ID's Flashcards
(35 cards)
Transcontinental Railroad (definition)
- 1850 California entered the Union
- established political linkage but remained geographically isolated
- construction began Jan. of 1863
- many of the workers recruited to work on the project were Chinese
Transcontinental Railroad (significance)
- practical for transportation but also provides a sense of linkage between the West and East
- begins the synonymous draw between immigrant labor and cheap labor
- the treatment of Chinese demonstrates how immigrant workers were economically central to the US but were socially marginalized
- think of the photograph of the completion of the railroad; no Asians were seen even though most of the work was done by the Chinese
Racial Scapegoat (definition)
a racial or ethnic group singled out for unmerited blame
Racial Scapegoat (significance)
- it removes the blame from industries and doesn’t hold them accountable for any form of economic reform (such as the crisis of the 1870s)
- allowed people to unite behind a common enemy (Chinese)
- simplified any problem (seeking out a group as the end all be all solution)
- demonstrated how easy it was to target vulnerable groups as they had no political influence
Paper Sons and Daughters (definition)
because the records of immigration in San Fransisco burned after an earthquake, several Chinese were able to identify as native born citizens which allowed them to travel to China and come back
- for every year they were gone, they could open a slot for a fictitious child; called “paper” because that’s the only place they existed
Paper Sons and Daughters (significance)
- it served as a way of resistance to the unjust and inhumane immigration policy of the time
- one of the only ways for family reunification
- it was profitable (lucrative business for those who decided to sell their slots)
Paper Sons and Daughters (example)
- Chinese children brought over with two last names, in lecture she gave the example of her professor with two last names representing how he still maintained his last name but also had the name of the family who brought him over
- if every who claimed “natural born citizen” were actually telling the truth, every Chinese woman living in San Fransisco at the time would have had 800 children
Asian Settler Colonialism (definition)
a dislocation of one indigenous population by another;
control of territory obtained through immigration governed by colonizing country
Asian Settler Colonialism (significance)
- the white minority demonstrated how, by using social norms, they were able to still gain power
- by not giving Asians rights, they began to believe themselves to be inferior (minority isn’t through numbers)
Asian Settler Colonialism (example)
Japanese migrating to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations and displacing the native population
1924 Immigration Act (definition)
“National Origins Act”, “Asian Exclusion Act”, “Johnson-Reed Act”
- barred immigration of “aliens ineligible for citizenship” (asians)
- barred immigration of descendants of slaves
- barred immigration of descendants of American Aborigines
1924 Immigration Act (significance)
- legacy of the Chinese Exclusion Act (what used to only have laws to target one group now targeted multiple)
- divided the world race
- divided the world by nationality (it didn’t matter where you CAME from, but you would still be discriminated against for your nationality)
- distinguished Europe as different from other countries when it comes to discriminatory laws
Divide & Rule (definition)
keeping ethnic groups separate in order to maintain current profit intake
Divide & Rule (significance)
- in doing so, coorporations like the HSPA (Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association) valued things like blood unionism as it prevented large strikes due to few (if any) case of multiple ethnicities banding together
Blood Unionism (definition)
a form of organized labor in which ethnicities and races banded together to fight for better working conditions
Blood Unionism (significance)
wanting “equality” for their own group but the equality they sought out was less actual equality and more just being seen as equal with the white majority and above other ethnicities
Blood Unionism (example)
- Japanese Union (in Hawaii)
- Filipino Union (in Hawaii)
Picture Bride (definition)
a film depicting the living and working conditions of Japanese immigrant workers in Hawaii at sugar plantations;
- Reyo & Kanzaki: each sent pictures and were paired through a matchmaker but Kanzaki is old enough to be her father
Picture Bride (significance)
- the film demonstrates the flaws within the picture bride system (as Kanzaki was way older than his photograph)
- also demonstrates the hardships of living on a sugar plantation (all the hard and extra work to stay afloat, what they did with children at this time, etc.)
Unassimilable (definition)
seeing a group as incapable of assimilating to “norms” of anglo-saxon culture
- not that they WON’T but that they CAN’T
Unassimilable (significance)
- assimilation begins to be seen as the pathway to equality but it doesn’t always work that way
Unassimilable (example)
- the Japanese attempted 2 separate methods of assimilation but neither succeeded in achieving equality
Page Act of 1875 (definition)
first federal legislation to exclude a group of people from the US (Chinese Women for fear of prostitution and Chinese workers (all Chinese contract workers))
Page Act of 1875 (significance)
- the restriction is based on the idea that all Chinese Women were prostitutes and that all Chinese workers were stealing jobs
- ineffective in limiting contract workers but worked in limiting Chinese women immigration
- showed before you bar contract workers it was more important to bar women (the stigma that Chinese would jeopardize the morality of the U.S.)
- showed that the sanctity of marriage wasn’t as good as they thought (they were avoiding addressing the real problem and blamed the Chinese women because they were the minority with infinitesimal number)
