People of Color in the USA
8 Sept. 2014
Guiding questions
• 1. Why is consideration of “race” so important in
understanding US history and culture?
• 2. What role did educators play in shaping views
on race in the early to mid-20th century?
• 3. What path did US immigration policy take until
reversed in the 1960s?
• 4. How did the 14th Amendment both harm and
help Asian immigrants to the US?
• 5. Which aspects of the Asian-American
experience in the Pacific Northwest are most
noteworthy?
Some preliminary questions
Is there a biological basis for dividing
humans by “race”?
No!
Photo: Seattle P-I
Some preliminary questions
What then, is “race”?
• A social and cultural construct
• (attitudes and beliefs developed
by western Europeans after their
conquest of much of the rest of
the world beginning in the 15th
century)
Adapted from “Race,” Encyclopaedia Britannica article by Audrey Smedley, Professor
emerita of Anthropology and African-American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth
University. Author of Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview.
Some preliminary questions
Of the major European imperial
powers, which developed the most
rigid & exclusivist views on race?
A.
B.
C.
D.
The Spanish
The Portuguese
The French
The English
Audrey Smedley opines:
• Race is the
kaleidoscope through
which Americans have
been conditioned in
our culture to view
other human beings.
--Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a
Worldview, page 15
People of Color in the USA
If it’s not “real,” then Why is “race” important?
Racial classification determined:
• Who could be a citizen
• Where you could live
• Where you could go to school
• Where you could work
• Where you could play
• Whom you could marry
People of Color in the USA
I. Who lives here & how did they get here?
II. Looking back 100 years: Education
III. Trends in immigration & citizenship policy
IV. USA in 2013: A rainbow nation?
V. Case study: Asian Americans
I. Who lives here & how did they get here?
•
•
•
•
•
A. First Nations (Native Americans; Indians)
B. “Hispanic” (Latinos)
C. “Whites” (others of European origin)
D. “Blacks” (Sub-Saharan African origin)
E. Asians and Pacific Islanders
Food for thought: I
Food for thought: II
Food for thought: III
Assimilation of
First Nations
• Persons of,
Comanche,
Cheyenne, Creek,
Cherokee,
Iroquois, and
Choctaw nations.
(Photos date from
1868 to 1924)
First Nations: U.S. v. Kagama (1886)
• Unanimous decision; greatly extends power of
Congress and Federal Courts over the tribes.
• "The power of the general government over
these remnants of a race once powerful, now
weak and diminished in numbers, is
necessary to their protection, as well as to the
safety of those among whom they dwell.”
First Nations: Dawes Act (1887)
• The Dawes Severalty Act imposes private land
ownership on formerly communally held land
reserved for Indian nations.
• Results? Amount of land in Indian hands:
• 1887: 138 million acres
• 1934:
48 million acres
(Congress repeals the act in 1934)
First Nations: U.S. Citizenship (1924)
• “[A]ll non citizen
Indians born
within the
territorial limits of
the United States
… are hereby
declared to be
citizens of the
United States.”
Hispanics / Latinos
“We didn’t cross the
border. The border
crossed us.”
Historical significance:
• St. Augustine, Florida
(1565)
• Santa Fe, New Mexico
(1608, 1610)
• ¿ El Estrecho de
Juan de Fuca?
• ¿Puerto Ángeles?
• ¿ Las Islas
San Juan?
II. 1910 U.S. Census
10.7%
0.3% 0.2% 0.4%
88.5%
White
Black
Indian
Asian
Mexican
II. Looking back 100 years
How did education shape attitudes
on race and ethnicity?
• B. Public education in 1914, or
“Is our children learning?”
(George W. Bush, 11 Jan. 2000)
II. Looking back 100 years
II. Looking back 100 years
• B. Public education in 1914, or
“Is our children learning?”
Dodge’s Advanced Geography,
by Richard Elwood Dodge,
professor of geography,
Columbia University, New York
(1904)
II. Looking back 100 years
II. Looking back 100 years
II. Looking back 100 years
Dodge divided the
societies of the
world into three
categories:
• 1. Savage people
• 2. Barbarous people
• 3. Civilized people
II. Looking back 100 years
Dodge divided
humanity into
these categories:
• 1. The White Race
• 2. The Yellow Race
• 3. The Red Race
• 4. The Black Race
II. Looking back 100 years
Dodge on the
“White Race”:
• “They are the most
active, enterprising,
and imaginative
race of the world.”
III. Looking back 100 years
Dodge on the
“Yellow Race”:
• “ not progressive
. . . some of the
most backward
tribes of the
world.”
II. Looking back 100 years
Dodge on the
“Red Race”:
• “They are usually
considered a sullen
and cruel-hearted
people, but this
reputation is often far
from just.”
II. Looking back 100 years
Dodge on the
“Black Race”:
• “As a race they are
somewhat indolent …
often impulsive …
but faithful and
affectionate to any
one for whom they
care.”
III. Trends in immigration
& citizenship policy
• Naturalization Act of 1790
limits naturalization of immigrants to “free
white persons” of “good moral character.”
• Further restrictions in 1795 limit citizenship to
same.
III. Trends in immigration
& citizenship policy
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
extends US citizenship to Mexicans in
southwest region annexed by the US after the
war with Mexico.
• Three years later Congress breaks treaty with
Land Law of 1851, which required Mexicans to
prove legal title to their land or risk losing it.
III. Trends in immigration
& citizenship policy
• 14th amendment declares anyone born in U.S.
is a citizen (ratified 1868).
• Naturalization Act of 1870
extends citizenship to blacks, but excludes
Asians.
III. Trends in immigration
& citizenship policy
• Chinese Exclusion Act (1882):
• First serious restriction on immigration in US
history
• First law to exclude a specific ethnicity
III. Trends in immigration
& citizenship policy
• Emergency Quota Act (1921)
limits immigration per country to 3% of
number from that country present
in the US in 1910
• National Origins Act (1924)
drastically curtails immigration & establishes
quota system that heavily favors NW
Europeans as it restricts all others
III. Trends in immigration
& citizenship policy
• McCarren-Walter Act (1952)
Retains but modifies national origins quotas,
shifts to ideology and “morality,” ends
exclusion of Chinese. Congress passes this
over President Truman’s veto.
• Immigration & Nationality Act (1965)
Abolishes “racial” and national quotas. Opens
door to immigrants from all parts of world.
“Race” & the US census: 200 years
63
2010
12
16
5
White
Black
88.8
1910
10.7
Hispanic
Amer Ind
Asian
Mixed
81
1810
0%
20%
40%
19
60%
80%
100%
IV. USA Today: A Rainbow Nation?
2010 Census
3%
White
16%
Black
Amer Ind
5%
1%
Asian
12%
Hispanic
63%
Mixed
Washington State 2013 estimate
3%
12%
White
8%
Black
Amer Ind
2%
Asian
4%
Hispanic
71%
Mixed
Diversity in Wash. State? % “Hispanic”
Adams County 62%
Lincoln County 3%
Diversity in Wash. State? % “White”
Garfield County 92%
Adams County 36%
Wash. State cities by “race” 2010
66.3
Seattle
7.9 6.6
59.2
Bellevue
2.3 7
13.8
27.6
White
49.4
Renton
10.6
13.1
Black
21.2
Hispanic
Amer Ind
52.2
Yakima
1.7
41.3
84
Spokane
0%
20%
40%
1.5
2.3 5 2.6
60%
80%
100%
Asian
A tale of three cities
83
Richland
8
White
69
Kennewick
Black
24
Hispanic
Amer Ind
Asian
39
Pasco
0%
20%
56
40%
60%
80%
100%
V. Case study: Asian Americans
1763:
• First Asians arrive in what is now US:
• Filipinos imprisoned on Spanish galleons jump
ship in New Orleans & flee into Louisiana
bayous.
V. Case study: Asian Americans
• First Chinese sailors and peddlers arrive in
New York, 1830
• Gold discovered in California; Chinese miners
begin to arrive, 1848
Source:
http://www.sikhspectrum.com/092002/images/chinese_miners.jpg
V. Case study: Asian Americans
1852:
• More than 20,000 Chinese arrive in California
• People v. Hall rules that Chinese cannot give
testimony in court against whites
V. Case study: Asian Americans
1865: Central Pacific Railroad Co. recruits
Chinese workers for construction of
transcontinental railroad
Source:
http://www.understandingrace.org/images/482x270/society/trans_railroad_west_indian.jpg
V. Case study: Asian Americans
Burlingame Treaty (1868):
• Establishes friendly relations with China
• Encourages immigration of Chinese to US
• Promises fair treatment of Chinese in US
V. Case study: Asian Americans
1879: California state legislature requires all
incorporated towns to remove Chinese from
within city limits
• US. Circuit Court declares law unconstitutional
V. Case study: Asian Americans
US Congress passes Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
• Suspends immigration of laborers for 10 years
• In 1892 extended another 10 years
• In 1902 extended again
• In 1904 extended indefinitely & made
applicable to US territories
V. Case study: Asian Americans
• 1880s: Mob
violence against
Chinese erupts
throughout the
western US.
Anti-Chinese riot in Denver, 1880.
source:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/books/29l
ime.html
V. Case study: Asian Americans
• Thousands of Chinese settle
in the Pacific Northwest
beginning in the 1870s
Source:
http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/
cspn/Website/Course%20Index/Lessons/15/15.
html
V. Case study: Asian Americans
• White residents of
Seattle, Tacoma and
other Northwestern
cities forcibly expel
Chinese residents in
1886
Source:
http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Web
site/Course%20Index/Lessons/15/15.html
V. Case study: Asian Americans
• Seattle's anti-Chinese
riot of February 8, 1886
• In front of the New England
Hotel on S. Main St. & 1st Ave.
• Five Chinese were killed in
the violence.
•
Reproduction of a drawing in Harpers
Weekly. Special Collections, UW, Social Issues
Files Cb, neg. 527)
V. Case study: Asian Americans
• Court challenges to discriminatory laws:
• 1889: Chae Chan Ping v U.S. upholds
constitutionality of Chinese exclusion laws.
• 1894: A Japanese plaintiff, Mr. Saito, turned down
for US citizenship because he is neither white nor
black.
• 1896: Ulysses Shinsei Kaneko, a Japanese
Californian, is naturalized.
• 1898: Wong Kim Ark v U.S. rules that Chinese
born in US cannot be stripped of citizenship.
V. Case study: Asian Americans
JAPANESE AMERICANS
• Arrive in San Francisco by 1893
• San Francisco School Board attempts to
segregate Japanese schoolchildren
• Japanese scientists studying aftermath of
1906 San Francisco earthquake attacked by
stone-throwing mob
• Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907 imposed on
Japan by U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt
V. Case study: Asian Americans
•
•
•
•
•
1913: California enacts Alien Land Law
1917: Arizona does same
1921: Washington does same
1923: Idaho, Montana and Oregon follow suit
US Supreme Court in Terrace v. Thompson
(1923) upholds constitutionality of
Washington’s Alien Land Law
• Washington’s law was not repealed until
1966, by citizen initiative
Wing Luke (1925-65)
• Wash. State Assistant
Attorney Gen., 1957-62
• Elected to Seattle City
Council, 1962
• 1st Asian-American in
PNW in elected office
• Passed Seattle Open
Housing Ord., 1963
Source: http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/luke-wing-chong-1925-1965
Ruby Chow (1920-2008)
Sworn in to King County
Council, 1974.
source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/365754_chow05.html
• Born on a Seattle fishing
dock, Chow was the
eldest daughter in a
family of 10 children,
dropping out of high
school during the
Depression to help
support her family.
• First Asian-American on
the King County Council
• Elected to three terms
Gary Locke -- 駱家輝
• Born 1950
• Elected governor of
Washington State, 1996
• Served two terms
• 1st Chinese-American governor
in US history
• U.S. Secretary of Commerce
2009-11
• US Ambassador to China, 2011
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gary_Locke.jpg