The First Waves of
Asian Immigration
Sojourners, 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
• 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)
Filipino/
American
• 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
The Manong
Generation
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
“A tide of turbans”
• 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
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?