Spencer Inglett Period 5 March 6th, 2017 The Persevering Immigrants Home Front The Chinese Americans were immediately compared with Japanese after the Pearl Harbor bombings that led to World War II, sparking racial tension. Chinese immigrants were monumental in building the transcontinental railroad, but even the most educated Chinese were often found competing for jobs in restaurants and laundromats. Andrew Kan said that “Chinese were treated worse than dog...young boys slap your faces and throw old vegetables at you” (Takaki 112). The Chinese were not the only immigrants that felt the racism, however. The Filipino Americans thought it would be easy to make a life in the United States, but they soon learned the difficulty. A majority …show more content…
This can apply to both the homefront and the battlefield. First, the groups overcame racism and prejudice, low wages and jobs, and the immigration process as a whole just to get a taste of the highly regarded “American Dream”. Furthermore, the immigrants were constantly bugging about acquiring that precious citizenship and often did not feel like true Americans because they lacked official citizenship. However, the enduring immigrants persevered and morphed this fear into motivation to work harder when the war came. When this came, all immigrants came running to register for the draft, eager to fight for their new home. Once they joined and fought side by side with American soldiers, the immigrants started to not fear the enemy and greatly assisted in helping the United States win the war by doing numerous foreign tasks, such as decoding Japanese propaganda. Word Count - 315 Words Works Cited Danzer, Gerald A. The Americans. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Web. Editorial. "100 De Ani De La Prima Interzicere a Imigranţilor în SUA. Ne întoarcem în Trecut?"Historia. DISQUS, 23 Feb. 2017. Web. 25 Feb. 2017. Takaki, Ronald T. Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 2001. Print. McNamara, Keith, and Batalova, Jeanne. "Filipino Immigrants in the United States."migrationpolicy.org Migration Policy Institute, 21 July 2015. Web. 23 Feb.
Michael C. C. Adams' book, The Best War Ever: America and World War II, attempts to dispel the numerous misconceptions of the Second World War. As the title suggests, Americans came out of the war with a positive view of the preceding five turbulent years. This myth was born from several factors. Due to the overseas setting of both theaters of the war, intense government propaganda, Hollywood's glamorization, and widespread economic prosperity, Americans were largely sheltered form the brutal truth of World War II. Even to this day, the generation of World War II is viewed as being superior in morality and unity. The popular illusion held that 'there were no ethnic or gender problems, families were happy and united, and children worked hard in school and read a great number of books.' (115)
One particular ethnic group that suffered severe discrimination was the Chinese people. They first came to America for several reasons. One of them was the gold rush in California in 1849, in which they were included in a group of immigrants called the “Forty-Niners” (179). From gold mining, they switched to other jobs with resulted in the rise of anti-Chinese sentiments. People felt that Chinese people were taking the jobs away from them, because Chinese people worked for much smaller salaries that businesses preferred. This mindset gave way to the creation of The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, which prohibits more Chinese immigrants from coming to America. In addition, the act states “no State or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship”. Like the Naturalization Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to hinder Chinese people from becoming citizens so that America could remain homogenously white (186). It also aimed to stop Chinese people from establishing a bigger community in the country in hopes of eliminating the threat of competition to their white counterparts (186). Like African-Americans, Chinese people were considered racially inferior and have struggled to prove that they were worthy to be called true Americans, rather than
Takaki, Ronald. Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II. N.p.: Little Brown and, n.d. Print.
The United States and World War II. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. Print. The. Feis, Herbert.
“For African Americans, World War II was a fight on two fronts. It was a struggle to prevail over the nation’s external enemies and a battle against a familiar home-grown foe: bigotry” (Allen). When World War II began in Europe in 1939, blacks demanded better treatment than they had experienced during World War I. Black newspaper editors insisted during 1939 and 1940 that black support for this war effort would depend on fair treatment. They demanded that black soldiers be trained in all military roles and that black civilians have equal opportunities to work in war industries at home.
Inevitably, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, that began World War II, Japanese-Americans were frowned upon and stereotyped because of their descent. However, Japanese immigrants contributed to economic expansion of the United States. Whites resented the Japanese immigrants, but reaped economic profit from the Japanese-American residents’ discipline and hard work. Japanese-Americans of this time seem to be attacked; however, they choose to uphold their disconnection with the rest of the Americans. Many Japanese felt they had superiority over Americans, creating tension and disconnection.
American society, like that of Germany, was tainted with racial bigotry and prejudice. The Japanese were thought of as especially treacherous people for the attack on Pearl Harbor. The treachery was obviously thought to reside in ...
o Collier, Christopher, and James Lincoln, Collier. The United States in World War II (1941-1945). New York: Benchmark Books, 2002.
There are currently 11.7 million immigrants living in the U.S. The United States is now again being named the land of immigrants. The new century has been introduced to the illegal immigrant. They are desperate to get into the American culture and are forced to disobey the laws of government to assimilate themselves in America. People come over because they have family, jobs or want a better life. This may cause some problems for Americans. Certain Americans believe immigration will cause the economy to drop, drop to wages, and job loss due to cheap labor, etc. But no one has thought of a solution for immigration that will work effectively.
In order to success on the home-front and to be able to support the troops, African Americans and women were given identities to help with victory. In order to success on the warfront, rapid effort of expansion in both industrial and military power was needed. On both the home and warfront, victory highly depended on the continuous provision of warfare such as ammunition, guns, tanks, naval vessels and planes as, “The necessity of winning the war opened the economy to millions of black men and women who surged into defense plants” (African Americans and the Military: World War II and Segregation). Without the support of other ethnic races and involvement of typical household women, the American Dream would not have been achievable. For the sole purpose of achieving that well desired dream alongside the American pursuit of happiness, Americans allowed discriminated individuals to support their victory as it would not have been possible without them. Through unequal opportunity presented by Americans within the union, the nation was physically and physiologically left disrupted and shattered by varying opinions through discrimination and
Erika, Lee. "U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues." Journal of American Ethnic History. Vol. 20. Issue 2 (2001): n. page. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
WWI was initially viewed as a European war, so far removed from the lives of African Americans. Though as the US declared war on Germany in 1917, African Americans optimistically saw an opportunity to assert their rights as citizens, demand equality and prove their loyalty through enlisting and fighting for their country. This was supported by a number of notable Black activists including W.E.B Du bois who urged African Americans to ‘close ranks’ with the whites. One of the lasting impacts of both world wars was the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the industrialised and urban North, which dramatically shifted the geographical centre of African American population and changed the racial balance of the country. War related industries such as weapon production grew exponentially in the...
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.
Immigration has been a topic that has caused multiple discussions on why people migrate from one country to another, also how it affects both the migraters and the lands they go. Immigration is the movement from one location to another to live there permanently. This topic has been usually been associated with sociology to better explain how it affects people, cultures and societies. Sociology has three forms of thinking that are used to describe and analyze this topic. There are three forms of thinking that are used to tell and describe immigration to society; structural functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and conflict theory. Each of these theories uses different forms of thinking and rationality to describe and explain socio topics.
...xperienced harsh discrimination and even legal exclusion from our country. They were blamed for the lack of job opportunities and low pay of jobs and received extremely unfair treatment that labeled them as an inferior race. However, the inter-ethnic tension blinded us from seeing how the immigrants were contributing to our country in positive ways. They not only created economic and social gains for us, but also opened our minds to a whole new way of life and prepared us for the multicultural years to come. With all of the help and modernization that they contributed to our country, the racism and discrimination that the Chinese immigrants received day-in and day-out was not rightly justified or deserved.