History of Asian Americans - Brittany Le - Christine Sivilay - Mollie Frager

Throughout history, there have been many laws passed by the United States, Canada, Cuba, and Mexico to stop the immigration of Asians countries. Here are some key dates from "The Chinese Must Go!" by Erika Lee.

A B R I E F H I S T O R Y O F A SI A N IMMIGR A NTS IN THE U . S .

1854

Chinese were officially granted unequal status along with other racial minorities after the CA Supreme Court ruled that Chinese immigrants, African- Americans, and Native Americans were prohibited from giving testimony in cases involving a white person.

1855

CA governor Bigler attempted to prohibit Asian immigration by signing a bill that taxed any master or owner of ships that carried Asian immigrants into the nation (invalidated by Supreme Court)

1858-1859

Armed mobs started and forced Chinese Immigrants out of towns and campsites

1862 Coolie Trade Act: Outlawed coolie labor

1869 Henry Whitney, son of missionaries and editor of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser newspaper, organized the first meeting against Chinese immigration

1870-1880

138,941 Chinese immigrants entered the country, representing only 4.3% of the total number of immigrants.

Demagogues blamed the Chinese for unfavorable wages and scarcity of jobs in the 1870’s In 1870, California had collected $5 million in taxes from the Chinese alone

1871

October 24th, 17 Chinese were lynched in Los Angeles after a policeman was shot down by a Chinese suspect.

Largest mass lynching in American history

1875

Page Act: banned Asian women suspected of prostitution as well as Asian laborers brought to the US involuntarily. U.S plantation owners had large amounts of land in the Kingdom of Hawaii Americans had Chinese and other Asian immigrant laborers and expanded sugar plantations economy 1881 King David Kalakua decided to follow the U.S in it’s immigration treaty with China

1877 Establishment of anti-Chinese Workingmen’s Party in the U.S

1882

U.S passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which created a strong anti-Chinese movement in Hawaii as well.

Chinese Exclusion Act: The first immigration law that singled out an immigrant group for large - scale exclusion based on race.