Week 1

Takaki 8
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Extended indefinitely until 1902
Reduced supply of farm labor
Unlawful for chinese laborers to enter the united states for next
ten years and denied naturalized citizenship to chinese people
who were already in america
Population of chinese plummeted to 71.5k in 1910
Was broadened to include all people of chinese race, not just
laborers
Why? RACISM (not because chinse immigrants were viwed as
theat to homogenous society because they were a tiny part of
population)
o There was unemployment (period of economic contraction)
and Americans feared Chinese were taking their jobs away
ffrom them
o Contractions, unemployment, social convulsions
Blamed presence of industrial army of Asiatic laborers for
worsening class conflict between labor and capital within white
society
First federal legislaction against a certain race
Conditions in U.S That Discouraged Women
Society of harsh frontier conditions and racial hostility; viewed by
emplorers as temporary and migratory = difficult to have
families here
Whites viewed U.S as white mans country, therefore entry of
Chinese women and families is considered a threat to racial
homogeneity
Federal immigration policies bar Chinese women
o Ex. Page Law (1875) prohibit entry of prostitues but so
strictly enforced that it also exclusded Chinese wives
Significance of The San Francisco Earthquake (1906)
April 18, 1906
Fire ddestroyed all municipal records and opened way for new
Chinese immigration
o Men could claim they were born in U.S, so as citizens they
could bring wives over
Children of American citizens were automatically citizens, even if
they were born in another country; therefore more sons started
coming over
o paper sons must study their family to pass
But can only come once they pass examination/interrogation

Page Law (1875)

Probhibit entry of prostitutes byt so strictly enforced that it also
excluded chinese wives
Ethnic antagonism
In mines, factories, fields
Forced thousands of chinese into self-employment such as
laundry
Yellow Proletariat concept in America
Chinese considered permanently degraded caste labor force
Migrant laborers forced to be foreginers forever
Only there temperorarily to serve needs of American employers
Chinse were assigned status of racial inferiority (like Indians and
blacks)
Depicted as vampires, morally infererior, savage, child-like,
lustful
People v. Hall (1854)
George Hall murdered Ling Sing; 3 Chinese witnesses testified
CA statute: no black or mulatto person, or indian shall be
permitted to give evidence in favor of, or against, any white
person
o SC reversed Halls guilty conviction, citing that the terms
Indian, Negro, Balck, and White were generic terms
designating races, so it includes Chinese
Blacks, Indians, Chinese shared common identity: Calibans of
color
o Shared racial status
Foregin Miners Tax
Required monthly payment from every foreign miner who didnt
desire to become citizen (none of them could become oen
anyway)
CA made millions
Takaki 10
Picture Brides
Chinese in the South
Planters wanted to replace black slaves with Chinese who are
hardworking and frugal; could be educators to former slaves
Purpose: to punish black slaves for abandoning master and to
regulate conditions of employment and wages to black slaves
(put them in their place)
Chinese didnt stay long on plantationspreferred to work in city
Chinese v. Japanese women in America

Chinese
Womans role defined by
Confucianism: confined to the
home
Woman stay home like hostages
so the sons will return to China

A lot of chinese prostitutes

Became sexual indentured
servants
Federal immigration policies bar
chinese women: Page Law, harsh
frontier and racial hostility, threat
to racial homogeity
Race restrictions prevented most
from starting families and putting
down roots in America

Japanese
Proportionally more Japanese
women immigrated from japan
than women from china
Japanese had strong central
government that promoted female
emigration to prevent gambling,
prostitution, drinking that was
reported from chinese community
Gentlemans Agreement (1907):
prohibit Japanese laborers but
allowed women to come as family
members have stabilizing family
influence
Picture bride system
Often emigration not a choice but
an obligation because daughter
expected to marry and enter
husbands family
Japansese women more receptive
to traveling overseas than chinese
Meiji government required female
education = women more likely to
be literate, unlike chinese

Sojourner identity was contributing to anti-Japanese exclusionist

movement
o Confirmed hostile claims that they were foreign and
unassimilable
o Have mentality to make money and return so they dont
care if they live in shitty conditions or gamble and use
prostitutes
Kyutaro Abiko wanted them to bring families and settle in
America
o Thought farming was path to become Americans (modeled
after Europeans)
o Actually had a backlash because dont like their success
1907 fed. Govt prohibited emigration of laborers to U.S
Alien Land Law: prohibited land ownership to aliens
which are Japanese because they cant become
citizens
Buddha in the Acttic

Picture brides described in detail

Film: Ancestors in Amercia
CAs success wouldnt come without the help of the chinese who were
farmers, entrepeneurs, winery business, etc.
Faced lots of discrimination
Chinese didnt easily assimilate but did so to resist discrimination
Takaki 14
Executive Order 90666
o Japanese singled out in mass evacuation, unlike germans
and Italians who were treated as civilian issue
o A few thought it was unconstitutional and undemocratic
and faced the consequences while the rest thought they
had no choice but to comply
o I wanted to uphold the principles of the constitution, and
the curfew and evacuation orders which singled out a
group on the basis of ethnicity violated them. It was
unacceptable to me to be less than a full zitizen in a white
mans country (345) Gordon Hirabayashi
o camps in remote desert areas, people lived in barracks
with barbed wire fences; life was oppressive and tedious
Chinese Americans: To Silence the Distorted Japanese
Propaganda
Americas entry into war = patriotic explosions across Chinatowns
o important event to chinese because a chance for them to make it
in American society (acceptance) and to gain respect all of a
sudden they were part of the american dream
had new higher paying employment opportunities like industrial jobs
o used to be confinded to chinese ethnic labor market
U.S motivated to repeal Chinese Exlusion acts because of Japans
propaganda that portrayed white Americans as treating Chinese and
Asians poorly (oppressive, suffering)
o Japanese condemn Americas anti-Chinese laws and sentiment
o America doesnt want chinese to take sides with Japan =
repealed and allowed small quota for chinese immigration
o Chinese americans allowed to become naturalized citizens even
tough they werent white
Buddha in the Attic
Surrogate Slaves to American Dreamers
Surrogate Slaves
1806: Britain already ended slavery but used chinese to work on
plantations in New World

Using the same ships that brought slaves from Africa, the flesh
merchants rerouted to Asia. They indentured coolie labor from china
and India to perform the same work, under the same conditions, as the
slaves in the case of Cuba, which continued the practice of slavery
until the end of the 19th century, the Asian coolies worked alongside
African slaves (100)
o Turned to Asians to replaces most African slaves so they didnt
really abolish the slave trade just turned to a different group of
people for the labor
Asian workers were NOT slaves!
o Coolies themselves insisted on the distinction between their
status and that of slaves
o Asians could be free after serving 8 year contract and paying off
debt for passage, food clothing, other necessities
New laws and taxes singled out the Chinese
o Foreign miners tax eventually completely forbid the chinese
from mining (didnt affect Europeans)
o Cant testify in court, even in their own defense
o Special zoning ordinances
o Hair cutting ordinances: forced chinese to cut off their braids
(queus) which was a sign of their loyalty to the emperor; made it
more difficult to return home to China
o Citizenship denied to Chinese because they were neither black
nor white (this is post Civil War)
o CA didnt allow them in public schools because of racism
o Mass kidnappings, murder, violence
Late 1870s: Yellow Peril movement in the West
Ozawa v. U.S (1922)
Denied citizenship because he wasnt Caucasian even tho he was
very Americanized
Immigration Act of 1924: meant to completely halt Japanese
immigration
o Complaints by white nativists
halted all immigration from China, Japan, India, and Korea
o Although the immigrants failed to connect with one another, U.S
police and the prevailing anti-Asian racism subjected them all to
the same treatment
U.S v. Bhagat Singh Thind
o Thind was granted citizenship by Oregon but appealed by federal
govt because said Indians arent Caucasians so they dont get
citizenship
o Ruled that Indians arent white so they cant become citizens,
own land, or bring their wives over from India

o Applied retroactively and citizenship of naturalized indian

Americans was revoked
U.S reqd Jap-Am to sign loyalty statements forswearing allegiance to
Emperor of Japan
o Nisei (2nd generation) didnt really care so it was no problem but
it was an issue for their parents
o If renounced citizenship, they would become stateless persons
since U.S citizenship was prohibited
o Majority answered yes to loyalty tests
Model Minority new stereotype
o win wealth and repect with their hard work and own efforts- dont
rely on welfare checks
o stunning accomplishment by assian immigrants
o civil rights movement and VN War impacted consciousness of
postwar generation of Asian Americans appealed to their sense
of jusice and own experiences as a racial minority (like African
Americans)
o Black Power own movement: Yellow Power
o Believed that various immigrant groups had common
intersts and experiences in U.S that transcended cultural
differences and historical animosities
Immigration Act of 1965: eliminated quota system of preferences for
whites
o New generation of Asians, hispaniscs, Africans arrived in
unprecedented numbers
Old Immigrants (1821-1880)
From Northern and Western Europe
Uneducated, low/unskilled,
urban workers, rural peasants
settlers: Irish fleeining potato famine, hunger, and starvation and
Germans seeking religios and political freedom
Early Chinese immigrants in mid 1800s
New Immigrants (1881-1930)
Southern and Eastern Europe: Italy, Russia, parts of former
Austro-Hungarian empire
Low or semi skilled
Uneducated
Urban workers, rural peasants
in between peopes- a lil darker skin = not considered white
o not seen as fully white but still kinda white when compared
with blacks, Asians, etc.
viwed as less intelligent, lack morals, not as hardworking as old
immigrants but still treated a little better than minority groups

wanted to separate themselves from minority status so acted in

racist ways to elevate their own statuses
Contemporary Immigrants (1965+)
half from Americas (Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica,
El Salvador)
Over 1/3 from Asia (Philippines, China, India, VN, Korea)
Very diverse regarding education level, countries of national
origin, settlement, socioeconomic status
Nativism
Anti-immigration and anti-foreigner sentiment
Policy of protecting interests of natives against immigrants
National Origins Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act)
Set entry barriers through national origins quota system
Canada, Mexico, Latin American countries exempt from quota
Asia completely excluded
Policy goal: to preserve ideal of homogenous American identiy
Immigrant optimism:
Early imigratns from asia were voluntary immigrant minorities
Freedom, opportunity, new and better life, American dream
Ex. Chinese picture brides, golden mountain,
Involuntary minorities
people who have been colonized, conquered, or enslabed
did not choose to but were forced against their will to become
part of U.S
they themselves usually interpret their presence in U.S as forced
on them be white people
are caste-like minorities: descendents of groups of persons
who found themselves in U.S against their will
often adopt an oppositional identity to mainstream culture in
response to glass ceiling imosed or maintained by white society
on the job-success of their parents and others in their community
o incorporation of attitudes, behaviors, speech styles that
are stigmatized by dominant group
American Indians, Alaska natives, early Mexican Americans,
African Americans (slaves)
Refugees forced to come to U.S because of civil war or other
pcrisis in their places of origin arent voluntary minorities since
they didnt freely choose to or plan to come to U.S t improve
their statuses but have similar attitudes
Film: Lil Tokyo Reporter

About Sei Fujii- important leader in Japanese-American

community with a radio program and newspaper
Wants to prove that Nisei (new) generation is an asset and not
the burden they used to be wants to maintain positive image of
Jap-Am
Couldnt become lawyer because hes not a citizen but then
worked with his white friend Wright to defend against injustice
and racial discrimination f his community
During WWII, he was classified as enemy alien and isolated him
from his community at a high security detention center
He and Wright helped overturn Alien Land Law so that all
imimgrants could own land

Voluntary minorities
Those who willingly moved to U.S because they expect better
opportunities than they had in their homeland
May be different frm majority race, ethnicity, religion, etc.
Dont interpret their presence in U.S as forced upon them by
government or white americans
Africa, cuba, china, india, japan, korea, mexico, Caribbean,
central and south America
Alien land law (1911-1952)
Only citizens can own land but most immigrants werent
To be a citizen = must be white
Aliens ineligible for citizenship = cant buy or lease land for
longer than 3 years
Motive: Japanese becoming successful farmers so natives want to
make it difficult for them to ease the competition (jealousy,
hatred)
Fujii v. California (1952): Fujii and Wright brought the issue to CA SC
which ruled the Alien Land Law was unconstitutional!! Then immigrants
could own land in their new country

Asian Immigrant Women and Global Restructuring 1970s-1990s

By Rhacel Perrenas
3 categories of workers: unskilled laborers, entrepreneurs,
professionals
All provide cheap labor for U.S economy

Conditions of their employment are below prevailing labor

standards
The shared experience of providing cheap labor should be
underscored because it is a platform for coalition among diverse
classes of immigrant Asian women (355)

Unskilled Laborers/ Low Wage Workers

Both documented and undocumented
Make up majority of immigrnats in recent years
Contract laborers, tourist visa abusers who dont return after
expiration, EWI:entry without inspection, family unification
Manufacturing and service workers in service centers
decentralized industries
perform low wage assembly jobs and provide services to middle
and upper class professionals

Manufacturing and service workers in service centers

decentralized industries
perform low wage assembly jobs and provide services to middle
and upper class professionals
Production that remains in U.S is decentralized and informal.
Ex. Garment industry shunned by natives but immigrant women,
without the same opportunities and human capital fill this
existing demand in labor market (immigrants take the jobs that
no one else wants for low wages)
Overworked, underpayed, no overtime, health insurance, etc.
Entrepeneurs
Settle in large urban areas
Coethnic communities
Many became entrepeneurs in U.S but werent in their homeland
Professionals
Brain drain or brain flow
Need nurses, computer science majors, etc. and companies can
even sponsor people over

1. Low wage workers

Manufacturing and service workers in service centers
decentralized industries
perform low wage assembly jobs and provide services to middle
and upper class professionals
Production that remains in U.S is decentralized and informal.

Ex. Garment industry shunned by natives but immigrant women,

without the same opportunities and human capital fill this
existing demand in labor market (immigrants take the jobs that
no one else wants for low wages)
Overworked, underpayed, no overtime, health insurance, etc.
By using immigrant labor, small-business operators facilitate the
process of global restructuring (361).
Give manufacturers direct access tolow human capital of
immigrant women so that manufacturers can remain competitive
against production in third world and remain flexible to constant
changes in fashion trends
Streamlining production
Another way for manufactuerers to reduce costs by dividing jobs
into simpler tasks so they are low-paying
Jobs are unsafe, monotonous, and dont require a lot of skills
Ex. Meatpacking
Low Wage Service Work
Many available low wage service jobs are considered womens
work
Examples: housekeeping, nurses aids, manicurists, restaurant
workers, domestic work (personal and industrial)
Can provide services thoruhg ethnic economies: nail salon
2. Small Business Entrepeneurs
Often open businesses in urban neighborhoods (ghettos)
because its more affordable
o Shows that they do have businesses outside of their ethnic
enclaves
Examples: dry cleaning, liquor store, retail shops, gas stations
Immigrants are disadvantaged to compete against native born in
primary labor market b/c theyre unable to use educational and
occupational capital, face language difficulties and
discrimination, and are unfamiliar with American culture
To avoid low-wage jobsimmigrants with class and ethnic
resources may choose to operate small businesses to better
negotiate the segmented U.S labor market (363)
o this is another option for them instead of doing other lowwage jobs and allows them to take advantage of their
education and ethnic resources instead of doing unskilled
and monotonous jobs
small business owners also provide cheap labor!!! (even though
they have more resources and advantages than other Asian
immigrant women)
o work long hours and also rely on family labor

women have double day because expected to keep long hours

in small busineses and also to do most of domestic chores in
household
o men have managerial positions while women do less
skilled and more monotonous work within the business
3. Professional Women
Asian professionals = solution to labor shortage of professionals
in U.S which is an institutionalized structural problem
o Science, engineering, health
Asian professionals provide cheap labor because their
educational training dindt cost the U.S and they also earn less
than white women
1988-90: more than half of 150k highly skilled migrants to U.S
came from Asia
cheapening of labor
o forced U.S employers to turn to professional Asian workers
o deapened cheap labor pool
o limited opportunities of underprivileged members of
society (limits opportunities of local working people and
takes away their mobility among classes)
1965

Immigration Act (Hart-Cellar Act)

Reopened immigration gates
Racially fair type of immigration law
Passed but took a few years to actually take effect
20k per country
2 requirements: family unification (so this allows more than 20k)
and labor needs of U.S
o ended 40 years of Asian immigration restrictions and
increased quota to 20k for each country
o radically changed composition of Asian population by
gender, level of education
o AA population grew exponentiallymajority of Asians in
U.S in 1990 were foregin born
Driving forces behind this Act: global economic restructuring,
rapid economic development in asia, increasing U.S political,
economic, and military involvement in Asia

Why it was passed

abolished national origins quotas
space race with Soviet Union; brain drain- U.S wanted best minds
U.S wanted to be vied as world leader and gain respect from
other countries

 Do unwanted jobs such as nurses and doctors for inner cities

Unexpected Results of this law
Pyramid effect; chain of migration
Immigration Act of 1990
Responded to economic need for U.S workforce to have supply of
highly skilled professionals
Also acknowledged existing need for economy to maintain supply
of low wage workers
Raised # of occupational preference visas and preference was
given to professionals with degrees but also let other unskilled
workers in too
Impact of VN War
Massive exodus of Vietnamese to the U.S in 2 waves
Had no choice, were driven out by events surrounding them
Despite everything that went down in Vietnam, many of the
Vietnamese Americans were still strongly attached to their homeland
want to return
refuse to abandon their country to communists; pledge
themselves to liberation of Vietnam
BUT most realize that America will be their permanent home
Orderly Departure Program (1982): agreement between U.S and VN
which encourages family reunification by allowing 10k VN to enter U.S
annually
1952: McCarran-Walter Act: all national origin groups became eligible
for citizenship but the quota system was still there
Effects of globalization of U.S economy
Forged extensive economic, cultural, ideological ties between U.S
and many developing countries
Perpetuated emigration from developing countries
o U.S takes advantage of the cheap labor and raw resources
of developing countries = turn them into export-oriented
countries with growth of low skilled jobs and export
manufacturing
o Increase in rural-rban migration (rural, female workers into
urban labor markets) = underemployment and
displacement of urban workforce, creating enormous pool
of potential emigrants

o Ecnomonic development in developing countries stimulates

consumerism and consumption which raises expectations
for standard of living but these countries have structural
constraints
Have access to information and migration networks
= pressure for emigratin because they can have
better living standards in U.S if not in tier own
country
The Assimilation Problem
o Imposes dominant core culture on all migrants to American
society
o Is highly exclusinve and doesnt really embrace nonEuropeans
o Viewed as perpetual foreeginers but this perception can be
reduced by speaking perfect English, marrying whites,
mainstream culture
o Yellow peril has repeated throughout history (Pearl Harbor,
Cold War, etc.)
o Model minority stereotype reinforced otherness
This derives from larger political agenda to
delegitimize blacks claims for equalization of
outcomes as opposed to equalization of opportunites
Issue: underemployment, overqualification, overwork
There are also those who dont fit in this stereotype
and are doing poorly
Second Homeland by Young Soon Han
Home is Where the HAN is by Elaine Kim
Han: oppression Koreans have had to endure through history of
being a small and powerless country
The growing sorrow and anger from accumulated experiences of
oppression
Psychic damage left by upheavalmaterial damage can be
recovered
Han shows up in U.S too even though the immigrants thought
they left it back in korea and U.S would be land of opportunity
and equality
Structural Causes of Poverty
Capitalism produces a pool of unemployed laborers
With deindustrialization, mid-level jobs have all but disappeared,
giving us an hourglass-shaped economy
One-third of breadwinners make less than $10 an hour
U.S. devotes a smaller percentage of its wealth to antipoverty
programs than any other developed country

Non-immigrant minority groups (involuntary) do not have

financial capital, human capital, or social capital no immigrant
optimism lost hope in the promise of the American Dream
No access to loans banks have traditionally been discriminatory
towards people of color
-Asian immigrants have rotating credit
associations and ethnic banks

Culture of Poverty
Based on the concept that the poor have a unique value system.
The theory suggests the poor remain in poverty because of their
adaptations to the burdens of poverty.

Oscar Lewis claimed that poverty led to the formation of an

autonomous subculture.
Children were socialized into behaviors and attitudes that
perpetuated their inability to escape the underclass.
So it becomes a vicious cycle a cycle of poverty due to the
subculture.

Film: Wet Sand

Causes of LA riots
Dream Act
Latasha Harlins
Rodney King
Different groups of immigrants
Middlemen entrepeneurs
Hourglass