Chinese Americans have experienced a very interesting and dynamic history in the United States. While it hasn’t always been a pleasant history, the Chinese in America have contributed greatly to the development of the country as well as the state of California. There are several events in United States history in which Chinese Americans have played a large role; including the building of the railroad and immigration laws.
In 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California. This discovery drew people not only from all over the country, but from all over the world. Chinese people traveled to California to try to strike it rich. The population of Chinese Americans grew quickly. At first, these Chinese Americans were accepted, but other American’s views towards the Chinese Americans began changing, and they gradually became a part of the labor force in the U.S.
One of the most well known contributions made by the Chinese to United States history is their work on the Transcontinental Railroad. There were two lines, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. These companies were each to build the railroad staring at one end and meet in the middle. The Central Pacific was to be the more challenging and physically exerting of the two. Their recruitment efforts, targeted mainly at white males came up short. White laborers began to demand higher pay and threatened to strike.
The Central Pacific railroad company began to explore other options. “By 1865, the number of Chinese in California reached close to fifty thousand, at least 90 percent of them young men” (Chang, 2004). These men were considered cheap labor, and there was no shortage of supply. The Chinese Americans were willing to work for less, and the railroad moguls used that to their advantage. The Central Pacific began to recruit Chinese workers and white laborers agreed to return if no Chinese laborers were hired. However, now the railroad men had the upper hand and they hired them anyway. This only served to strengthen the animosity between the white and Chinese laborers. Central Pacific began to send recruiters to China to bring more workers to the railroad. They docked in San Francisco, and were taken to Sacramento to begin work. (Chang, 2004).
A big chapter in the history of Chinese Americans is the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. May 6th, 1882 was the day the Chinese Exclusion Act was approved by Congress and President Arthur. The basic premise of this act was to place halt all Chinese labor immigration for ten years. This act required those who were not laborers to provide certification from the Chinese government stating that they were qualified to enter the U.S. Those who were excluded were defined as “skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining” (*National Archives website) This act also affected those Chinese already in the U.S. Chinese living in America were required to obtain certain certification to re-enter if they ever left the country, and they were also
The Act expired after ten years, in 1892. The act was extended for another ten years, this time called the Geary Act. It was made permanent in 1902, adding even more restrictions. It wasn’t until 1943 that all the acts were repealed, but there were only 105 Chinese immigrants allowed yearly. The Immigration Act of 1965 allowed “a limit of 170,000 immigrants from outside the Western Hemisphere could enter the United States, with a maximum of 20,000 from any one country.” (http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=47)
It was really interesting to research more about the injustices and restrictions that Chinese Americans faced-and these are just examples of the government. There were many, many, countless examples of racism and injustice from U.S. citizens of other nationalities.
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