The United States has a long and complicated relationship with foreign immigration, especially with Chinese immigration policy and restrictions. The earliest immigrants from China to the United States settled mostly on the west coast, where they found low-skilled jobs. However, with the number of Chinese immigrants growing rapidly, the U.S. public began to form negative and bigoted opinions about the immigration and the chinese population as a whole. Largely because of the negative “public sentiments,” Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. This act placed intense restrictions on Chinese immigration and allowed virtually no immigrants to enter the United States until the act was repealed in 1943 and replaced by more general immigration policies in the 1960s.
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first ever federal level policy in the United States to discriminate against a certain ethnic group. This left a lasting impact in our subconscious view of the Chinese race as a whole, and as immigrants in our country. This subjected congress to a complicated policy level view of immigration, nearly a century passed before the currently standing Immigration Act of 1990 was passed.
The Immigration Act of 1990 put more welcoming conditions in place, but still has not fixed the rough conditions that immigrants are subjected to in our present day. The act places limits on the number of immigrants allowed in the country, and it subjects certain demographics to a more difficult immigration process than others. In our reading this week, the main character Deming is put up for adoption after he loses his main caretakers for immigration related reasons. Deming proceeds to americanize himself significantly, maybe unconsciously due in part to the struggles his family faced with America at a young age. Our country’s problematic immigration policy affects far too many lives, and we see this first hand in the novel.
Sources
“Chinese Exclusion Act (1882).” Our Documents – Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47.
“Immigration Act of 1990.” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/Immigration_Act_of_1990.
Jeanne Batalova Carlos Echeverria-Estrada and Jeanne Batalova. “Chinese Immigrants in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org, 2 Feb. 2021, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/chinese-immigrants-united-states-2018.
I found your presentation very interesting! It is noteworthy that some of the earliest discriminatory immigration legislation was against Asian Americans. I think this provides great insight into the world of discrimination and Asian immigrants. Examining the past can always illuminate the present. Great post.
I think your presentation is very interesting and helped me in choosing an example for our discussion post this week! Asian American discrimination was a huge issue in the United States when they started immigrating here but I think it is sometimes overtaken by other issues that were going on in the United States during that time.
Your presentation was very elaborate and well written! I’ve never heard of the Chinese Exclusion Act, but I was shocked to learn about it. The earliest examples of legislation discrimination explain a lot of today’s lasting problems. This makes me intrigued to read this week’s novel because I would love more perspectives on this ruthless discrimination.
Your presentation was extremely interesting to me. I was very surprised to hear that such restrictions were placed on Chinese people in immigration settings. I think that this often gets ignored because people are typically focused with the racism and discrimination that happens between citizens of our country. No one really focuses on that of people entering our country or those outside of our country. I think that this information will be very helpful to comprehending the reading this week. It seems to deal a lot with topics I am unfamiliar with, as I have never really thought about Chinese immigration specifically before.
Thank you for such an informative post. I had no idea that the Chinese Exclusion act was the first policy to discriminate at a federal level, and I am sadly just now realizing the real weight of those words. “Chinese Exclusion” is such a direct message of the negative public sentiment and I think that during my reading of The Leavers, I will be thinking of this often. Thanks again for a well researched presentation.
I think that this context about America’s history of immigration, especially with the Chinese population, offers very valuable insights into Deming’s experiences in this week’s novel. I remember learning very vaguely about the Chinese Exclusion Act in middle school, and it may have been briefly touched upon in high school history courses but I think it is very unfortunate and telling that more emphasis is not placed on teaching students about this discriminatory bill. You are definitely correct in stating that those “public sentiments” became deeply rooted in America’s culture and traces of those sentiments still remain today.
Thank you for your blog, and I think this Chinese Exclusion Act is a very important act in the history. It’s the first act to present the injustice for immigrants directly and officially. And it had great impact on the immigration history for America. After this law, the tendency of coming to America from China had been decreased for some years.
I found it hard to believe how long the Chinese Exclusion Act lasted until it was repealed. It’s difficult to imagine how different things were back then that something like that would be allowed, but it is also a positive reminder of how much progress has been made since then. I’m glad you mentioned that not everything was fixed after the repeal, because I would have just assumed so.
Thank you for this context presentation! I have actually never heard of the Chinese Exclusion Act until now. It’s horrible to think that Act was in place until 1943. This isn’t something that was taught to me in school thus far, and I think it’s definitely something we should bring more awareness to.
I really like your presentation! It’s so informative and provides so much history I never noticed before. This Chinese Exclusion Act is completely unfair. The cultural difference may be the part of the reason. I can’t imagine that there was a law like this in the past. We should pay more attention to this topic and make the Chinese people no longer be discriminated against.
I found your presentation to be very informative and insightful. I had no prior knowledge of the Chinese Exclusion act before this. I found it very surprising and alarming that this act wasn’t repealed until 1943. It is really disturbing that for over 60 years Asian’s seeking immigration were treated extremely unfairly.
Good evening! I really liked your context presentation on Chinese Immigration. As I read your post I learned a lot of facts about the Chinese Exclusion Act and how it deeply effected the Chinese community in the United States. I am very surprised that the United States took actions such as passing a federal law to discriminate against a specific ethnic group. This is because the United States has always preached about the importance of freedom and equality, however they did not uphold these values when it came to the Chinese community.
Great information. I’ve never heard about the Chinese exclusion act but sadly I don’t really find it surprising that it stayed so long. That seems to be a common theme recently. However it is nice to see how much progress has been made since.
I really enjoyed the short read about Chinese immigration to the United States. I was surprised to learn about how recent the federal law was created to allow Chinese immigration after many years of the Chinese being discriminated against by our country. I’m happy to see there has been progress in the United States in regards to discrimination, but there clearly is more work that we need to do!
This is an informative presentation and you clearly point out the United States made the Chinese Exclusion Act and what is it. The first discrimination policy on immigration, the Chinese Exclusion Act, really cause a long effect on Chinese and other Asian people. We can see this in the reading as well. For example, Deming was adopted by a US family and was separated from the motherland.
I did not know about the exclusion act, thank you for sharing about that. I think that it is sad that in the US there is not a lot of gratuity for what immigrants, have done to help build the US that we live in now. There is no doubt that those Chinese immigrants that came before the exclusion act were instrumental in building some of the infrastructure that built up the West Coast to the huge cities that it has now. More respect needs to be given to these ancestors. After all this nation is a nation of immigrants so all need to be accepted.