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In the 1840s, Chinese immigrants were drawn to the United States because of the Gold Rush. Known to the Chinese as Gold Mountain, California was a central point of the Gold Rush (“Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush”). The California Gold Rush took place during 1848 –1855, and it attracted many people to the area. Americans were drawn west to California and the Chinese were drawn to America, both attracted to their potential future wealth. By 1851, 25,000 Chinese immigrants had moved to “Gold Mountain” (“Searching for the Gold Mountain”). While life in the west during the Gold Rush was not easy for either group, the Chinese immigrants had it much worse.

When arriving in America, the Sze Yup, a Chinese organization, would meet with the immigrants and give them a job and a place to stay. This group was not good, however, because they would inflict harsh punishments on many of the countrymen; brute force was their downfall (“Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush”).

Another issue of the Chinese immigrants was racism in America. In 1852, a foreign miners tax was placed on all non-Americans (“Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush”). This tax was directly targeted at the Chinese miners who were successful during their mining expeditions. The Americans were jealous of their success and did not think that it was right that the Chinese immigrants were able to come onto “their land,” which had not been their land for very long, and find all of its riches. The Chinese miners were robbed and killed in their camps, where they were put to live, and the officials did nothing about it. During the People vs. Hall trial in 1854, the California law that stated that African Americans and Native Americans could not testify in court also included Chinese immigrants (“Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush”). Therefore, there was no way for the thieves and murderers of the Chinese immigrants could not be properly punished for their crimes.

Outside of the realm of the miners came their wives and children that immigrated to America as well. When a miner struck gold, their wives and children were finally able to come to America and be with them. Upon their arrival, they became the gossip of the town, especially when some women only married their husbands because of their gold strike (“Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush”).

With bad mining conditions and a generally poor society in the west, no gold miners had an easy time. But, with added racism, gossip, and harsh punishments from their providers, Chinese immigrants did not have a fun time during the Gold Rush.

Kylie Clark
WC: 438 words

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The land that Cha

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Chinese immigrants played a vital role in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, despite their contributions often being forgotten by history. In 1845, the New York entrepreneur Asa Whitney presented a resolution in Congress proposing the federal funding of a railroad that would stretch to the Pacific constructing a railroad through the formidable Sierra Nevada mountains. The Pacific Railroad Act stipulated that the Central Pacific Railroad Company would start building in Sacramento and continue east across the Sierra Nevada. After receiving only a few hundred responses from white laborers in response to a job ad for this project, Central Pacific Railroad director Charles Crocker suggested hiring Chinese workers. This suggestion inspired doubt in many, especially those who believed these immigrants to be too weak to work on the railroad. Putting this plan into action, Charles Crocker hired 50,000 Chinese immigrants to live and work on the West Coast. However, he wasn’t satisfied with only 50,000, and later hired 14,000 more to work for him. Despite being vital workers, the Chinese were paid 30-50% less than the whites. These workers often faced life-threatening conditions in addition to physical abuse from supervisors. This horrible treatment caused Chinese workers to go on strike in order to protest their unfair working conditions. The strike ended without pay parity after the Central Pacific cut off food, transportation, and supplies to the Chinese living in camps, but working conditions improved after the strike. Connecting the two American coasts made the economic export of Western resources to Eastern markets easier than ever before. The railroad also facilitated westward expansion, escalating conflicts between Native American tribes and settlers who now had easier access to new territories. Without the contributions of these Chinese workers, none of this would have been possible. This event occurred over 120 years ago, but still affects people in modern times. In the story “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan, the main characters were all descendants of Chinese immigrants. The characters live in San Francisco, otherwise known as a Gold Rush city. Even though they were in the modern world it was still the grounds that their ancestors worked on years ago.

Sami A. & Talia
(361 words)

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The Chinese exclusion act of 1882 was the only federal legislation to suspend immigration to one particular nationality.  This act was passed by congress and signed by president Chester A. Arthur. The law prohibited skilled and unskilled laborers from China from entering the country for a span of ten years. It also placed new burdens on citizens of the country who had chinese dissent. Chinese citizens had to get a certificate to re-enter the country if they ever journeyed out of it. Illegal chinese immigrants were refused citizenship by both State and Federal courts. This did not prevent the State and Federal court from deporting them, though. The reasoning for passing this law was anti-Chinese sentiment in California. Chinese immigrants usually laboured in places such as gold mines, but were forced to leave due to hostility they met by simply being their ethnicity. This resulted in many moving to urban areas like San Francisco where they were forced to do the hardest and dirtiest work. Americans in the west pushed the stereotype that they were competing for jobs and wages and quickly resulted in congress passing the Chinese exclusion act of 1882.  This was only the foundation of many other discriminatory laws that were to be passed. After its ten year deadline, the law extended for another ten years by the 1889 Geary act which also threatened deportation to any one of chinese descent that did not carry an identification certificate. When this ban was finally lifted, only teachers, students, diplomats, and tourists were allowed entry into the country. In 1902, Congress again extended the act for another ten years and then made the time period for the limit indefinite in 1904. After World War one, many people were immigrating because of the war and soon after World War two erupted which caused even more immigration. This forced the government to find new ways of regulating the amount of immigrants coming in. They did this by using quotas and requirements of one's national origin.  In 1943, the act was finally repealed. The Magnuson act took its place and only allowed a quota of 105 Chinese immigrants each year.

Gina Aluise (358)

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In the 1920s the U.S did a lot to try and keep the Chinese out or make their life in the U.S very hard. In San Francisco Bay there was a place called Angel Island. And at first it was built for an U.S Army post. But from 1910 to 1940 the island would get hundreds of thousands of immigrants ready to deportation most of the immigrants were Chinese. In 1917 there was an act depending on who you talked to it could be called the The Immigration Act of 1917 or Literacy Act or  Asiatic Barred Zone Act. And what this implemented was you had to take a literary test that required every immigrant of 16 to be able demonstrate basic reading comprehension in any language. Then another act was introduced in 1924. It was called the Immigration act of 1924 or Johnson-Reed Act. In this act limited the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country through a national origins quotas. This act excluded immigrants from Asia. In Virginia they made an "act" where it would classify for people who have mixed ancestry. If you had "one drop" of non-white ancestry then you were classified as non-white and you could not get married to someone who was white.This went on until 1965 Immigration Act was made a law. Before then only three countries(Ireland, U.K,Germany) were entitled to nearly 70% of the visa quotas that would allow them into the country.

Catie Jordan

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Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans have had a rough history of living in the United States with blatant racism and acts of violence committed against them. In the early 1940’s, discrimination continued as Chinese people were mixed in with the WWII enemy, the Japanese (Horoski).  Some people even had the audacity to make pins and other articles of clothing expressing that they viewed the Japanese and the Chinese with the same hatred (Horoski). However, the mindset towards Chinese Americans began to change as Chinese soldiers allied with the US (Horoski).  This brought a new found respect and feeling of loyalty for the Chinese.  Many Chinese soldiers were not even in America for long before they ended up risking their life for the country. Especially when China was invaded by Japan, more sympathy for the people only helped build the connection between the Americans and the Chinese (Horoski).  The sentiment of the Chinese being true Americans continued when on December 17, 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed, making Chinese immigration to America for labor purposes much easier (Growth and inclusion). The repealing of this act united families and made the persecution of war and government easier to escape.  Not too long after, the War Bride Act was passed, making the split of families during the immigration process much less common (Horoski).  In the past, the split of parents and even children was a chilling but likely risk when immigrating without these new laws.  Even though new law changes made illegal immigration more prevalent through the method of having fake children called paper sons or paper daughters, this act did much more help than harm (Growth and inclusion).  The president himself even called for a more equal treatment of the Chinese, showing America that supporting these people is by no means a way of becoming less patriotic (Growth and inclusion).  In order to push this thought process, the government as well as private groups funded the making of articles, posters, and films that humanized the Chinese and showed that they weren’t much different than Americans (Horoski). After WWII, this monumental attitude shift towards Chinese immigrants and Americans was cemented in many memorials dedicated to the patriotism of the Chinese during the war (Horoski).

356 words Sophia Duty

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Chinese American WWII Veterans Honored for their Service

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Chinese American WWII Veterans Honored for their Service

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Chinese American World War II veterans honored with Congressional Gold Medal

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Congressional and military leaders honored Chinese American World War II veterans in a virtual ceremony, celebrating them for their service, as well as condemning the Chinese Exclusion Act, which denied Chinese immigrants rights as citizens, even though they volunteered to serve.