The story of building America is not without the contribution of people from Asia, who were present in this country even before English settlers migrated here. In this segment, the presence and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders will be briefly exploring in five key moments. We hope this will offer you a new way of understanding America and its place in the world today.
Furthermore, the five key moments will demonstrate that since America’s formation, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have experienced and endured racism and discrimination. An example of the inherent racism is the almost total absence of their history in the curriculum in schools and universities and the lack of discussion of this absence in the public. This exclusion perpetuates society’s perception that Asians are disloyal, untrustworthy, and are considered in a perpetual foreigner status with their countries of origin.
A study and examination of this history reveals just the opposite. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are genuinely and authentically American in all ways. They are loyal, trustworthy, patriotic and committed to the principles that guide this country. These five peak moments will illustrate this history briefly.
The Beginnings: Asians in Early America-1600’s—1799:
In the book, The Making of Asian America, Erika Lee states: “Long before Asians came to the United States, they went to Latin America. The earliest Asians came as part of Spain’s Pacific empire stretching from Manila, Philippines to Acapulco in New Spain (present-day Mexico)—an empire that had been built on Christopher Columbus’ accidental ‘discovery’ of America while searching for Asia.” These early explorations were based on Spain’s and other European’s desire to find an alternative route to Asia but ended up in the Americas. Although there were numerous adventures, one that stands out for the purpose of this topic is the Spanish ship, “Manila Galleon,” which sailed in 1565 from Manila and arrived in Acapulco, Mexico. Trade between Spain and Mexico continued for eight years. The first Asians to land in Acapulco in 1580 was a group, collectively known as los chinos. Lee reports that a small but stable population developed in that area with the marriages between indigenous women and Chinese and Filipino men. In 1611, a delegation of Japanese people arrived there, and some can trace their origins back to that area. There are also reports of Asian travels into Southern California in the 1600’s. Soon Spain’s dominance waned, and England became the traders and leading colonizer in the 1760s. England’s East Indian Company exported fabrics, porcelain, and tea from China. Asian goods became very popular in the United States, and Lee describes this period as a “Chinese-mania for Asian goods.” Tea from China became a popular item in the British colonies. In fact, in 1773, it was Chinese tea that was thrown into Boston Harbor, which incited the American Revolution. Yet, it was this important trade with China that brought and settled many Chinese in the United States. The USA profited tremendously from trade with China. As an example of the excitement with trade and travel with Asia, Erika Lee notes: “Finally free from King George III’s grasp, Americans were eager to voyage to the ‘golden regions’ of the East Indies, where they long been forbidden to go. Through China, Americans believed that the economic prosperity and the promise of the new nations itself would be secured.” In other words, trade and travel with Asian would only make American more safe and secure. Another remarkable event occurred in 1763: the first recorded settlement of Filipinos in America. To escape imprisonment aboard the Spanish galleons they jumped ship in New Orleans and fled into the bayous of Louisiana. The growing USA presence in Asia led to new migration from Asia into United States and Canada. USA ships recruited Filipinos to serve as deckhands, cooks and servants on these ships. Japanese, Malayans and Chinese people settled in cities on the east coast, such as New York City and Baltimore. The first recorded arrival of Asian Indians in the United States was in 1790. At that time, very little recorded negative reaction to Asians appeared in the United States.
II. Mass Migration and Asian Exclusion: 1800—1899
The history of Asians in the United States demonstrates that history took place earlier than most people realized or understood. In the early 1800s, evidence of their settlement in the Americas reveals that this took place largely throughout the continent. Small pockets of Asians had settled in the southern United States, possibly coming from Mexico. The earlier documentations of settlers in the 1840s were Filipinos in the village of St. Malo in Louisiana. Some worked as fishermen and exported alligators and snakes from New Orleans to Asia, Canada, South and Central America The Filipino community in Louisiana strived and established many businesses in the state. Beside the Filipinos in the South, Chinese migrated to Hawaii, and Chinese sailors and peddlers moved to New York City. Yet, the most egregious form of immigration or in some cases kidnapping came with the group identified offensively as “coolies.” The word “coolie” derived from the Hindi term kuli, meaning “hire,” which is also the name of a native tribe in the western Indian state of Gujarat. These migrants from South Asia, India and China became indentured servants or slaves to historians, working at low wages and the most unhospitable and despicable conditions for human beings. “Coolies” were imported first to Jamaica, Cuba, Peru, Trinidad, Mexico, Brazil and other South and Central American countries. This form of what many called a “new form of slavery” occurred from 1838 to 1917. Like the enslaved in the United States, “coolies” were severely punished and “convicted under the law for neglect or refusal to work, absenteeism, desertion, vagrancy, and insufficient or refusal to work.” (Lee) Although the presence of “coolies” was limited or non-existent in the United States, their impact was not. Stereotypes about other Asians in the United States occurred because of the perception of other Asians as “coolies.” Asians were accused of driving down wages and taking jobs away from others as well as pawns of the factory owners. According to Erika Lee, the “coolie” label used against other Asians “resulted in widespread discrimination. Consequently, both Asian immigrants in the United States and the historians who studied them have been careful to distinguish the free Asian immigration to the United States from the unfree migration of Asian indentured laborers to Latin America that constituted what historian Hugh Tinker called a ‘new form of slavery.’” Unfortunately, the stereotypes of Asians persisted in the United States. Abolitionists in the USA strove to end slavery while, at the same time, observing how the enslaved worked side-by-side with “coolies” in Cuba, the last bastion of slavery off of the coast of the United States. Still, the stereotypes and discrimination continued in 1844, even after the United States signed it first treaty with China. As a result of the positive relationship with China, many Chinese immigrated to the United States working in jobs in retail, domestic servants and doing laundry. The first Chinese cigar maker, a transplant from Cuba, relocated to New York City. “Coolies,” who rebelled and escape from Cuba came to the US and began to replace African Americans in the labor market. In earlier settlements, the Chinese dominated. What spurred this immigration to the US was the war between China and the British Empire. In this first Opium War beginning in 1842 until 1852, China was defeated, resulting in the Treaty of Nanjing, whereby China was forced to cede the island of Hong Kong to the British and open ports to foreign commerce. Natural disasters plagued China and the shortage of food due to crop failure leading the population into poverty. Like European groups who sought refuge in America because of similar situation, many Chinese came to the United States. Many migrated to California in the height of the discovery of gold in 1848. What is noted is that three Chinese students, for the first time, attended school in 1847, and one, Yung Wing graduated from Yale University in 1854. As the US moved into the second half of the nineteenth century, anti-Asian bias surfaced more, resulting in states passing laws limiting the rights of Asians, in particular Chinese, who then bore the brunt of mistreatment. Beginning in 1850 workers from China made their way to California in search of gold. It began with 450 goldminers and that number tripled a year later. Not all the miners made money in gold. They became involved in many other enterprises that either enriched them or adequately supported them economically. Their success only reinforced the anti-Asian bias that began to take hold in this country. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, there were than two dozen major events that shaped the defined this mistreatment of Asian. Only the most egregious are cited here.
1850: California imposed the Foreign Miner's Tax and enforced it mainly against Chinese miners, who were often forced to pay taxes more than once.
1854: People vs. Hall creates case law forbidding Chinese Americans from testifying in court against whites. In this case, George Hall was convicted on the testimony of three Chinese eyewitnesses of murder. On appeal, the judge threw out the conviction and ruled that Blacks, Native Americans, and Chinese cannot testify against Whites.
1858: California passed a law to bar entry of Chinese and Mongolians.
1859: Exclusion of Chinese from public schools in San Francisco.
1862: California imposes a “police tax” of $2.50 a month on every Chinese person.
1870: People born in Africa and people of African descent become eligible for citizenship through the “Naturalization Act.” Chinese are not eligible for citizenship and the act also forbids the entry of wives of laborers. Nationwide recession causes West Coast labor problems. “Cheap Chinese labor” became the scapegoat. Mobs destroy Chinese communities in many areas of California and other states.
1871: Anti-Chinese riots break out in LA and other cities. In LA, a mob of whites shoots and hangs 20 Chinese.
1875: Following CA’s 1872 law, the US legislature follows suit with the Page Law which bars entry of Chinese, Japanese, and “Mongolian” prostitutes, felons, and contract laborers.
1882: Chinese Exclusion Act suspends immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. It excludes Chinese from citizenship by naturalization and it halts Chinese immigration for 60 years.
1885: Anti-Chinese violence in Rock Springs, Wyoming results in the massacre of 22 to 50 Chinese and the expulsion of an additional 500. Outbreaks against Chinese begin in Washington state. San Francisco builds new segregated “Oriental School.”
1888: Scott Act renders 20,000 Chinese reentry certificates null and void.
1889: Chae Chan Ping v. US upholds constitutionality of Chinese exclusion laws.
1892: Geary Act prohibits Chinese immigration for another 10 years and denies bail for writ of habeas corpus.
1894: In re Saito: Circuit court in MA declares that Japanese are ineligible for naturalization because they are “Mongolians” neither white not black.
Erika Lee characterized the attacks against the Chinese as “The Chinese Must Go” movement. Despite such deplorable acts to expel the Chinese, the United States welcomed non-Asians who were not subjected to the severe mistreatment experienced by the Chinese. Lee exclaimed, “The Chinese who entered the United States in the late nineteenth century were only a small fraction of the total immigration population in the United States. From 1871 to 1880, 138,941 Chinese immigrants entered the country, representing only 4.3 percent of the total number of immigrants (3,199,394) who were admitted during the same period. Nevertheless, their presence in the United States sparked some of the most violent and destructive racist campaigns in U.S. history that would transform the United States and shape the regulations of international migration around the world.” President Abraham Lincoln, going against that tide, ended the “Coolie” trade in California in 1862, indicating that this was like the Atlantic slave trade, which brought Africans to America. On March 28, 1898, the Supreme Court upheld the importance of birthright citizenship in the case United States vs. Wong Kim Ark. Kim Ark was a Chinese American born in San Francisco to Chinese parents in 1873. When he returns from a visit to China in 1895, immigration authorities deny his re-entry, citing Chinese exclusion laws that barred Asians from both immigration and U.S. citizenship. Wong, however, asserted his right as a U.S. citizen to be permitted back into his country. The Supreme Court upheld the principle of birthright citizenship and reinstated Wong as a citizen. Asians from China were the earliest groups that participated in mass immigration to the United States in the nineteenth century. Toward the end of that century and into twentieth century, immigrants from Japan became the second largest groups from Asia. By the early twentieth century, Japanese immigrant had established a strong measure of economic security in the U.S., and in Hawaii. The work was difficult, tiring and arduous. As they moved into cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, and established themselves economically, they encountered racial and ethnic discrimination. Legally, they were kept from citizenship because only whites could become citizens of the United States. Japanese Americans lost their struggle for equality because they were still seen as tied to Japan. Eventually, like the experience of the Chinese, anti-Japanese violence erupted in many cities, such as San Francisco. Change would eventually come later in twentieth century, but with dire consequences during the World War II. An influx of Koreans followed the Japanese migration into the United States beginning around 1905.They established themselves economically, but they also encountered the same type of anti-Asian sentiment similar to the Chinese, Japanese and others to come. In 1899, immigrants from South Asia also came to America with the same desires and dreams of economic security and wealth. One California newspaper called it the “Hindu Invasion” when four Sikh was sighted in San Francisco. Initially, the welcome of the group was positive. However, later, the mood of the community changed, and anti-Asian racism set in. What exemplified this hatred was the Bellingham riots of September 4, 1907. In this incident, hundreds of the white people from the Asiatic Exclusion League attacked the Sikh men a night in the town of Bellingham, Washington, burning their homes, taking their possessions, and beating them severely. This league with other whites and allied organization convinced Congress to pass the 1917 Immigration Act banning the entry of labor migrants from Asia. The Asian Indians arrived at the same time the Japanese and Korean immigration had peaked and they became another group excluded from the United States. As reported earlier, Filipinos came to American in the 1600s. Traces of that immigration remained into the twentieth century when mass immigration of Filipinos occurred after the Philippines became a U.S. colony, along with Puerto Rico and Guam following the end of the Spanish American War. The U.S. had annexed Hawaii, making it a “formidable imperial power.” Even though an American colony, Filipinos did not become citizens. According to Lee, “Filipinos were described in racial terms as uncivilized savages, brutal rapists, and even dogs and monkeys. At best, they were characterized as children in need of (US) guidance.” Filipinos, unlike other Asian groups, had easier access to the U.S. because of their status as a colony. The first Filipinos who came were brought in by the government under the Pensionado Act. They were students, who were expected to return as successful professionals to help govern the Philippines. The government brought Filipinos to work some of the plantations and farms. Their influence grew and they flourish economically. Within a few years as their numbers grew, they also became the subjects of anti-Filipino racism. Many Americans believed that the Filipino was a backward colony, and they were characterized as worse than the Asians who came before them. Prior to World War II, the U.S. government came up with a repatriation plan for Filipinos, but only few returned to the Philippines. After WWII, anti-Asian discrimination receded, but not much. The story of mass immigration does not end at the beginning of the twentieth century. It continues today. As more Asian come and participate in the life of being an American, the more they will experience intense discrimination and racism. More to come in Part III, IV, and V!