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1
Q

As discussed in “Western European New World and the New Americans,” what were the Alien and Sedition Acts?

A

laws passed in 1798 by the Federalist Court aimed at target the Irish and French

  • Naturalization Act: required 14 years of living in US instead of 5 to apply for citizenship
  • Alien Friends Act: authorized president to “deport aliens dangerous to the peace and safety of U.S.
  • Alien Enemies Act: allowed wartime arrests, imprisonment, and deportation of any alien subject to enemy power
  • Sedition Act: declared that any treasonable activity was a high misdemeanor and was punishable by fine or imprisonment
2
Q

What was significant about the Alien and Sedition Acts? (Western European New World and the New Americans)

A
  • showed fear of foreign influence
  • provided a demonstration of an attempt at protecting the “American Way”
  • targeted different political beliefs
  • first attempt at federal immigration control
3
Q

What was the 1864 act to Encourage Immigration and what was its significance? (Western European New World and the New Americans)

A
  • established the first US Immigration Bureau whose focus was to increase immigration so that American Industries during the CW would have workers
  • first comprehensive immigration law
  • in an effort to reduce the number of immigrants who left industry for homesteading or arms it made pre-emigration contracts binding
4
Q

What three countries did the vast majority of immigrants in the U.S. come from during the 19th Century? (Western European New World and the New Americans)

A

Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom (about 70% of immigration came from here)

5
Q

In “Chinese Immigrants in Search of Gold Mountain” author Erika Lee notes how popular opinion often mischaracterized Chinese laborers in the U.S. as unfree coolies. According to Lee how did most Chinese pay for their passage to the U.S.?

A
  • they either paid themselves or borrowed money for tickets
  • “credit-ticket system”: lent money from family or district associations and borrowers would pay back with interest (some at insane rates that would take decades to repay)
6
Q

Lee also describes how the vast majority of early Chinese immigrants in the U.S. were male. Discuss two key reasons for why many Chinese women did not immigrate to the U.S. during the 19th century. (Chinese Immigrants in Search of Gold Mountain)

A
  • Chinese patriarchal system forbade it (married women were expected to remain in China, take care of their husband’s parents and do other duties in the husbands absence)
  • Harsh living conditions in California
  • High levels of anti-chinese violence
  • transportation was expensive
  • lack of available jobs
  • U.S. Immigration Laws (1875 Page Act) made it really difficult
7
Q

In your answer, please explain why immigrants worked in these trades and what the working conditions were like. (Chinese Immigrants in Search of Gold Mountain)

A

Railroads: dangerous conditions, the companies were willing to hire them because they were expendable cheap labor

Industries: cheap labor again, they would work for less than white people for long hours

Agriculture: harsh, backbreaking work for cheap labor

8
Q

Judy Wu explains in “Bound Feet” the rise of Chinese prostitution in California. According to Wu, what was the biggest difference between white and Chinese prostitutes in San Fransisco?

A
  • majority of the white prostitutes come to San Fransisco as “independent professionals” and worked for wages in brothels
  • Chinese prostitutes were often imported as unfree labor (indentured labor or slaves that had been kidnapped or lured against their will)
9
Q

For Chinese prostitutes, how was work in parlor houses different from that in cribs? (Judy Wu, “Bound Feet”)

A
  • Parlor houses: nice, furnished with bamboo furniture, 4-25 nicely dress courtesans were made available to select clientele, “sing-song girls”
  • Cribs: shitty, hawked their wages to anyone willing to pay, harshly treated and often got venereal diseases and were left to die
10
Q

What factors accounted for why a high percentage of Chinese women in San Fransisco worked as prostitutes? (Judy Wu, “Bound Feet”)

A
  • race and class dynamics created a need for Chinese prostitutes
  • gender and class created poor Chinese daughters
  • Chinese cultural values and immigration policy skewed the amount of men to women
11
Q

Finally, what were some “escape avenues” for Chinese prostitutes? (Judy Wu, “Bound Feet”)

A
  • marry or running with lover
  • suicide by drowning or ingesting opium
  • going to the police
  • refused bail and saying that they were brought to the U.S. for immoral purposes
  • rise to the rank of modern
  • protestant mission homes
12
Q

Ronald Takaki recounts in “Raising Cane: The World of Plantation Hawaii” that they housing pattern of Hawaiian sugar plantations resembled that of a “pyramid”. Detail and discuss the racial structure of this housing hierarchy.

A
  • managers lived in mansions with spacious verandas that over looked the plantation
  • foreman and technical employees often lived in bungalows with well kept lawn and gardens or in packed houses (if unmarried)
13
Q

How did planters benefit from dividing workers into separate ethnic camps? (Ronald Takaki, “Raising Cane: The World of Plantation Hawaii”)

A
  • supported the planter’s strategy of “divide and control”

- air of exclusivity: no groups co-mingled (which prevented large scale strikes)

14
Q

Describe two important cultural celebrations and festivals Asian immigrants brought over to Hawaii? (Ronald Takaki, “Raising Cane: The World of Plantation Hawaii)

A

Obon: festival of souls
- celebration of the reunion of the living with the spirits of the dead (dressed in kimonos and danced to drums)

Tenchosetsu: the emperors birthday
- sumo wrestling, ordering bento boxes and playing shamisens

Rizal Day: day that the Spanish executed the famous revolutionary leader Jose Rizal (play mandolins and guitars and told stories that slowly would get wilder recounting his execution and how he “survived” it or was ressurrected)

15
Q

Why were these celebrations important for Asian plantation workers? (Ronald Takaki, “Raising Cane: The World of Plantation Hawaii)

A

it was a way to remain connected to their native homelands

16
Q

According to Takaki, over time workers from different nationalities began to develop a common language. What is that common language called and what is important about this new language? (Ronald Takaki, “Raising Cane: The World of Plantation Hawaii”)

A
  • “Pidgin English”
  • before they shared a common language, it was very difficult for different groups to communicate
  • allowed for foreman to give commands to a multiethnic workforce all at once
17
Q

A central point of Dean Itsuji Saranillio’s article, “Why Asian Settler Colonialism Matters,” is that Asian settlers in Hawaii both resisted and supported U.S. systems of violence. Please explain what Saranillio means by his analysis.

A

American white planter elite may have held a “mega-hierarchy” position

  • the Japanese are having injustices committed against them by this group but they are also partaking in injustices against the Native Hawaiian population (displacing them from land ownership and the area they have occupied for years)
18
Q

And provide one example of how Asian settlers in Hawaii resisted U.S. systems of violence and one example describing how Asian settlers supported U.S. systems of violence. (Ronald Takaki, “Raising Cane: The World of Plantation Hawaii”)

A
  • Governor Cayetano gave a speech in which he describes all the ways the Japanese have overcome the obstacles but doesn’t mention anything about the native population (erasure of natives)
  • Japanese tourists industries and hotels have taken away indigenous lands (even if unintentional, still happens)
  • RESIST: Japanese and Filipino strike for equal pay for both groups, blood unionism and interethnic Japanese and Filipino
19
Q

According to Jack Chen, how did the economic context of California, the interest of labor unions, and the electoral politics contribute to the passing of a federal policy restricting the immigration of Chinese laborers in 1882?

A
  • Economic: there was an influx of labor resulting in a sharp competition for jobs and mass unemployment, and the economic crisis that began in the Eastern states brought to the West (after the building of the RR)

Labor: labor just beginning to organize, split between those who pressed the demand for laborers rights and those who were willing to sacrifice for convenience of immigrant labor (new immigrants were seen as cheap labor and willing to accept lower wages)

Electoral Politics: the exploitation of the “Chinese Issue” (more were willing to support this if it meant they would gain followers and support)

20
Q

How did Ethine Luibheid in “A Blueprint for Exclusion” answer the question “why target Chinese prostitution in particular”?

A
  • Chinese prostitution put the white morality at risk (Chinese prostitution would result in moral decay of the nation)
  • they brought immorality and disease
  • put the idea of “family” and “sanctity of marriage” at risk
21
Q

Discuss two major techniques that immigration officials developed to differentiate “real” wives from prostitutes. (Eithine Luibheid, “A Blueprint for Exclusion”)

A
  • interrogations: 1 in Hong Kong and one done by the Harbor Master meant to determine their moral character
  • photographs sent in advance
  • their appearance (looking for specific marks, prostitutes features were considered to be degenerate and mannish, looking for bound feet, their clothing, etc.)
22
Q

What was significant about the strategies that were developed to control the immigration of Chinese women? (Eithine Luibheid)

A
  • formed the first official case file (first group of people who passport control was attempted on)
  • immigration control (immigration control reproduces social inequality)
23
Q

According to Erika Lee in “Chinese Exclusion and American Gatekeeping,” the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act laid the foundation for immigration regulation in the U.S. Discuss three ways that clearly show the impact that Chinese exclusion had on U.S. immigration regulation.

A
  1. Provided legal architecture on 20th century American immigration policies (introduced “gate keeping” ideology, politics, law and culture that transformed the ways America thought about race
  2. legalized the restriction, exclusion and deportation of immigrations deemed “dangerous” to the U.S. (Chinese became the yardstick to measure desirability (and whiteness) of other immigrant groups)
  3. set in motion new modes and technologies of immigration regulation (i.e. federal immigration officials and bureaucracy, passports, “green cards”, and illegal immigration and deportation policies)
24
Q

In “Enforcement of the Exclusion Laws,” Erika Lee describes three ways in which immigration inspectors relied on presumed “class” difference to differentiate Chinese merchants form Chinese coolies. What were these three assumed differences?

A
  1. where they sat on the ship (1st class were less likely to be held for long periods of time)
  2. their appearance: should appear wealthy, educated, refined (i.e. literacy tests, good clothing, the appearance of their handwriting)
  3. if they looked as though they worked or not/did they engage in labor? (through interrogation they asked questions like do you know how to sew buttons?, looked for calloused hands, skin color (if darker, they must’ve worked out in the sun))
25
Q

Lee also argues that Chinese exclusion affected the citizenship rights of many Chinese exclusion affected the citizenship rights of many Chinese Americans. How did the Chinese exclusion work to stigmatize the citizenship of Chinese Americans? (Erika Lee, “Enforcement of the Exclusion Laws”)

A
  • widespread support for exclusion, government’s concern for illegal immigration and the idea that the Chinese race was unfit for American citizenship (Chinese do not make good citizens to them)
  • attempted to take away the rights of birthright citizens
26
Q

Discuss the cases of Look Ting Sing and Wong Kim Ark and explain how exclusionist sought to challenge the citizenship of Chinese Americans. (Erika Lee, “Enforcement of the Exclusion Laws”)

A
  • even 2nd generation Chinese-Americans were assumed unassimilable due to the idea that they would inherit the characteristics of their parents that made them unassimilable
  • both cases dealt with men born in the U.S. who went to Chine and upon reentry, immigration officials argued that they were not citizens because their parents were Chinese and therefor would never be citizens
27
Q

According to Yuji Ichioka in “Struggle Against Exclusion,” why was U.S. assimilation so important for Japanese immigrants?

A
  • Anti-Japanese exclusionists said that the Japanese were not assimilable to American society
  • they wouldn’t make the same mistakes as the Chinese
  • prove to them and the world that Japanese were capable of living and working outside the U.S.
28
Q

How did they distinguish between gaimenteki doka and naimenteki doka? (Yuji Ichioka, “Struggle Against Exclusion”)

A
  • gaimenteki doka: assimilation involved outward appearances (i.e. adapting to U.S. clothing, physical living environment, wives walking alongside husbands instead of behind them)
  • naminteki doka: believed gaimenteki doka wasn’t sufficient enough; you must also adopt American values (American democratic principles and Christian values)
29
Q

How did the idea of assimilation spur a debate among the Issei over the education of the Nisei? (Yuji Ichioka, “Struggle Against Exclusion”)

A
  • some of the Issei argued for the dekosegi ideal that the Nisei should be educated to enter the schools in Japan; that the American schools made them ignorant of Japan
  • others said that Nisei should be educated as though they were permanent American residents
30
Q

Did assimilation help Japanese immigrants overcome the colorline in U.S. society? Why not? (Yuji Ichioka, “Struggle Against Exclusion”)

A

No, acts like the 1913 Alien Land Law and the 1906 Segregation of schools represented how deeply rooted the American ideals of “other” were and how they would never be seen as equal

31
Q

Following the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Acts, more laws were passed to turn Asians in the U.S. into “indispensable yet undesirable” immigrants. Detail and discuss the significance of the Gentleman’s Agreement, the Alien Land Laws, and the 1917 Immigration Act.

A
  1. Gentleman’s Agreement: Japanese government refrained from issuing travel docs to US for laborers but said Japanese families could reunite with those already there (exclusion laws like those enacted upon Chinese could not be implemented out of fear of pissing off Japan who had become a high power)
  2. Alien Land Laws: “all aliens eligible for citizenship may acquire, posses, enjoy, transmit and inherit property; but the naturalization act of 1870’s denied asians the right to become citizens (sent the message that Japanese were not wanted or welcome by denying them livelihoods through farming)
  3. ) 1917 Immigration Act: a controversial requirement that excluded aliens who couldn’t read or understand some language or dialect (also created the Asiatic Barred Zone which extended Chinese exclusion laws to all other asians except for Guamians and Filipinos who were under US jurisdiction at the time) (SIG: represented the renewed xenophobia sentiment caused by the influx of S. and E. Europeans)
32
Q

What three examples did Mae Ngai use to examine the process by which Filipinos in the US transformed from colonial subjects to undesirable aliens?

A
  1. the idea of job competition (even though this idea wasn’t supported by data) –> blamed Chinese for wage cuts and taking jobs (they weren’t even considered on the radar for problems until the late 1920’s aka the Great Depression time)
  2. miscegenation: a large number of Filipino men were getting together with white women (drawing racial parallels between Africans and Filipinos
  3. Decolonization