WRITING WORKSHOP 4 /
PRE-1965 ASIAN AMERICAN
EXPERIENCE: CHINESE,
JAPANESE, AND FILIPINO
AMERICANS
ETHN 100 Week 14 Session 2
Last Time
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Discussed Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” in relation to
key concepts from ETHN 100
Examined circumstances of early Chinese and
Japanese immigration to the United States.
Today
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Reflect on individual and collective performance on
WA3.
Prepare for WA4
Examine Japanese and Filipino American
immigration to the United States.
Grading Scale
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A = 22.5 – 25
B = 20 – 22.49
C = 17.5 – 19.99
D = 15 – 17.49
F = 0 – 14.99
WA2 and WA3 Score Distribution
(Section 03)
WA2
A=6
B = 12
C=9
D=1
F=1
WA3
A= 8
B = 15
C=7
D=0
F=0
WA2 vs. WA3: General Observations
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Much improved! Most students earned “improvement
points” towards WA2 scores.
Stronger thesis statements led to more focused
arguments.
On the whole, more analysis and less summarizing.
The logic/connections among ideas remains
relatively weak.
 This
last point is the focus of today’s workshop.
Ideas: Observations from WA3
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Much better titles.
Thesis statements were more focused.
Be careful that your thesis doesn’t simply state the
obvious. As much as possible, you want to try to say
something interesting; your goal is to try to show
sophistication of thought and contribute original
thinking.
Ideas: Suggestions for WA4/Final

The prompt for WA4 requires you to use more
general language in your thesis since you aren’t
speaking about specific ethnic groups.
Exemplary Thesis Statements from Past
Semesters
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Sample Thesis Statement 1
“Dominant cultural status is established and reinforced by both structural and
cultural means. Institutions maintain systems of power and privilege by
promoting one group’s worldview, rituals, and values to appear neutral,
natural, and objective.”
Sample Thesis Statement 2
“Inequality is produced and maintained by ideologies that represent the
racial or ethnic “other” as culturally uncivilized and socially deviant.
Collective identities of non‐dominant groups often evolve in response to
these representations and to the unfair treatment these stereotypes serve to
justify.”
Sample Thesis Statement 3
“The growth of industrialization—characterized by mechanized and mass
production of goods for global markets—requires natural resources, cheap
labor, and complex belief systems that favor property rights over human
rights.”
Organization and Coherence:
Observations from WA3

Most papers present “middle ideas” that are
unlinked to one another. Still a lot of “and then” or
“another example” papers.
Organization and Coherence:
Suggestions for WA4/Final

Focus on the relationship between the “middle
ideas”
 Idea
Maps
 Transitions between ideas.
 Strong topic sentences.
Sample “Idea Maps”
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
Sample Thesis Statement 1
“Dominant cultural status is established and reinforced by both
structural and cultural means. Institutions maintain systems of power
and privilege by promoting one group’s worldview, rituals, and
values to appear neutral, natural, and objective.”
Sample Idea Map
“Support for this thesis is organized into four parts. First, a brief
discussion of the relationship between social structure and culture
reveals the centrality of institutional power in distributing status and
privilege among groups in a society. Second, examples of historical
moments from the African American and Native American
experiences illustrate this relationship between social structure,
culture, and power. Third, an analysis of contemporary issues among
Chicanos and Asian and Pacific Islander Americans exemplifies the
perpetuation of racial and ethnic inequality today. And fourth, a
brief exploration of the relevance and implications of this thesis to
ethnic struggle and conflict in global terms.”
Support: Observations from WA3
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More analysis than summary than WA2 but still
room for improvement.
Linkages between evidence are often unarticulated.
(Laundry list of evidence).
Support: Observations from WA3
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Elaborate on your analysis of your evidence.
Circle back to your thesis! How does your evidence
support your argument? This helps to connect your
ideas to one another.
Sample List of Evidence from the
Course
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
Sample Thesis Statement 3
The growth of industrialization—characterized by mechanized and
mass production of goods for global markets—requires natural
resources, cheap labor, and complex belief systems that favor
property rights over human rights.
Evidence Cited
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Comparison of social structures and Rise of Industrialization: Southern
Agrarian Economy (plantations) vs. Northern Industrial Economy
(urbanization and ghettos)
Need for resources: Native American and Mexican Land
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Ideology: Paternalism and Manifest Destiny
Need for cheap labor: African Americans, Chicanos, Asian Americans

Ideology: Happy slaves; uncivilized and savage racial others.
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
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Barred immigration of Chinese laborers for 20
years (two, ten-year periods)
Outwitted immigration laws (resistance):
undocumented and documented entry
 Undocumented:
Entered the country (CA) via
Northwestern and southern points of entry.
 Extralegal: Misrepresented their status to enter with
papers.
Japanese Immigration
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Modernization, industrialization, and militarization
 Immigration
mainly to Hawaii (sugar) and California
(fruit and produce).
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Chinese immigrants vs. Japanese immigrants
From the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the
Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907
Picture Brides
Hawaii Sugar Plantations
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Describe labor conditions among the immigrant
ethnic groups on the Hawaiian sugar plantations
were often stratified.
 Groups
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were pitted one against the other.
Japanese laborers attempted “blood unionism”
Filipino and Japanese workers strike (1909)
Filipino Immigration
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Filipinos were uniquely situated in immigration
history because they were colonial subjects of the
United States due to the Spanish American War
(1898) and Philippine-American War (1899-1902)
President McKinley: “Little Brown Brothers.”
Three waves:
 Pensionados
 Manongs
 Post-1965
Professionals and Families
First Wave: Pensionados or “Fountain
Pen Boys” (early 1900s)
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Filipino young men from elite families were brought
to the United States to be educated in US colleges
and universities.
These students returned to the Philippines.
These students were an integral strategy to US
colonization of the Philippines.
 The
goal was to import US culture, education, and
institutions via families of status.
Second Wave: Manongs (1900-1965)
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Filipino laborers were brought to the United States
when Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican laborers were in
short supply due to exclusion and discrimination.
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Hawaii, Pacific Coast (California), Alaska
Almost entirely men.
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Worked mainly in agriculture, food production (canneries,
packing houses), and as domestic help (“house boys”).
Anti-miscegenation Laws
The Great Depression
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Watsonville Riot
Third Wave: Post-1965 Professionals
and Family Reunification
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Immigration Act of 1965 created a new system of
preferences for immigrants to the United States.
Favored forms of labor and family ties.
Despite the assumption that it would mainly benefit
European groups, Asian Americans were among the
most affected.