Chapter 9

Chapter 9 starts off by stating more than 90% of immigrants were Europeans. The other immigrants were not necessarily the focus of studies and argued that Chinese immigrants should be considered sojourners. Canadians were another group of immigrants that were considered to be invisible because of the location and the ability to go back and forth between countries.

The Chinese were the first immigrants from Asia. They came over mostly due to the Gold Rush in 1849. Most of these Chinese immigrants came to America with the intent to return back to their home country. The beginning of the 19^th century had an import of un-free Chinese labor that were surrogates for African slaves. This was also known as the “coolie trade”. These Chinese slaves were treated extremely poorly, some were even worked to death on purpose before they would be freed. The Chinese started to pay their way to the states by borrowing money from Chinese moneylenders. The sex ratio was extremely skewed. By the 1880s Chinese males outnumbered females by more than 20 to 1. The Chinese settled mostly in the West, mainly in California. San Francisco became a heavily populated Chinese area, as we know today as Chinatown. The Chinatown in SF was the first Chinatown established and has not changed since it first started. These Chinatowns were places where immigrants lives, worked, shopped, and socialized. They were very overcrowded. In the beginning, the Chinese worked in mining, but later expanded to agriculture, manufacturing of shoes and clothing, and laundry workers. Some Chinese also owned or operated farms which helped to develops new crops. The top job in the Chinese American world was being a merchant because they became the power elite of the community. Churches were not as important to the Chinese and very few were Christians. To the Chinese, the family was most important and are united by last name. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 stated that Chinese were aliens and were ineligible for citizenship. For some time, the Chinese were the only ethnic group that would not freely immigrate to the US. When the 14^th Amendment was added, it allowed Chinese Americans born in the US to be citizens. After Chinese could emigrate to the states again, it was common for a man to get successful in the states and then send for his wife to join him.

                The Japanese had their own struggles as well. The first Japanese immigrants were political refugees in 1869 and mostly settled near Sacramento. Some Japanese were also brought to Hawaii in order to work in the sugar plantations. There was little immigration to the states, before 1942 fewer than 300,000 Japanese came to the states. Males were majority of the immigrants, with women only being a third of the population and almost of quarter of those were under the age of 5 years. 17.1% of Japanese immigrants were under the age of 5 years. The Japanese would be younger and more of them would be American born. The main focus of the immigrants was agriculture and eventually replaced the Chinese in some areas. Back in Japan, many families were in the farming business but government regulations began to take away the land. Northern California was the popular place for Japanese at first, but by 1930 more than 35,000 Japanese lived in LA which was more than a quarter of the nation’s Japanese population. The Japanese were very successful in what they did and contributed to California. However, whites did not welcome them, most likely due to the success Japan had as a nation. There would have been an exclusion act, but Americans were intimidated by the Japanese military. President Roosevelt did not care for the Japanese and created an agreement with Japan called the Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907-1908 where the Japanese government did not issue passports to Japanese laborers. This act only banned males, so an increase of female immigrants hit the states. These women were immigrate to the states to be with their husband. Other females were part of a “picture bride marriage” and would travel to the states without even meeting their husband. Most of the Japanese worked in agriculture and outdoor activities. The Japanese government encouraged the Japanese to adopt the Western culture and educate their children. Religion was very diverse among this group. A majority of them were Buddhist and continued to practice this, but a large amount of them were Christians and would convert.

                French Canadians were pulled into migration to the states because of the economical options provided by the states. These were the only immigrants whose migration was chiefly accomplished by rail. These immigrants focused on agriculture but later moved towards textile mills and other factories that were the heart of New England’s economy. We are not sure how many French Canadians came to the states because the families would go back and forth. The acculturation of this group occurred more slowly because of the constant migration between the states and Canada. There was a strong desire to keep their language alive. The French Canadians clashed with Irish immigrants because of the disagreements over priests and forms of worship. These struggles brought on the shift from French language to English speaking. This was seen as an attack on Quebec. The French Canadians had one of the lowest rates of naturalization of any American ethnic group.