Immigrant in United States had me thought a lot about immigrants, more specifically Korean immigrants. I chose to focus on Korean immigrants because the city that I come from, Orange County, California, has a large Asian population. I do have some friends that are actually from another country and I would hear comment about green card, immigrant acts, their home country, and citizenship status. My hometown is the one that influenced me to research about the history of Korean immigrant.
January 13, 1903, first group of Korean immigrants arrived to Hawaii for work and/or school. Korean immigrants grow only little by little. The unique part of that decade is Picture Brides. It is another term for mail-order bride. Korean male immigrants in United States at the time tend to get lonely and want to marry Korean woman. They would send pictures to Korea and find someone that is willing to marry him and move to United States (Women’s History in Public: “Picture Brides” of Hawaii). I find that quite unique and it’s actually common during early 1900s.
Due to an increasing population of Asian immigrants, governments created Immigrant Act of 1924, also known as Johnson Reed Act. The purpose of that act is to exclude all immigrants, especially Asians from entering to United States (Bureau of Public Affairs). Due to that act, it did actually decrease the numbers of immigrants from Asia, even the Picture Brides. Korean cannot immigrate to American for almost twenty-five years.
Fast-forwarding to late 1940s, I noticed that in the United States census, there’s a sudden increase number of Korean immigrants population. Based on my research, that’s when the Korean War started. There are series of events that happened during that time. June 25, 1...
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City, NY: NYU.
Immigration Act of 1924. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2013, U.S.
Department of States website: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-
1936/immigration-act
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2013, from
U.S. Department of States website: https://history.state.gov/milestones/19451952/immigration-act
Immigration Explorer. (2009, March 10). Retrieved November 3, 2013, from New York
Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html Korean War. (2013). In The Hutchinson Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/heliconhe/korean_war Post-War Years. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2013, from U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services website: http://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/agency-history/post-war-years
Born in 1894, Hee Kyung Lee grew up in Taegu, Korea. Although the details of her early life are not given, the reader can assume that she came from a decent middle class family because her parents had servants (Pai 2, 10). In the early 1900’s, Japan exercised immense control over Korea, which by 1910 was completely annexed. Her twenty-year-old sister and eighteen-year-old Lee were introduced to the picture bride system, an opportunity to escape the Japanese oppression (Pai 4). Unlike her older sister, Lee made the decision to immigrate to Hawaii in 1912 as a pictu...
Socially, those immigrants, especially Asian immigrants, were frequently the target of raids, boycotts, and scapegoats by the white mainstream. Legally, through formal denial of citizenship of Asians through Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese Internment Camp during the World War II, Ozawa v. United States (1922) and United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923), the Asian American communities were ripped out of their possessions and properties. The message of the government and Supreme Court was clear: membership to the U.S. was available for those who are both scientifically and commonsensically ‘white’ (What is an American?). One dimensionally, the decisions impacted the definition of whiteness, and fixed the racial relation of the U.S. to be between whites and African Americans; furthermore, the decision racialized Asians as unauthorized, inassimilable, and
Pearson, Lester B. "Documents on the Korean Crisis." University of Manitoba. January 24, 1951. http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/canada_war/tribune/website/clippings/korea/Documents_on_the_Korean_Crisis1.shtml (accessed December 18, 2011).
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope” (Brainy Quotes). Even though a nation agonizes over its collapse, it must never lose its optimistic views for the future. Korea was a nation that was annexed, however the determination for liberation was never diminished. Korea became a colony of Japan in 1910 for its natural resources and also for its territory which had an advantageous position, geographically. Thousands of Koreans who resisted annexation were killed by the Japanese military. During these years under the Japanese rule, the Koreans suffered greatly as the men were forced into extreme labor while the women were bounded into prostitution. Although the majority of Koreans detested the Japanese occupation, they were impotent against the Japanese harsh reign. Developments in industrial activities also took place, partially encouraged by the Japanese government, overall however the country’s citizens were living in destitution. Only the Japanese government was gaining resources and wealth, while Koreans were forced into harsh labor. In 1945, Korea was liberated from this sadistic rule partially due to its continuous efforts for freedom.
As America continued to recruit workers from other countries, they continually worried about an immigration problem. In 1924, the Federal government passed the Immigration Act which officially barred further immigration from Asia and Europe to the U.S.
-Despite the already severe legal and social restrictions on Asian immigration, some European Americans felt that immigration should be forbidden altogether with a specific Asian Exclusion Act. In arguments which seem familiar to modern followers of the immigration debate, Asians were accused of taking white jobs and causing social
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.
In the early 1900’s immigration was less and more complicated then today. It was easier to get in and harder to make a living. In “The Sun From America” by Isaac Singer it took time to make a living in America.
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 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).
The United States of America was founded on the idea that anyone could leave their destitution and ‘make it’ in America. This idea came to be called the American Dream; a phrase that was written into being around 1850. Not thirty years later, however, an entire immigrant group would be barred from entering the country, and that bar would last for sixty-one years. The Chinese Exclusion Act was put into law by President Chester Arthur in 1882 and repealed in 1943. During that period, all Chinese laborers were barred from immigrating to the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act stagnated the growth of Chinese Culture in the United States and led to the racial stigma that fueled racism against Japan in the Second World War.
Beginning in 1882 with the Chinese Exclusion Act, the United States stopped being a nation of immigrants and instead became a new type of nation, a gate-keeping nation. For the first time in its history, the United States did not welcome immigrants with open arms. As a result, the United States began to exert federal control over immigrants, which would change the ways Americans viewed and thought about race, immigration, and the nations’ identity as a whole.
In response to the World War I for the following years from the flow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Congress of United States passed a law to limit immigrations, which named Immigration Act of 1924 or the Johnson-Reed Act. The Immigration Act of 1924 was an Act use to limit the big number of immigration entry to the United States. The Immigration Act of 1924 only provided two percent immigration visas from 1980s national census. Asians were not allowed to immigrate to the United States.
Linda Sue Park is the daughter of Korean Immigrants. Her first published work was a haiku, when she was nine and was published by Trailblazer children’s magazine. Her love of reading changed to a love of writing. She published poems all throughout high school. In something about the Author it says “Drawing on her Korean heritage, Park sets her stories in Korea’s past... ” (2013). She graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in English. After college she did not pursue creativity writing until 1990. She got married and had two children.