The earliest form of racial discrimination against Asian Americans was encountered during the California Gold Rush. The Gold Rush attracted Chinese immigrants who came to California to fill the high demand for laborers. However, as more and more Chinese immigrated to California and the lower-paying labor jobs were filled, the Chinese began filling higher-paying positions typically held by Whites. As a result, an anti-Chinese Movement was formed followed by the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which prevented any additional Chinese immigration into the United States. Essentially, Chinese were discriminated against by the Whites due to fear of the Chinese taking over their jobs. After World War II, the federal government ended the 1882 ban on Chinese immigration and gave citizenship to Chinese Americans born abroad (Charles and Guryan 507).
In relation to workplace discrimination, wages rank among the issues that affect working Asian-Americans. According to ChangHwan Kim and Author Sakamoto, Asian Americans earn 8% lower wages compared to their White counterparts. Furthermore, they also found out that education did not significantly improve the wage earning situation for Asian Americans. Asian American males with college degrees still earn a lower wage compared to a White male with a similar level of education. Although the 8% difference may not seem to be much, it is a clear indication that racial discrimination for Asian Americans still exists through wage rates (Charles and Guryan 509).
Debate on whether Asians are subjected to workplace discrimination based on their race has been raging on for years. The research findings on this issue have been varied. For instance, Cabezas and Kawaguchi (1988) showed that fore...
... middle of paper ...
...r 2013
Social Problems New Mysoclab with E-text Access Card Package Books a La Carte Edition. N.P.: Pearson College Div, 2012. Print.
Black Unemployment Rate Is Consistently Twice That of Whites." Pew Research Center RSS. N.P., 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
Austin, Algernon. "The Economic Policy Institute." Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute, 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
Blank Rebecca, Marilyn Dabady, and Constance Citro. Measuring Racial Discrimination. National Academies Press, 2004.
Cohen, Y and Zach. T. (1997). The Labor Market status of Immigrants: Effects of the Unemployment Rate at Arrival and Duration of Residence. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 50(2): 289-303.
Hellerstein, J., McIrney, M. and Neumark, D. (2009). "Spatial Mismatch, Immigrant Networks, and Hispanic Employment in the U.S.," NBER Working Paper No. 15398.
Many came for gold and job opportunities, believing that their stay would be temporary but it became permanent. The Chinese were originally welcomed to California being thought of as exclaimed by Leland Stanford, president of Central Pacific Railroad, “quiet, peaceable, industrious, economical-ready and apt to learn all the different kinds of work” (Takaki 181). It did not take long for nativism and white resentment to settle in though. The Chinese, who started as miners, were taxed heavily; and as profits declined, went to work the railroad under dangerous conditions; and then when that was done, work as farm laborers at low wages, open as laundry as it took little capital and little English, to self-employment. Something to note is that the “Chinese laundryman” was an American phenomenon as laundry work was a women’s occupation in China and one of few occupations open to the Chinese (Takaki 185). Chinese immigrants were barred from naturalized citizenship, put under a status of racial inferiority like blacks and Indians as with “Like blacks, Chinese men were viewed as threats to white racial purity” (188). Then in 1882, due to economic contraction and racism Chinese were banned from entering the U.S. through the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese were targets of racial attacks, even with the enactment of the 1870 Civil Rights Act meaning equal protection under federal law thanks to Chinese merchants lobbying Congress. Chinese tradition and culture as well as U.S. condition and laws limited the migration of women. Due to all of this, Chinese found strength in ethnic solidarity as through the Chinese Six Companies, which is considered a racial project. Thanks to the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco, the Chinese fought the discriminatory laws by claiming citizenship by birth since the fires
White men had higher hourly earnings than all except Asian men in 2015. In 2015, average hourly wages for black and Hispanic men were $15 and $14, respectively, compared with $21 for white men. Only the hourly earnings of Asian men $24 outpaced those of white men. Among women across all races and ethnicities, hourly earnings lag behind those of white men and men in their own racial or ethnic group. But the hourly earnings of Asian and white women ($18 and $17, respectively) are higher than those of black and Hispanic women ($13 and $12, respectively) – and also higher than those of black and Hispanic men. While the hourly earnings of white men continue to outpace those of women, all groups of women have made progress in narrowing this wage gap since 1980, reflecting at least in part a significant increase in the education levels and workforce experience of women over time. White and Asian women have narrowed the wage gap with white men to a much greater degree than black and Hispanic women. For example, white women narrowed the wage gap in median hourly earnings by 22 cents from 1980 (when they earned, on average, 60 cents for every dollar earned by a white man) to 2015 (when they earned 82 cents). By comparison, black women only narrowed that gap by 9 cents, from earning 56 cents for every dollar earned by a white man in 1980 to 65 cents today. Asian women followed roughly the trajectory of white women (but earned a
As gold discoveries slowed down and the Civil War gradually came to an end, the First Transcontinental Railroad was finally completed between Omaha and Sacramento. Over time, unemployment began rising across the country, especially in California, where a vast majority of Chinese immigrants resided in. The welcoming of Chinese immigrants slowly began to wear off as the white working class perceived a threat to their livelihood that these immigrants could potentially cause, leading to an increase in racial tensions. These growing tensions culminated in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and eventually closed U.S. borders to all Chinese laborers, with the exception of ethnic Chinese individuals. This paper highlights the significant impact of large-scale Chinese immigration to California during the Gold Rush, the lasting contributions made by the Chinese towards Western ...
In American, there is a big problem that is racial discrimination. Because the long-standing institutionalized discrimination results in this problem. So what is institutionalized discrimination? How has discrimination become institutionalized for various ethnic subpopulations in the United States?
The social climate in California was very unwelcoming to non-American immigrants from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. Racial prejudice against Asian immigrants began during the Gold Rush in California in 1848. Japanese immigrants were heavily recruited in the mining industry, however this caused hostility among the whites and Californios; with a more diverse population competition increased causing a white mans job to be taken, old miners were pushed out and for the first time California Indians were out numbered. As the population increased and became diverse anti-Japanese groups emerged and created movements and networks to limit the Japanese immigrants access to legal and economic equality with whites.
Institutions in the businesses sector are swarming in racial discrimination, much of which is covert and difficult to detect and prove. Racial discrimination excludes, marginalizes and exploits those citizens who are discriminated against, ceasing any opportunity for economic progress and development. Under certain regulations some businesses are required to diversify their workplace by hiring certain amounts of people of color, but in reality these small quotas do not do much for the overall condition of the people who are being discriminated against. Businesses that fail to take action on racial discrimination tend to have lower levels of productivity. This stems from employees not being interested in working hard, or because people with exceptional talents and skills choose to shy away from certain places of employment due to the fear of racial discrimination. Employees who feel wronged also tend to switch jobs, forcing the organization to spend more time and resources on hiring and training new employees, besides coping with the low productivity of a new employee. (Nayab)The effects of racial discrimination in the American work force could be identified with funded research on the topic. With ample data employers will be able to better understand the negative affects that racial discrimination have
When the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law in May 1882, it was followed by a rapidly decreasing amount of new immigrants to the United States. Regardless of problems that the United States attempted to solve with the Act, violent massacre and persecution of Chinese people in the United States continued. Because of this, many Chinese immigrants that did stay in America continued on for years to receive prejudice and racism in the labor market and cultural society. This then continued to force many Chinese immigrants further and further down the path of segregation and into the protection of Chinatowns and poverty, counteracting the great American idea of the “melting pot.”
In chapter thirty five, author Shelley Sang-Hee Lee explains that “Immigration is an important part of our understanding of U.S. social experience” (Hee 128). Asian immigrants bring their diverse culture, language and custom from various Asian countries. They help improve American economic development. Also, they play an important role in American society. The first Asian immigration flow is the Chinese Immigration in the mid-19th century to work in the gold mines and railroads. The Asian immigrant population grew rapidly between 1890 and 1910 (Hee 130). The increasing of population of Asian immigrants have brought a lot of problems. Many of them were facing the issue of ethnicity, discrimination, and the process of assimilation. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which banned the immigration of Chinese laborers and proscribed foreign-born Chinese from naturalized citizenship and the Asian Exclusion Act League in 1907 which limited the entry of Asian immigrants have reshaped the demographic of Asian immigrants in the U.S (Hing 45). With the rise of anti-Asian movements, many Asian immigrants were rejected from entering America or deported to their homeland. In the early history of immigration in America, the issue of deportation is an important part of the Asian American experience in the
The Chinese Exclusion Act allowed only Chinese immigrants that were merchants, diplomats, students, and very few others. The Chinese were discriminated in reaction to the large amounts of Chinese immigrants entering the United States. Americans feared
This discrimination initially began with the Naturalization Act of 1790, allowing free white-men of “good character” naturalization while excluding Native Americans, indentured servants, free Blacks, and Asians. In addition to extreme acts, the Chinese Exclusion Act, signed in 1882, had prohibited the Chinese from entering our country. Another example of the racism Asian-Americans faced occurred during World War II due to the war’s propaganda and the slurs that came about as a result of the war. The historical background of Asian-Americans and racism not only left scarring tendencies, but managed to transcend into modern society within a lower degree.
Though the Congress passed many constitutional amendments guaranteeing civil rights, Chinese immigrants were still segregated and discriminated against. Eventually in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, prohibiting any Chinese or Mongolian individuals from entering California. This act required Chinese who were not laborers to provide certification to show they were qualified to immigrate, defining deniable as skilled/unskilled laborers, and employed in mining. This made it extremely difficult for the Chinese to prove qualification to enter the state. In 1943, Congress had finally revoked this
In 2007, the White House issued this statement in hopes to influence a Congressional debate: “Immigration has a positive effect on the American economy as a whole and on the income of native-born American workers” (Pear). This statement relates to the idea that immigrants actually enhance the productivity of American workers and increase their earnings in a significant amount, estimated at $37 billion a year (Pear). This is just one way in which immigrants support economic development in the United States. Since the U.S. is an i...
One more problem with race relations in the United States is employers. Some bosses/CEO’s refuse to hire a certain race, which is discrimination – according to SAGE journal articles – because members of a particular group are being excluded from certain privileges. Another article also said that “During the fourth quarter of 2012, unemployment among whites stood at 6.3 percent; for Hispanics it was 9.8 percent; for blacks, 14.0 percent”, due to the fact that racial discrimination exists where success takes
Factors such as Chinese workers being chosen to work over other nationalities and some achieving success eventually pose a threat to other working men in America, which contributed to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and its extension in 1892. In 1865, business men recruited Chinese workers for the reason that they were good at what they did. Lee Chew stated “if you look at men working on the street you will find a supervisor for every four or five of them…they work as well as when left to themselves as they do when some one is looking at them.” This showed that Chinese workers worked smart, honest, and hard for a living, so most chose to hire them instead of other nationalities which was the rise of problems with immigrants.
Abstract- Racial discrimination happens all the time and most of us are unaware of it. The most common place for this to happen is in the workplace. Now people can be discriminated against because of their race, religion, or any other numerous things. Also, discrimination can occur during the job interview or even after you got the job. This paper will shoe the effects of racial discrimination and how it can be prevented. In addition there are some very important laws that deal specifically with discrimination, like the NAACP or Affirmative Action. These both will be discussed.