Who were the rst Asian immigrants to America? After nding out about this in my
Asian American history class, I asked my friends and family if they knew the answer to this question. The responses, as I expected, were no surprise; the most popular answer was a hasty reply, The 49'ers," referring to the Chinese gold-seekers who began to arrive in America during the year 1849 in search of gold. It was, however, the Filipinos, who rst immigrated to America. Many people believe that the Chinese people were the rst to enter America because it was the year 1849 and the years following it that gave way to large scale immigrations to America from all over Asia. Since the early Filipino settlements were small and temporary, they are not much-discussed in the Asian American history as compared to the Asian immigrations starting in the nineteenth century. Filipinos have been in America for a very long time; their immigration patterns have mainly been categorized into four di erent waves. Each wave of immigration had it's own reasons and led to Filipino settlements in either Hawaii or mainland American states such as Louisiana, California, and
Alaska. However, their experiences varied with respect to era and location; most of them experienced harsh working conditions, hostilities and racism while others felt much like home and were treated with respect and dignity.
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For many centuries, Philippines remained under colonial control; it was rst colonized by
Spain from 1521-1898 and then by the United States from 1898-1946. In the documentary
Filipino Americans: Discovering Their Past for the Future," by director John Wehman, we see that the rst wave of immigration can be traced back to the 16th century. With the inau- guration of the gall...
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...ions with Mexicans
(Takaki, 323). These strikers were attacked and arrested but they succeeded in raising wages.
The journey of Filipino Americans has not been easy at all. They faced numerous trials and tribulations at every step. They came to the American land thinking that the American people regarded them as their Little Brown Brothers." However, they were treated with hostility when they reached America. The experiences of these Filipino immigrants were mostly common if they belonged to the American mainland, but were di erent from the experiences of those living on the Hawaiian islands. This male dominated workforce mainly worked in agriculture and as domestic servants and in sh canneries, basically doing tasks which the white labor force did not want to do. They were subjected to numerous troubles, however, they stood their ground and fought those problems.
In Salinas Valley around the 1850s, gold was found by a man named James W. Marshall in California. The first people to hear and be familiar with the “Gold Rush” were the people in Oregon, Hawaii, and Latin America who started to flock to the state. Everyone told and the word spread which led around 300,000 people to California from the US. At first, gold was found on the ground and was to be picked up. Later on, gold was discovered from streams and riverbeds.
The English immigrants are given a brief introduction as the first ethnic group to settle in America. The group has defined the culture and society throughout centuries of American history. The African Americans are viewed as a minority group that were introduced into the country as slaves. The author depicts the struggle endured by African Americans with special emphasis on the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement. The entry of Asian Americans evoked suspicion from other ethnic groups that started with the settlement of the Chinese. The Asian community faced several challenges such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and the mistreatment of Americans of Japanese origin during World War II. The Chicanos were the largest group of Hispanic peoples to settle in the United States. They were perceived as a minority group. Initially they were inhabitants of Mexico, but after the Westward expansion found themselves being foreigners in their native land (...
In the years from 1860 through 1890, the prospect of a better life attracted nearly ten million immigrants who settled in cities around the United States. The growing number of industries produced demands for thousands of new workers and immigrants were seeking more economic opportunities. Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America.
Beginning in the mid-19th century, Chinese immigration to America was influenced by both the "pull" of California's Gold Rush and the""push" created by China's impoverished conditions. Years of drought, floods, disease, and famine ravaged China, a country already burdened with over-population and internal instability. European and American exploits into the region further exacerbated China's economic, political, and social problems. Chinese peasants, particularly in the rural Pearl River Delta area in the southeastern province of Guangdong, were desperate for relief. They began to migrate to urban centers in search of employment and survival. When this proved insufficient, the Chinese migrated to Southeast Asia and the Pacific Region. Word soon reached China that "Gum Saan," the "Gold Mountain" as the Chinese referred to America, was a land of opportunity for those seeking a better life.
。Li Xiaobing, Sun Yi, Li Xiaoxiao, Chinese in America: from History to Present, Sichuan People's Press, Sichuan, 2003
The Asian-Americans settlement patterns were shaped by many decades of economic and social development in the United States. Since the Asian-American group is so large, it is often discussed in different ethnic subgroups. These various ethnic groups have many faced different struggles upon settling in America. Some of these struggles include significant racial discrimination in the workplace, low wages, and harassment, and violence. Despite the differences, most of these immigrants were drawn to America for better career and educational opportunities. Nevertheless, these immigrants have made numerous sacrifices, such as leaving their homeland in order to provide the best support for themselves and their family. The differences in settlement patterns over time can be seen through the ethnic groups: Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, and Japanese
- Asian American history is the history of ethnic and “racial groups in the United States who are of Asian descent. Spickard (2007) shows that the ‘Asian American’ was an idea invented in the 1960s to bring together the Chinese, Japanese, and the Filipino Americans for strategic political purposes”. Soon other Asian-origin groups, such as Koreans, Vietnamese, Hmongs, and South Asian Americans, were added."For example,
Long before the Gold Rush of 1849, the Chinese had known about the wealth that lay in America, or “the Mountain of Gold” (Sung 1-4; Howard 225). Legend told of a place where the precious metal was bountiful. They dismissed this until a few daring men found wealth in America. Many were drawn to the prospect of easy money and by 1850 nearly 25,000 Chinese had immigrated to California (Sung 5; Daley 26-27). Some searched the deserted land claims for overlooked gold, while other Chinese were hired by successful gold miners as cooks, houseboys, gardeners, farmers, and laundrymen (Sung 10-11; Howard 224-226). Unfortunately th...
This article focused mainly the emergence of the first people in America: Who they are, where they came from and how they got to America. He discussed three main routes as to how they arrived in America, none of which were without criticisms. In trying to determine whom the first people in America are, Hadingham began with the Clovis points and their creators, the Clovis people, who lived about 12,500 to 13,500 years ago, and tried to trace their origin.
Cao, Lan, and Himilce Novas. Everything you need to know about Asian American history. New York: Plume, 1996. Print.
Throughout their history in America, Asian immigrants have struggled in many different ways to encourage this country to accept and respect the diversity of its citizens. Through efforts in labor strikes and military aid such as that in World War II, the American society has gradually moved to accept racial minorities. Asian today have much more freedom than when they first began traveling across the Pacific. However, many still find that they are unjustly viewed by society and treated as “strangers from a different shore” (474).
There is quite a difference between “New” immigration and “Old” immigration in which, the old immigrants came from Northern and Western Europe such as, Ireland, Germany, Great Britain, and Scandinavian countries before 1890. They arrived when the frontiers were open to them, in which they settled down on farms. On the other hand, “New” immigrations occurred at a later time, particularly after 1890, where immigra...
A continuing high birthrate accounted for most of the increase in population, but by the 1840’s the tides of immigration were adding hundreds of thousands more. Before this decade, immigrants had been flowing in at a rate of 60,000 a year ; but suddenly the influx was tripled in the 1840’s and then quadrupled in the 1850’s. During these two feverish decades, over a million and a half Irish, and nearly as many Germans, swarmed down the gang planks. Why did they come? The immigrants came partly because Europe seemed to be running out of room. The population of the Old World more than doubled in the nineteenth century, and Europe began to generate a seething pool of apparently "Surplus" people. They were displaced and footloose in their homelands before they felt the tug of the American magnet. Indeed at least as many people moved about within Europe as crossed the Atlantic. America benefited from these people churning changes but did not set then all in motion. Nor was the United States the sole beneficiary of the process : of the nearly 60 million people who abandoned Europe in the century after 1840, about 25 million went somewhere other than the United States.
Lai, H. Mark and Choy, Philip P. Outlines: History of the Chinese in America. San Francisco: Fong Brothers, 1971.
Around 1848 gold was discovered in the American River, which ran right through California. By 1849 tens of thousands of people from around the world mad...