Chinese Immigration Dbq Essay

From the 1800’s to 1900’s, the Chinese struggled immensely to earn a place in America. They wanted the same as any other Irishman, German, or Englishman, a job to make money to survive. When Chinese people set foot into the U.S, they were not welcomed with open arms. Instead they were targeted and attacked. There were many disputes on whether these immigrants should be here or deported home. Around the 1870’s, many people took violent approaches toward them and caused a number of deaths. As the Chinese population increased to over 100,000 people, congress and president Chester A. Arthur decided to terminate them in 1822, resulting in a massive change. They felt like the image of America was slipping away because that image didn’t consist of Chinese immigrants.

As long as Chinese immigrants were entering America, trouble stirred.

They were harshly oppressed by everyone for the littlest things like the way they talked or the food they cooked. Often times, the immigrants were made a mockery of in entertainment, like in document A. The first document is a play, written in 1879 by a man named Henry Grimm, in San Francisco. The play is called, “The Chinese Must Go”: A Farce in Four Acts” and is basically a sum of common stereotypes Chinese people were faced with by ignorant people during this time period. The very first act is belittling to them because they speak in broken english and he drags this out. The majority of the scene is comparing a Chinese and American worker. It’s unfortunate how much aggression others had toward the Chinese and continued to have to push them out of the U.S because the fear of diversity. They saw how Chinese workers were taking over majority of jobs because the Americans grew lazy, and so this contributed to placing the Chinese Exclusion Act and extending it ten more

years.
In document C, it is a continuation of the feud of American and Chinese workers. A speech was given on August 16, 1888 at a mass meeting to the Workingmen’s Party of California. The workers wanted to make everyone aware of all of the Chinese workers because they were seen as a “great danger” to the rest. The rest of the speech says while the Americans were slacking, the Chinese were working away earning money. Chinese workers were conquering major industries and Americans feared this and decided change needed to occur and the Chinese needed to be put in their place. Another reason why a ban was placed on them. There were so many taking over jobs and whites felt threatened by them, wanting them gone.
The last document was written in 1903, once again revolving around the workmen, however the perspective comes from a Chinese immigrant, Lee Chew. He is the author of, “The Biography of a Chinaman.” In the biography, Chew shares his experience of being a Chinese man in America and how hard it was. He begins saying how there was never a need for the prejudice on Chinese people and the American men were basically frustrated because they couldn’t perform better at their jobs than the Chinese could. He mentions how the Chinese workers didn’t need supervision like the others did, they didn’t have to be babysat and reprimanded because they were drunk while working. Ultimately, he concludes with a thought. He is unsure how he could ever call this place home for the time being while he makes money to return to China with, when they are faced with these struggles. The Chinese Exclusion Act was an extreme attempt to be rid of immigrants. This was a time where racial inequality was a major problem and the U.S was more concerned with maintaining an image of purity, rather than helping Chinese immigrants.