AAST200 Midterm Preparation

What does Ellis Island represent?

The island represents democracy, equality, and liberty. It’s supposed to symbolize the words of poet Emma Lazarus, the tired, the poor, the huddled masses “yearning to breathe free”.

What is Angel Island?

It was the main port of entry for Chinese immigrants “yearning to breathe free” from 1910 to 1940. Migrants were carefully screened by U.S. Immigration officials and held for days, weeks, or months to determine their fitness for America.

Why might America not be a nation for immigrants?

America was originally intended to be homogeneous nation for white people. The Naturalization Act of 1790 reflects this.

Why were Chinese immigrants referred to as sojourners

They were moving to the U.S. to economically support their families back home. They didn’t intend on staying in the U.S.

What was the Cable Act of 1922?

Any woman who married “an alien ineligible for citizenship shall cease to be a citizen of the U.S.”

Why were Asian Americans considered foreigners?

They weren’t white. They had a different skin complexion and facial features. Since the U.S. was intended on being a homogeneous nation, these differences on top of the “competition they introduce” are why they aren’t welcome. Orientalism was already pre-existing idea which made them different.

What does Orientalism promote?

The political vision of reality which promote difference between the familiar (European, West, Us) and the stranger (Orient, East, them)

How does Orientalism contribute to how Europeans view Asia?

It convinces Europeans that "Asia is a place of “romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, and remarkable experiences." These are misrepresentations of the East.

When was the term “Asian American” coined? Who was it coined by?

It was coined by Asian American activists during the 1960s.

What were “Asian Americans” referred as prior to the term?

Orientals

Why is Orientalism bad?

It is a Western style of dominating, restructuring and having authority over the Orient. It is the misrepresentation of the east on the basis of binary opposition (West is the center, civilized, and easy is periphery, and uncivilized)

What is the “Oriental body”?

The exaggeration of “racial” features that have been designated “Oriental,” such as “slanted” eyes, overbite, and mustard-yellow skin color.

What is the harm of Yellowface?

It marks the Oriental as indelibly alien. Constructed as a race of aliens, Orientals represent a present danger of pollution.

How does Yellowface contribute to the foreigner stereotype?

Aliens are always a source of pollution as they remain outside the internal structure of a cultural formation. By labelling Orientals as aliens, they are pollutants that don’t belong.

What are the six images/faces of the Oriental?

The pollutant, the coolie, the deviant, the yellow peril, the model minority, and the gook

Where does the “pollutant” face come from?

During the gold rush era, Asians were portrayed as moral chaos and harbingers of industrial wage slavery. 19th century.

Where does the “coolie” face come from?

During the 1870s-80s, Asians were portrayed as unfree and servile (slave).

Where does the “deviant” face come from?

It comes from the image of the Chinese household servant. They’re a figure of forbidden desire; miscegenation. Comes from the 19th century.

Where does the Yellow Peril come from?

There were multiple events that initiated the Yellow Peril.

During the earliest twentieth century, the Oriental was a threat to all things American.

During WWII, they were the enemy.

During the Cold War and rise of communism in China, Orientals were spies or communists.

Where does the “model minority” come from?

it was created after WWII to undermine the struggles of other minority groups around the 1960s and 70s.

Where does the “gook” face come from?

Came from the Vietnam war. Orientals were the invisible and faceless enemy in the post-Vietnam War.

Which cases resisted the Oriental label?

Takao Ozawa v. United States

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind

What were the push pull factors for Chinese immigration during the mid-19th century?

The Chinese were pushed out by powerful forces at home (flooding, civil war, famine) and were attracted by the discovery of gold in California and the jobs that became available as the American West developed.

Confucius teachings stated that young adults should take care of their family (they left to the US to support them).

How did mid-19th century Chinese immigrants finance their passage to America?

Since only a few of them could afford the overseas journeys, some became contract laborers, signing labor agreements to work for a particular number of years in exchange for wages and passages. Others used the credit ticket system, where brokers would loan money to a migrant for the ticket for passage, with the migrant agreeing to pay off the loan plus interest from earned wages. Some immigrants borrowed money from friends or relations.

What was the profession of the first Chinese immigrants?

They were labor workers for the Transcontinental Railroad, gold mines, agriculture, military, and fisheries.

How were Chinese labor workers used against white workers?

They were pitted against them. Chinese workers were used to defuse the labor movement because they were willing to work more hours for low wages. Increased the prejudice and animosity towards Chinese, especially from white laborers.

The Chinese worker population were perceived as “hordes” resulting in the first yellow peril.

What is the significance of People v. Hall (1854)?

Chinese people couldn’t testify against white people in court. No Black or Mulatto person, or Indian, shall be allowed to give evidence in favor of, or against a white man.

What is the Page Act of 1875?

It restricted Chinese women from coming to the US for “lewd or immoral purposes.”

What is the significance of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882?

It suspended the entry of Chinese for 10 years; renewed in 1892 for another ten years; renewed again in 1902 to suspend the entry of the Chinese for an indefinite period. Was the first time U.S. banned immigration from specific nation based on race. Claimed Chinese were an economic threat, inferior race, and coolies engaged in a new system of slavery.

What were the major factors leading to anti-Chinese sentiments?

Chinese were praised by industrialists as an ample source of cheap labor to developing the American west. However, they represented unfair economic competition.

Chinese were believed to be too foreign and unassimilable; a threat to economy and society.

Page Act of 187

They were perceived as an “Oriental invasion” by Californians.

How did Chinese men undermine gender roles in American society?

They were engaging in “women’s work” of cleaning and cooking. Since they couldn’t bring women, many Chinese men would live together.

Why did only a small number of Chinese women come to the U.S.?

Chinese patriarchal family system

Harsh living conditions in California

Expensive transpacific transportation

The lack of available jobs

Anti-Chinese violence and laws

Where did a majority of Japanese immigrate to?

A large number of Japanese immigrated to Hawaii starting in the 1880s.

When was there an influx of Japanese workers from Hawaii to the US mainland?

Between 1902 and 1907

How were early Japanese communities different from Chinese communities in family development?

There were more women in the Japanese communities. The government encouraged the immigration of families. Also, due to the Page Law of 1875 and the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907

Who were the Japanese pictures brides?

Japanese women who travelled to Hawaii and to the continental U.S. to join the men whom they were promised.

What is the C.B. Munson Report?

A report intended to clarify the loyalties of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. It was submitted to the White House October 1941, but was actually given to President FDR on January 1942.

What are the different generations of Japanese Americans in the U.S.?

Issei - First generation. Age 55-65

Nisei - Second generation. Age 1-30

Kibei - American born children Japanese who received part or all of their education in Japan

Sansei - Third generation

Who supported the internment of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

The European American farmers on the West coast

Why was their resentment for the Japanese people in the U.S.?

They did not remain laborers, rather they turned to agriculture finding large success. They posed as competition for white farmers.

Why did some Nisei fight for the U.S. when their parents were being interned?

They felt the need to prove their “Americanness” so they joined the military and fought for the Allies

Which Japanese Immigrants didn’t get interned? Why not?

More than 160,000 Japanese Americans living in Hawaii were not interned because leading businessmen opposed the proposal for large internment. They believed that Hawaii’s economic life would collapse without the Japanese.

When did Indian immigration to the U.S. start? What type of Indians were they?

Indian immigration began in 1900. Most early immigrants were mostly Sikhs, from rural areas of Punjab who arrived as single males or married men without their wives and children.

How were Indian immigrants different from Chinese and Japanese?

They did not come as contract laborers but they came for economic opportunities and freedom.

What caused Asian Indian immigration?

There was economic hardship in their home country, created by British imperialism.

How did Sikhs hear about the Americas?

Punjabis heard rosy pictures of Canada and the United States from the Chinese returnees while stationed in Hong Kong and Singapore. Many Sikhs had already been to Canada, a commonwealth of the British Empire. They would then go the U.S. once Canada passed an exclusionary treaty in 1909

How was the dynamic between the U.S. and Indian immigrants unique?

It was shaped by the U.S.’s relationship with Great Britain. Indians were subjects of the British Empire. Even so, they encountered the same anti-Oriental bias. The British government encouraged anti-Asian policies that targeted these Indian immigrants.

What did the early Indian immigrant work as?

They worked in the agricultural industry. They were discriminated by white and Japanese growers. South Asians did the “roughest, most unskilled work” that whites shunned for a cheaper price.

What were Indian immigrants labeled as?

“Hindu”, a label for all Indian immigrants for the purpose of exclusion and discrimination. There were only a small number of Indian immigrants but there was a fear of the “Hindu invasion.” They were labeled as the least desirable or most undesirable eastern Asiatic race.

What are the significant court cases around Indian immigration to the U.S.?

Naturalization and Citizenship Act of 1790 and 1875

US vs. Balsara (1910) where decision held that Indians were Caucasians and thus entitled under naturalization legislation of 1790 and 1875 to be considered “white persons’" eligible for citizenship

Veer Sing was the first Sikh to have their Indian immigrant application rejected in California 1907.

Takao Ozawa v. U.S. 1922

U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind 1923 - declared Asian Indians ineligible for naturalized citizenship

What is the significant of the Bagai family?

They were Indian immigrants involved in the Ghadar(Indian nationalist) movement. They brought $25,000 with them and was able to get citizenship. His citizenship was stripped in 1921 which lead him to kill himself.

Did India support immigrants going to the U.S.?

No. They didn’t get any help from their government to bring their wives or "picture bride” because they were involved in anti-British rule in India.

How did Indian men start families if Indian women immigration was restricted?

They would marry with a Mexican wife. Starting a Punjabi-Mexican community around the 1930s.

How did Indian immigrants support each other and form a community in the U.S.?

They established Gurudwara which provided support for all South Asian immigrants.

Which group is referred to as the “Forgotten Asian Americans” despite being active actors?

Filipino Americans. The Philippines-American war lasted for 15 years yet the war was forgotten and unacknowledged. They were the first Asians to come to the US (brought from Spain as slaves and laborers)

Why did Filipinos immigrate to the U.S.?

The Philippines were acquired by the U.S. along with Puerto Rico and Guam in 1898 during the victory in the Spanish-American war.

What were the arguments between making the Philippines a U.S. colony?

Anti-imperialists: American control of the Philippines violated the principles of the Declaration of Independence

Expansionists: Economics and political interests. U.S. had a moral duty to govern the Philippines and elevate its people to “civilize” democratic standards.

What is “benevolent assimilation”?

Aimed to integrate the Philippines into Western culture.

Colonialism

The formal political domination of one country by another in which the relationship between the two nations is always one of economic exploitation.

What are the types of colonies?

Settles colonies and colonies procured for the enrichment of the mother country, especially the exploitation of natural resources and labor.

Who are the Pensionados (1903-1910)?

Filipino students chosen, financed, and sponsored by the U.S. to get an education in the U.S. In return for their education, pensionados were required to work for the government in the Philippines for the same length of time.

The 1924 Immigration Act restricted Asian immigration. Which group didn’t it affect?

Filipinos

Why was there anti-Filipino sentiment?

It was built off anti-Asian hate. White men claimed they were taking their jobs. In reality, there wasn’t much job competition. White men didn’t want the jobs the Filipino laborers had.

Why were Filipinos harder to hate compared to other Asian groups?

They were subjects of the U.S. They were Christians, went to school, and spoke English. Had a westernized style. Even so, they were associated with blacks.

What was the “Filipino problem”?

Filipinos weren’t citizens but rather nationals (not alien either). Filipino men would go to dance halls with white women. They were then marked as hypersexual and socially dangerous.

What resulted in the decolonization of the Philippines?

The Tydings-McDuffie Act granted the Philippines commonwealth status and a promise of independence after ten years. U.S. wanted the Filipinos to go back to their country to solve the “Filipino problem”.

How did the U.S. attempt to get rid of the Filipinos?

Repatriation Act of July 10, 1935. Described as a big brotherly gesture of help and assistance but was another method of removing undesirable immigrants from the country.

Why did Koreans immigrate to the U.S.?

They were under the rule of the Japanese. Koreans suffered heavy taxes and unemployment. Farmers were forced off land and they suffered from drought and flood. U.S. diplomats and businessmen saw an opportunity to address the labor shortage to counter the growing militancy among Japanese plantation workers.

Where did the first wave of Korean immigrants work?

They worked on Hawaii’s sugar plantation as contract laborers between 1903 and 1905 (Japanese government stopped sending Korean immigrants to the U.S.)

How were there so many Korean wives immigrating beginning in 1953?

There were wives of U.S. servicemen. They were allowed to come over as military brides.

How were Korean immigrants similar to Indian immigrants?

Both were heavily involved in nationalist movements. Neither of their governments supported their immigration.

Why didn’t Japan allow Korean immigration to the U.S.?

To prevent Koreans from competing with Japanese laborers already in Hawaii. To keep an ample supply of Korean at home to support Japanese expansionist projects.

What was backgrounds of the Korean immigrants?

They had diverse occupational backgrounds: scholars, former soldiers, clergymen, farmer, and laborers. About 70% were literate and 40% Christians. They had harsh lives in Hawaii plantations.

How were Koreans able to create tight-knit communities in the U.S.?

Through Christianity and the Church. There was a high level of Christian Church participation. Churches provided spiritual guidance, information and advice, social support, and family services. Church also connected church members with bureaucratic institutions of the larger society (counseling on immigration and naturalization, employment, housing, health care, social security, and education).

How were Korean women involved in the nationalist movement?

They had more firsthand experience with the terror of Japanese colonial rule. They infused family lives with Korean language, customs, and culture while also helping to form Korean American ethnic identities as well.

Who is Ah Yup and what is their significance?

Since the Naturalization Act was extended to Africans, Ah Yup wanted to test if it could be extended to Asians as well. Applied to be a naturalized U.S. citizen. Court ruled the “Mongolian race” can’t be naturalized. Mongolian wasn’t white.

What is the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924?

Established a national origins quota system. The nation’s first restrictive immigration law. It established the first-time numerical limits on immigration and a global racial and national hierarchy that favored certain immigrants.

Were there any exceptions to the quota system created by the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924?

Excluded immigration of all people ineligible to citizenship. There were no numerical restrictions on immigration from countries of the Western Hemisphere.

What are the four important AA Supreme Court Cases?

Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886)

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Takao Ozawa v. United States (1922)

United States v. Bhagat Sing Thind (1923)

How did early Asians fight for civil rights?

Since they couldn’t vote, they would challenge discriminatory laws in courts.

What’s the significance of Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886)?

It was the first case where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a law that was race-neutral on its face was administered in a prejudicial manner.

Law about laundries and wooden buildings that required approval. Yick Wo operated laundry in wooden building for years. His permit along with all the Chinese applicants were denied.

What is the significance of Takao Ozawa v. United States (1922)?

Ozawa argued that his skin was as white as a Caucasian if not whiter. Also argued that race shouldn’t matter for citizenship. Ozawa went to Berkely, raised kids in Americas, spoke English, and went to Church. Court ruled Ozawa wasn’t white because he wasn’t Caucasian so he wasn’t eligible under the Naturalization Act.

What is the significance of United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind?

Bhagat Singh Thind was a high caste Punjacbi who couldn’t be a naturalized citizens of the U.S., despite a part of India being a part of the Caucasian race. In this case, Thind was not a “white person” as used in “common speech." Using the “understanding of the common man” argument. Resulted in all priorly naturalized Indians to be stripped.

What is the significance of Korematsu v. United States (1944)?

Korematsu remained in California during Executive Order 9066. he violated the Civilian Exclusion Order because he refused to separate from his Italian-American girlfriend. Court ruled that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Korematsu’s rights. “Hardships are part of war”