Buckminster Fuller, a renowned philosopher once stated that “we must progress to the stage of doing all the right things for all the right reasons instead of doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons” (Cosmography). Much of this statement holds true as the Chinese, Japanese, and African Americans continued to face issues in the structure of race relations even after the war. Although historians can argue that World War II abolished the archaic policies and provided new opportunities, the discrimination perpetuates, just not overtly through politics. For the Chinese, assimilating into American society proved to be a difficult task ever since the beginning because of anti-Chinese sentiments and laws. Actions such as limiting the involvement …show more content…
For example, Chinese community leaders constructed a better Chinatown after the 1906 earthquake, “but behind the facade of the ‘Oriental City,’ … was a ghetto plagued by overcrowding, substandard housing, and poor sanitation” (68). Engrossed in presenting a tourist attraction, the city planners did not account for the housing of Chinese families. Correspondingly, many of the Chinese Americans continued to live in a state of penury without much improvement in living conditions. Because of these economic pressures, Chinese girls experience a great deal of subjugation. Viewing education as a cost, parents made their daughters “enter the labor force, where they worked at the same menial, low-wage jobs as their immigrant mothers” (136). From this action many Chinese women remained uneducated, limiting their participation in higher skilled jobs. Also, the Protestant missionaries believed that domestic work was appropriate for Chinese girls “because it prepared them for their future role as homemakers” (136). Even though this provided opportunities for Chinese women to work, they received low wages and condescension. In addition to problems with housing and employment, Chinese Americans did not encounter any better conditions at school. While many could not afford higher education, the few that could faced discrimination; “often treated as foreign students, Chinese Americans were not permitted to join fraternities and sororities” (128). As a result, Chinese students resorted to creating their own clubs and social activities, which further segregated the Asians from the
Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese family were considered as a shame for the family. The sons of the family were given more honour than the daughters. In addition, some daughters were even discriminated. “If you want a place in this world ... do not be born as a girl child” (Choy 27). The girls from the Chinese family were considered useless. They were always looked down upon in a family; they felt as if the girls cannot provide a family with wealth. Chinese society is throwing away its little girls at an astounding rate. For every 100 girls registered at birth, there are 118 little boys in other words, nearly one seventh of Chinese girl babies are going missing (Baldwin 40). The parents from Chinese family had a preference for boys as they thought; boys could work and provide the family income. Due to Chinese culture preference to having boys, girls often did not have the right to live. In the Chinese ethnicity, the family always obeyed the elder’s decision. When the family was trying to adapt to the new country and they were tryin...
For nearly a century, spanning from the latter half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, Chinese-Americans and Chinese immigrants endured discrimination from the United States government and its people. The Chinese are another group of people that were treated as less than in America’s long history of legal racism. The Chinese experience is often overlooked as other
Lee, Erika. At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2003.
Chinese culture has played a very important role in the history of the United States; however, many Chinese Americans struggled with their identities, and other various struggles. To start, many Chinese Americans struggled with feeling inferior to the white race: “Those Chinese Americans who were exposed to a segregated but American education very quickly became aware of their inferior status. Many became ashamed of their appearance, status, and culture. Self-hatred and the need to be accepted by white society became their primary obsession,” (“Chinese Americans”, Para. 35). This quote shows how Americans were cruel and discriminatory over Chinese Americans. The way that the Chinese culture was looked upon was very unthinkable. Another struggle Chinese Americans faced in the assimilation into American culture is having to “separate” themselves from the white
As the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, so did the strength of anti-Chinese sentiment among other workers in the American economy. This finally resulted in legislation that aimed to limit future immigration of Chinese workers to the United States, and threatened to sour diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
By 1980, the majority of immigrants in America came from Asia and Latin America, with over 30,000 immigrating from China (Tindall 1344). Many of these Chinese immigrants arrived to experience a democracy immediately following the Communist victory in 1949, while others simply came to seek higher education for subjects they could not pursue in a developing country, each reason fueled by a desire to achieve the American Dream (Liu). Despite the promise of the American Dream, children of Chinese immigrants suffer from many problems arising from the many stereotypes and their misrepresentation as a “model minority” by native-born Americans. Amy Tan exemplifies this discrepancy between Chinese and American views on Chinese American children in The Joy Luck Club.
Chinese-Americans authors Amy Tan and Gish Jen have both grappled with the idea of mixed identity in America. For them, a generational problem develops over time, and cultural displacement occurs as family lines expand. While this is not the problem in and of itself, indeed, it is natural for current culture to gain foothold over distant culture, it serves as the backdrop for the disorientation that occurs between generations. In their novels, Tan and Jen pinpoint the cause of this unbalance in the active dismissal of Chinese mothers by their Chinese-American children.
Oftentimes the children of immigrants to the United States lose the sense of cultural background in which their parents had tried so desperately to instill within them. According to Walter Shear, “It is an unseen terror that runs through both the distinct social spectrum experienced by the mothers in China and the lack of such social definition in the daughters’ lives.” This “unseen terror” is portrayed in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club as four Chinese women and their American-born daughters struggle to understand one another’s culture and values. The second-generation women in The Joy Luck Club prove to lose their sense of Chinese values, becoming Americanized.
The first Chinese immigrants to arrive in America came in the early 1800s. Chinese sailors visited New York City in the 1830s (“The Chinese Experience”); others came as servants to Europeans (“Chinese Americans”). However, these immigrants were few in number, and usually didn’t even st...
[6] Ellis, Henry. From the Kennebec to California; Reminiscences of a California Pioneer. Part 5.
It is hard to believe that after electing a minority president, the United States of America can still be seen as a vastly discriminatory society. A question was posed recently after a viewing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech of whether his dream has become a reality. After consideration, a majority of the viewers said no. Although many steps have been taken to improve racial equality in America, there is still no way to legislate tolerance. Dr. King’s message of equality for all has been lost in a black and white struggle over the taken meaning of his context. Until our society can allow all people to live in peace we will never truly achieve King’s dream. Case in point, referring to President Obama as our "our First Black President" should not be considered a statement of pride over how far we have come. Placing this racial qualifier, even in a positive light, only serves to point out his minority status, not the fact that he is the President of the United States. According to Dr. King's dream, a man or woman, black or white, would be viewed as President without qualifying their differences from mainstream America.
Before the US entered World War II, the west coast of America was riddled with racism and prejudice against Asian-Americans; especially in laws like the Chinese exclusion act of 1882 and the California Alien Land Law of 1913 which mainly targeted Japanese immigrants. Then with Imperial Japans seemingly unprovoked and unjustified attack of pearl harbor, it was easy for Americans to justify hysteria and their pre-existing prejudices against American citizens of Japanese descent. It was to the point that even being 1/16 Japanese could brand you as a possible treat to the nation. Then on the incredibly baseless, possibility of an internal Japanese threat Executive Order 9066 was enacted; declaring most of the west coast a war zone and declaring the region under martial law. The Order made it legal to send Japanese Americans to
Chinese immigrants to the United States of America have experienced both setbacks and triumphs in the quest to seek a better life from themselves and their families. First arriving in America in the mid-1800s to seek jobs and escape poor conditions in their home country, the Chinese found work as labors and settled in areas known as Chinatowns (Takaki 181-183). In the early years, these immigrants experienced vast legal racism and sexism as women were forbidden to enter the country and the Chinese Exclusion Act prevented laborers from entering the country for years (Takaki 184-192). Today, the modern Chinese-American experience has changed from the experience of early Chinese immigrants. Many immigrants enter the country seeking better education as well employment (Yung, Chang, and Lai 244). Immigrant women have made great strides in achieving equality to men. Despite advancements, many immigrants still experience discrimination on some level. One example of a modern Chinese immigrant is “Ruby”, a college student who, with her parents, immigrated from Hong Kong to a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island, 7 years ago. Ruby’s story shares insight on the modern Chinese-American experience and the struggles this group still faces. Chinese immigrants have long maintained a presence in the United States, and despite many struggles, have eventually began to reap the benefits of this great nation.
The United States of America is the place of opportunity and fortune. “Many immigrants hoped to achieve this in the United States and similar to other immigrants many people from the Asian Pacific region hoped to make their fortune. They planned to either return to their homelands or build a home in their new country (Spring, 2013).” For this reason, life became very complicated for these people. They faced many challenges in this new country, such as: classifying them in terms of race and ethnicity, denying them the right to become naturalized citizens, and rejecting them the right of equal educational opportunities within the school systems. “This combination of racism and economic exploitation resulted in the educational policies to deny Asians schooling or provide them with segregated schooling (Spring, 2013).”This was not the country of opportunity and fortune as many believed. It was the country of struggle and hardship. Similarly, like many other immigrants, Asian Americans had the determination to overcome these obstacles that they faced to prove that the United States was indeed their home too.
In the history of the United States of America, immigration has always been involving racial discrimination, especially towards the Chinese people. From the time when Gold Rush started in the West Coast, the Chinese immigrants were experiencing both physical and verbal offenses from Americans. As the Jean Kwok writes in the book Girl In Translation, the narrator Kimberly and other main characters living as Chinese immigrants indeed profoundly experience all kinds of inconspicuous discrimination in both of their educational path and their careers even though the political policies that directly discriminated the Chinese people have already been alleviated.