• Required immigration application & review process• Active encouragement of female immigration to curb problems

Chinese encountered. Ex.Picture Bride policy

Anti-Japanese Backlash• 1902 – push to renew Chinese Exclusion

Act to include Japanese• 1908 - Gentlemen's Agreement • SF Board of Education attempts to

segregate school system; Pres. Theodore Roosevelt intervenes

• 1913 – Alien Land Law passed in CA• 1920 – land laws tightened so that

American born children of aliens ineligible for citizenship could not lease land

• 1921 – Ladies Agreement – Japan prohibits picture brides

• 1924 – National Quota Act – targets Japanese immigration; reaffirms exclusion of previous waves of Asian immigration

Filipino/American

• 1898 – Spanish American War• 1902 – 1934 – Philippines under US

military government• “The more we examine the mistake,

the more clearly we perceive that it is going to be bad for the Business. The Person Sitting in Darkness is almost sure to say: "There is something curious about this -- curious and unaccountable. There must be two Americas: one that sets the captive free, and one that takes a once-captive's new freedom away from him, and picks a quarrel with him with nothing to found it on; then kills him to get his land.” (Mark Twain)

The Manong Generation

• Filipinos = US nationals not subject to anti-Asian immigration laws

• 1902-1934 = “manong” generation• “manong” – Ilocano term of respect

for elder male relatives• 94% male, agricultural peasant class

and under the age of 30

• 1934 – passage of Tydings McDuffie Act• 10 year deadline for

independence• Creates Philippine

Commonwealth• Immigration limited to 50

annually (except HI) and Filipinos reclassified immediately as aliens

• 1935 Filipino Repatriation Act• July 4, 1946 – Philippine

Independence recognized

Korea & South Asia• 1903-1920 – about 8,000 Koreans

immigrate to US• Influence of Christian missionaries• US as escape from Japanese

imperialism• 1910 – Japan formally annexes Korea• Japan restricts Korean immigration• US anti-Japanese immigration policies

extended to Koreans• 1907-1915 – about 10,000 South

Asian immigrants to US

• Factors of immigration:• British colonial land policies• Famine exacerbates poverty• Exposure to English and western culture

• Were South Asians “white”?• “The ‘forefathers’ of white Americans

‘pressed to the West, in the everlasting march of conquest, progress, and civilization,’ while the ‘forefathers of the Hindus went east and became enslaved, effeminate, caste-ridden, and degraded.’ The Western Aryans became the ‘Lords of Creation,’ while the Eastern Aryans became the ‘Slaves of Creation’” – The Asiatic Exclusion League (1910)

• 1923 – US v. Bhagat Singh Thind

“A tide of turbans”

Blumenbach’s five races: Caucasian, Mongolian,

Malayan, Ethiopian, American

Questions for Tues• According to Takaki’s essay “The

Centrality of Racism in Asian American History,” why were Asian immigrants perceived as perpetual strangers while Jewish, Irish, & Italian immigrants could remake themselves as American when they arrived in the US?

• Why does Yanagisako argue that there is a “woman problem” when it comes to Asian American history?