Introduction to First-Wave Immigration

1
Introduction to First-Wave Immigration

• Takakis Key Argument
• Chinese first group of Asians to enter U.S. in
  significant flow of immigration
• What happens to Chinese in mid- and late-1800s
  represented a pattern for the ways other Asian
  immigrant groups would be viewed and treated in
  the U.S.

2
Population Trends

• Lets look at number. . . What do you notice?
• Geography
• 1870 24 Ch in CA live in SF, rest in rural
  areas
• 1900 45 Ch in CA live in SF Bay Area, 2/3 in
  urban areas
• 1870-1900 Occupational/Class Background

Chinese in SF/Sacramento 40 businessmen (merchants shopkeepers) 5-12 professionals, artisans 50 wage workers Chinese in rural areas 15 farmers, labor contractors, merchants gt80 service workers, farm laborers
3
What is the story of Chinese immigrants that
Takaki tells?

• Initially welcomed
• Invited to CAs admittance to union in 1850 (p.
  80)
• Invited to SF celebration of GWs b-day 1852 (p.
  81)
• ? An auspicious beginning in the U.S.
• But things begin to change . . . Nativist cries
  of California for Americans!

4
Chinese in California Gold Mining

• 1860s 24,000 Chinese in CA mines, most are
  independent prospectors
• American white miners demand elimination of
  competition of foreign miners (French, Mexican,
  Hawaiian, Chilean)
• Chinese -- Asiatic races, their customs,
  language, and education threaten well-being of
  mining districts
• CA governor voices support for prohibition of
  Chinese into CA

5
Anti-Chinese Prejudice Institutionalized into Law

• 1852 Foreign Miners License Tax (3/month)
• Chinese not named, but targeted
• 1790 Naturalization Law
• Voided by Civil Rights Act of 1870 (CA collected
  5 million)
• 1855 Landing Tax (50/person)
• Entitled An Act to Discourage the Immigration to
  this State of Persons Who Cannot Become Citizens
  Thereof
• 1863 Capitation Tax (2.50/month)
• Designed to protect Free White Labor against
  competition with Chinese Coolie Labor, and to
  Discourage the Immigration of the Chinese into
  the State of CA
• Exempted businessmen, licensed miners

6
Chinese Enter Dual-Wage Economy

• Chinese move from gold mines during mid-1860s
• ? railroad construction (1865-1869)
• ? manufacturing (SF)
• ? agriculture
• ? self-employment
• Chinese move from independent prospectors ? wage
  workers
• Employed within industrial capitalist economy
• Find selves paid less than American white
  counterparts
• Enter a dual-wage economy

7
Dual-Wage Economies

• 24,000 Chinese miners (2/3 of Chinese in U.S.)
• 2,700 Chinese in SF (7.8 of Chinese in CA)
• 1867 12,000 Chinese employed by CP RR (90 of
  workforce)
• 16,000 Chinese miners (1/3 of Chinese in U.S.)
• 12,000 in SF (1/4 of Chinese in CA)
• 18 CA farm laborers are Chinese
• 2,899 Chinese laundry workers (72 of laundry
  workers in CA)
• 86 Sacramento County, 55 Santa Clara County
  farm laborers are Chinese
• 6,400 Chinese laundry workers (69 of laundry
  workers in CA)

8
Who Does a Dual-Wage Economy Benefit?

• Employers pay Chinese less than white
  counterparts
• Employers use Chinese to break labor strikes by
  American white workers
• Employers contribute to ethnic antagonism
  between Chinese and white workers

9
Anti-Chinese Ideology and Institutional Policy

• Takaki asks
• How could this happen? How could Chinese be kept
  in this position? How could such racial
  discrimination happened and endure?
• And what was America to do with the Chinese
  immigrants?

10
Anti-Chinese Ideology and Institutional Policy

• Takaki argues
• Presence of Chinese challenged dominant American
  ideas of the nation as a racially homogeneous
  society
• Chinese were not considered American but a
  threat to America
• Chinese were deemed not just different, but
  inferior (as were Nat Am, Af Am)

11
Anti-Chinese Ideology and Institutional Policy

• Takaki argues
• Chinese were considered unassimilable too
  different and inferior
• Chinese were incorporated into U.S. economy, but
  were not welcomed into its political and cultural
  body

12
Anti-Chinese Ideology and Institutional Policy

• Takaki argues
• Anti-Chinese ideology more than just attitudes,
  including laws and public policy
• EX 1854 Supreme Court (People v. Hall) rules
  that Chinese cannot testify as a witness for or
  against whites in a court of law
• EX 1790 Naturalization Law denies Chinese
  immigrants right to become U.S. citizens

13
Anti-Chinese Sentiments and Chinese Exclusion

• 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act excludes entrance
  of Chinese laborers for 10 yrs
• 1888 restriction includes all persons of the
  Chinese race (except officials, teachers,
  students, tourists, merchants)
• 1892 renewed
• 1902 extended indefinitely

14
Chinese Response

• Takaki asks
• But how did the Chinese immigrants react to what
  was happening to them? How were they active
  makers of history too?
• How did they feel about their own experiences and
  what they do?

15
Chinese Response

• Many Chinese immigrants questioned and protested
  what was going on.
• Criticism of anti-Chinese messages
• EX 1852 Norman Asings letter to CA Governor
• Challenges in courts to fight for legal rights
  and equal protection
• EX 1862 Ling Sing sues SF tax collector
• Efforts to find loopholes around restrictions and
  anti-Chinese laws