Chapter 9 - Minorities from Other Regions: Chinese, Japanese, and French Canadians

Chapter 9 - Minorities from Other Regions: Chinese, Japanese, and French Canadians

I.      Intro:

a.     During the century of immigration more than 90% of all immigrants were Europeans

b.     For many writers European and Immigrant were all but interchangeable

c.     Africans were kept out of the immigrant canon by definition

d.     Chinese went through the same thing, authors would argue that they were mere “sojourners” and not immigrants at all

e.     This chapter examines the early experience of the two Asian immigrants to come to the United States, Chinese and Japanese, along with the major discrete group from Canada, the French Canadians

f.      There was no English speaking Canadian communities until they began to develop in retirement areas of Florida, Canadians were invisible immigrants because they would travel back and forth to the United States

II.    Chinese

a.     If we do not count the ancestors of the Amerindians, Chinese are the first immigrants from Asia

b.     Meaningful Chinese immigration to the United States begins roughly with the California gold rush of 1849

c.     The Chinese, like many of their ancestors, came with the intention of sojourning and returning with a nest egg

d.     Between the beginnings of Chinese migration in 1848 and the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, perhaps three hundred thousand Chinese entered the United States

e.     There was much coming and going, so that, in all probability the Chinese American population hit an intercensal peak of perhaps one hundred twenty five thousand in the early 1880s

f.      At the beginning of the nineteen century western entrepreneurs, with the help of Chinese middlemen, began importing un-free Chinese labor to various parts of the plantation world, largely as surrogates for African slaves

g.     This “coolie trade”, first brought Chinese to Trinidad in the Caribbean in 1808

h.    It was a brutal and infamous system that in some ways was worse than slavery, in that some employers literally worked their coolies to death before their indentures ran out

                                             1.     Particularly true in the guano islands off the coast of Peru, where that was the fate of the overwhelming majority

i.      No evidence of Coolies being brought to the united states

j.      In 1850s American consular officials in China explained to Washington the differences between immigrants and coolies (Pg 240)

k.    Chinese, who expected to work for themselves in the diggings, borrowed from Chinese moneylenders

                                             1.     They would borrow seventy dollars (fifty for the ticket and twenty got expenses) and were forced to pay back two hundred dollars

l.      For over a century, emigration from china to America was not so much Chinese as Cantonese emigration

                                             1.     90% of the immigrants of that era were not only from Canton in South China but from a very few countries centered on the Pearl River Delta

m.   According to the censuses of 1880 and 1890, Chinese males outnumbered females by more than twenty one

                                             1.     In Australia the imbalance was incredible: in Victoria in 1857 there were 25,421 Chinese males and just 3 females

n.    Within the united states, Chinese were concentrated in the West in general and in California in particular, although the percentage in the rest of the united states grew steadily after 1870

                                             1.     In California concentration was centered in the mining districts of the Sierras and their foothills, Chinese soon made San Francisco

i.      More than a fifth of al Chinese American’s recorded to living there by the 1880 and 1890 census

                                             2.     China town in SF was the first china town established, and has not changed since then

i.      Chinatowns were places where immigrants lived, worked, shopped, and socialized

ii.    They were overcrowded

iii.  At first the Chinese worked in mining, but later expanded to agriculture, manufacturing of shoes and clothing, and laundry workers.

iv.    Some Chinese also owned or operated farms that helped develop new crops

v.     The best job in the Chinese American world was being a merchant because they became the power elite of the community

vi.   Churches were not very popular amongst Chinese and very few were Christians.

vii. A family’s last name was an extremely important element that united them

o.     The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 stated that Chinese were aliens and were ineligible for citizenship.

p.     For some time, the Chinese were the only ethnic group that would not freely immigrate to the US.

q.     When the 14^th Amendment was added, it allowed Chinese Americans born in the US to be citizens.

r.     After Chinese could immigrate to the states again, it was common for a man to get successful in the states and then send for his wife to join him.

III.  Japanese

a.     By the time Japanese began to immigrate to the united states, in significant numbers in the 1890’s, Japan was a nascent imperial power with aspirations to the leadership of East Asia, while china was a victim of imperialism, some of it Japanese.

b.     The first groups of Japanese immigrants were political refugees in 1869 and mostly settled near Sacramento.

c.      Some Japanese were also brought to Hawaii in order to work in the sugar plantations.

d.     There was little immigration to the states, before 1942 fewer than 300,000 Japanese came to the states.

e.     Males were majority of the immigrants, with women only being a third of the population and almost of quarter of those were under the age of 5 years. 17.1% of Japanese immigrants were under the age of 5 years.

f.       The Japanese would be younger and more of them would be American born. The main focus of the immigrants was agriculture and eventually replaced the Chinese in some areas.

g.     In Japan, many families were in the farming business but government regulations began to take away the land.

h.    Northern California was the popular place for Japanese at first, but by 1930 more than 35,000 Japanese lived in Los Angeles, California  

                                             1.     The Japanese were very successful and had a positive influence and contribution in California

                                             2.     Whites didn’t welcome the Japanese

                                             3.     There would have been an exclusion act, but Americans were intimidated by the Japanese military.

i.      President Roosevelt did not care for the Japanese and created an agreement with Japan called the Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907-1908 where the Japanese government did not issue passports to Japanese laborers.

                                             1.      This act only banned males, so an increase of female immigrants hit the states.

                                             2.     These women were immigrating to the states to be with their husband.

                                             3.     Other females were part of a “picture bride marriage” and would travel to the states without even meeting their husband.

j.      Most of the Japanese worked in agriculture and outdoor activities

k.    The Japanese government encouraged the Japanese to adopt the Western culture and educate their children to better adjust in the United States

                                             1.     The Japanese government was very active in the Japanese life’s

l.      Gentlemen’s agreement forced Japanese immigration into an essentially female mode

m.   Religion was very diverse amongst the Japanese

                                             1.     A majority of them were Buddhist and continued to practice Buddhism

                                             2.      Large amounts of Japanese were Christians and would later convert.

IV.  French Canadians

a.     French Canadians were pulled into migration to the states because of the economical options provided by the states.

b.      These were the only immigrants whose migration was chiefly accomplished by rail.

c.     The French-speaking population of Quebec, which only numbered sixty thousand in 1763, had multiplied to more than a million in 1871.

d.     French Canadian immigrants focused on agriculture but later moved towards textile mills and other factories that were the heart of New England’s economy.

e.     It is difficult to know how many French Canadians migrated to the united states because they would continue to go move back and forth over the boarder

f.      Acculturation of this group occurred more slowly because of the constant migration between the states and Canada.

g.      There was a strong desire to keep their language alive.

h.    The French Canadians clashed with Irish immigrants because of the disagreements over priests and forms of worship.

                                             1.     Catholic Bishops strongly encouraged them to keep their native language and traditions

i.      The French Canadians had one of the lowest rates of naturalization of any American ethnic group.  

V.    Exam Questions

a.     What is the difference between European and Chinese, Japanese, and French Canadian immigration?

b.     If the immigrants wanted to stay and settle in the United States, what were they ineligible to do?

                                  

c.     What were the paper sons?

                                            

d.     What happened to the demographics in Chinese and Japanese communities during the decade that no significant immigration occurred? (Pg 252)