Chinese And Other Asians example essay topic

Today immigrants come from places far removed from those that sent the large majority of earlier immigrants. As Asian Americans increase in numbers and in visibility, th question of immigration is examined with common patterns of immigration as well as the basis fro the similarities. In the late 1840's and early 1880's, 370,000 Chinese immigrated to Hawaii and California. They were the first to come.

They left China because many were pushed out by powerful forces at home. Some heard of the discovery of Gold in California, the Pacific Northwest, and British Columbia. Others found that there were jobs that became available as the American West developed. The second to come were the Japanese, Koreans, and Filipinos. They immigrated because they were induced by Hawaiian sugar plantation owners who sent agents to recruit workers as the sugar cultivation expanded.

Some 400,000 Japanese, 7,000 Koreans, and 180,000 Filipinos landed on the ports of the Pacific Coast and Honolulu. The third group to immigrate were the Asian Indians. They came in small groups of three to five people only relying on their social networks. They came in search of work. Asian immigrants came to the United States primarily to earn a living. Work was available because the entrepreneurs who operated within America's capitalistic economy wanted the cheapest labor they could find, so that they could maximize their profits.

Because of this, Euro-American workers felt threatened bu the Asian competition. But as more Euro-Americans settled along the Pacific Coast they regulated through a variety of means. Discriminatory legislation and taxes, boycotts, and barring nonwhites from unions and consequently unionized jobs were some of the variety of means. The Euro-Americans increasingly confined the Chinese and other Asians who came after them to low-status menial work. Asians provided most of the back bending labor in mining commercial agriculture, public works and domestic service. Many discharged Chinese railroad workers found work in agriculture because California in the 1870's was one of the world's leading producers of wheat.

Farm owners also welcomed Chinese workers when they discovered that employing then was convenient. Some Chinese leased land to become tenant farmers. Chinese tenant farmers grew potatoes, onions, and asparagus. They helped lease large plots, which they had to drain, dike, and put under the plow themselves. Other Chinese became commission merchant, farm cooks, manufacturers, and artisans. One occupation that stood out was laundering.

This was because there were very few women. Many of the Japanese became merchants and day workers while the Filipinos were hired as household servants, janitors, or bellhops. The organization of the Japanese labor was more efficient than the Chinese labor. Yet most of the living conditions on the plantations were the same for each Asian group. Living conditions on the plantations were primitive. Depending on the workers national origin, the workers were segregated in different camps.

Many men slept on wooden shelves while families were crammed into rooms. Woman who have babies would have to sleep in the cane fields if their baby was crying so not to disturb the others. They were given harsh working conditions that the laborers were not eager to renew their contracts. This wasn't as harsh as the hostility and conflict Asians had to deal with. Asians were deemed members of "inferior races (45)".

There were the laws that cut into immigrants earnings. A Foreign Miners' Tax first passed in 1850 and reenacted in 1852 was enforced against the Chinese, even though it applied to all foreigners. The ability of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Asian Indian immigrants to earn a living in agricultural areas was affected by land laws. Although Asian immigrants found it difficult to fight such prejudice, they stuck together. Despite the institutional racism, a sufficient number of each group remained in the United States to become important parts of today's history. This was possible because each group set up mechanisms, such as a social network and organizations, to ensure their own survival.