Lesson Plan: The Immigrant Experience

LessonPlan:TheImmigrantExperience Lesson designer (s): Jennifer Dorrough; Phyllis Tschudi-Rose
School: Sprayberry
Lesson Origin: Original with (**Excerpts from Stanford History Education group)
Georgia Performance Standard: SSUSH12a; SSUSH14a
Essential Question: (Learning Question)
Analyze the experiences of European and Asian immigrants through a comparison of their
treatments at Ellis Island and Angel Island.
Materials: (include at least one primary source)
PowerPoint for background notes (optional)
Textbook for background reading (optional)
Audio/Video clips:
http://sun.menloschool.org/~mbrody/ushistory/angel/citizenship/index.html
Documents A – P (attached) are for student folders:
Table of Contents
Document A: Anti-Chinese Play (included in Stanford lesson attachment)
Document B: Political Cartoon, 1871 (included in Stanford lesson attachment)
Document C: Framing the Issue….guiding questions
Document D: Autobiography of a Chinese Immigrant (included in Stanford lesson attachment)
Document E: European Immigration as a Threat: cartoons
Document F: Chinese Immigration as a Threat: cartoons
Document G: Inspecting and Testing Immigrants: photos
Document H: Selections: “Mental Examination of Immigrants…”
Document I: Selections: “Hyphenated Americanism”
Document J: Letter from M. Goodstein
Document K: A Sample Interrogation of a “Paper Son”
Document L: Byron Lee, Discovering a Paper Son
Document M: Poetry from Angel Island
Document N: Timeline of Chinese Immigration and Exclusion (included in Stanford lesson
attachment)
Document O: Ships Manifest, S.S. Wuerttemberg
Document P: Transcript of Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Common Core Historical Literacy Standards/Skills (LDC Module)
What Tasks? Comparison and Cause-Effect from Literacy Design Collaborative
What Skills? Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and
secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the
text as a whole. (CCRRI1: ELACC11-12RH1)
-
-
Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation
best accords with textual evidence acknowledging where the text leaves matters
uncertain. (CCRRI3: ELACC11-12RH3)
Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content (CCRW1: ELACC1112WHST1)
What Instructions?
-
-
-
-
Hook – Brainstorm: “Why do immigrants come to the United States”? (3 minute
discussion)
Step 1: Background information (power point notes, textbook/video and audio clips) Æ
as determined by teacher (instructional times will vary)
Step 2: Teacher explains lesson/activity (5 mins)
o In groups of 4, students will analyze packets (folders) of documents to address to
learning question (make ability-based groups, not random to allow for
scaffolding – step by step instructions can be given to lower level/struggling
students or groups)
Step 3: Model document analysis as needed (see
differentiation/modification portion of lesson plan) (8-10 mins)
o ***Note: there are 16 documents, therefore modeling would need to be tailored to
teacher selected document(s)
o Documents include letters, reflections, political cartoons, etc.
Step 4: Students independently analyze documents and create notes on
descriptions of immigrant experiences (similarities and differences) (20-30
mins)
o Every student does NOT need to read EVERY document, but all documents
need to be read in each group
o Information gained should be shared within the group in an effort to complete
writing assignment for assessment
Step 5: Assessment (teacher option – 2 paragraphs on each topic or one
paper that incorporates both ideas, etc.)
o Writing Assignment:
ƒ After researching a variety of primary source documents on immigration
write an essay or paper (teacher determined) that compares the
immigrant experiences of those entering at Ellis Island and Angel Island.
Be sure to support your position with evidence from the text.
ƒ After researching primary source documents on immigration write an
essay that argues the causes of anti-immigrant sentiment and explains the
effects on the immigrant experience. What conclusions can you draw
about immigration in the late 19th /early 20th centuries? Support your
discussion with evidence from the text.
What Results?
-
Students have an understanding of the complexity of the immigrant experience and
demonstrate through their writing
Assessment: Formative
Summative
(see above)
Writing assignment prompt to be completed individually based on student analysis/comparison
in groups (could be summative if written assignment accompanies summative unit assessment)
Technology use (include I-Respond file if used): Overhead projector and computer for
notes and video/audio clips
Suggestions for differentiation/modification:
-
Step by step instructions for lower level or struggling students to guide students (i.e.,
Step 1: Determine if documents are primary sources or background documents; Step 2:
Identify if document refers to Ellis Island (Europeans) or Angel Island (Asians/Chinese))
-
Scaffolding and modeling Æ analyze a document together prior to student completion of
description
-
For Honors/AP, step by step instructions would not be provided for ‘guiding’.
-
Transcript for video on Paper Sons from LA Times (if not able to show video clip over
Paper Sons)
Extensions (advanced students): Work more independently with less guidance (i.e.,
different instructions with greater expectations for analysis, comparison, and reaching
conclusions independent of teacher)
Depth of Knowledge level: 1_____ 2______3.__X_____4._______ (rationale)
-
Analysis and evaluation of documents and materials as to how they relate to and depict
the immigrant experience (treatment of Europeans at Ellis Island versus Chinese at
Angel Island).
Modeling/Guided Practice/Independent Practice elements:
-
With the entire class, the teacher could go over one or two documents to demonstrate
how to analyze the document for clues/descriptions in an effort to describe the
immigrant experience. (i.e., how does the document detailed affect the immigrant
experience)
-
Probing or guided questions led by teacher to model how to analyze documents in order
to understand how each relates to the immigrant experience
-
***Teacher would modify based on document(s) selected for modeling***
Elements of Teaching American History Grant activities incorporated into the
lesson:
Sourcing – with each document, students should be able to identify whether the source
is primary or secondary (background information) and if the document depicts the plight of
European immigrants or Asian (Chinese) immigrants and the point of view of the document.
Contextualization – analysis of the documents should enable students to draw
conclusions, or make inferences, as to the experiences of each immigrant group while at the
immigration station based on current social climate (labor, discrimination, fear, etc).
Corroboration – students compare conflicting documents as well as corroborating
documents.
Close Reading – students will to read closely and carefully because of word
choice/stereotypical images and language utilized within the documents. Chinese Immigration and Exclusion Lesson Plan
Central Historical Question:
What factors contributed to the Chinese Exclusion Act?
Materials:
• Railroad PPT (one slide)
• United Streaming Video Segment: “Perilous Endeavor” (from The West:
The Grandest Enterprise Under God: 1868-1874):
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=4260266396B4-464D-87C6-2D47008403D0&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
• Timeline of Chinese Immigration in the 19th Century
• Chinese Immigration Documents A-D
• Chinese Immigration Graphic Organizer
Plan of Instruction:
1. Introduction: Show slide of Promontory Point, Utah.
Mini-lecture:
•
•
•
•
During Civil War, the North passed laws that helped industry (because the
Southern representatives couldn’t block them).
Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act of 1863: the government would
give RR companies free land and loan them money to build the
transcontinental railroad (afterwards, the RR companies were supposed to
sell the land on both sides of the track and pay back the government, but
they never ended up doing that).
Two companies competed to get the most land and money: Union Pacific
(built tracks from East to West) and Central Pacific (built tracks from West
to East).
On May 10, 1869, the Central Pacific Railway met the Union Pacific
Railway in Promontory Point, Utah, marking the completion of the
transcontinental railroad.
2. Transition: the building of the railroad depended on the labor of hundreds of
thousands of workers. In the West, most of the people who built the railroad
were Chinese.
Show United Streaming clip: “Perilous Endeavor” (7:24) (from The West: The
Grandest Enterprise Under God: 1868-1874):
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=4260266396B4-464D-87C6-2D47008403D0&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
3. Hand out Timelines. Review with students. Ask students:
Use the timeline to generate hypotheses in response to this question: What
happened between the 1860s, when Chinese were welcomed, and 1882,
when they were excluded?
Elicit student hypotheses and have students fill in hypothesis section of
Graphic Organizer. Some hypotheses that students should come up with:
•
•
•
They were just racist against the Chinese.
The RR was finished, so they didn’t need the Chinese anymore.
The Panic of 1873 meant more people were looking for jobs and
they didn’t want to compete with Chinese.
4. Hand out Documents A-D and have students complete Graphic Organizer.
5. Explain homework: Write 1-page: What factors contributed to the Chinese
Exclusion Act? Use evidence to support your answer.
Citations:
Lee Chew, “The Biography of a Chinaman,” Independent, 15 (19 February 1903), 417–
423. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/41/
Henry Grimm. “The Chinese Must Go:” A Farce in Four Acts. San Francisco: A.L.
Bancroft & Co., Printers, 1879.
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb0m3n978s/?&brand=oac
Thomas Nast. Cartoon. Harper’s Weekly. February 18, 1871, p. 119.
“An Address From the Workingmen of San Francisco to Their Brothers Throughout the
Pacific Coast.” August 16, 1888.
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb7199n8g9/?&brand=oac
© Copyright 2009, Avishag Reisman and Bradley Fogo.
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
Timeline of Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
1848
Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill, California; many Chinese
arrive to mine for gold.
1850
Foreign Miners’ tax mainly targets Chinese and Mexican
miners.
1852
Approximately 25,000 Chinese in America.
1854
Court rules that Chinese cannot give testimony in court.
1862
Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association forms.
1865
Central Pacific Railroad recruits Chinese workers;
ultimately employs about 15,000 Chinese workers.
1869
First transcontinental railroad completed.
1870
California passes a law against the importation of
Chinese and Japanese women for prostitution.
1871
Los Angeles: anti-Chinese violence; 18 Chinese killed.
1873
Panic of 1873; start of major economic downturn that last
through the decade; blamed on corrupt RR companies.
1877
Chico, CA: anti-Chinese violence.
1878
Court rules Chinese ineligible for naturalized citizenship.
1880
Approximately 106,000 Chinese in America; California
passes anti-miscegenation law (no interracial marriage).
1882
Chinese Exclusion Act: prohibits Chinese immigration (in
one year, Chinese immigration drops from 40,000 to 23).
1885
Rock Springs Wyoming Anti-Chinese Violence.
1892
Geary Act—extends Chinese Exclusion Act.
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
Document A: Anti-Chinese Play, 1879
If this document were your ONLY piece of evidence, how would you answer
the question: ‘Why did Americans pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act?’
Source: The page above comes from a play called “The Chinese Must Go:” A
Farce in Four Acts by Henry Grimm, published in San Francisco, 1879. In just
the first page, you will be able to see many of the common stereotypes of
Chinese immigrants in the 19th century.
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
Document B: Political Cartoon, 1871
If this document were your ONLY piece of evidence, how would you answer
the question: ‘Why did Americans pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act?’
Source: The cartoon was drawn by Thomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly, a
Northern magazine. In this cartoon, we see Columbia, the feminine symbol of
the United States, protecting a Chinese man against a gang of Irish and
German thugs. At the bottom it says "Hands off-Gentlemen! America
means fair play for all men."
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
Document C: Workingmen of San Francisco (Modified)
If this document were your ONLY piece of evidence, how would you answer
the question: ‘Why did Americans pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act?’
We have met here in San Francisco tonight to raise our
voice to you in warning of a great danger that seems to us
imminent, and threatens our almost utter destruction as a
prosperous community.
The danger is, that while we have been sleeping in fancied
security, believing that the tide of Chinese immigration to our
State had been checked and was in a fair way to be entirely
stopped, our opponents, the pro-China wealthy men of the
land, have been wide-awake and have succeeded in reviving
the importation of this Chinese slave-labor. So that now,
hundreds and thousands of Chinese are every week flocking
into our State.
Today, every avenue to labor, of every sort, is crowded with
Chinese slave labor worse than it was eight years ago. The
boot, shoe and cigar industries are almost entirely in their
hands. In the manufacture of men’s overalls and women’s
and children’s underwear they run over three thousand
sewing machines night and day. They monopolize nearly all
the farming done to supply the market with all sorts of
vegetables. This state of things brings about a terrible
competition between our own people, who must live as
civilized Americans, and the Chinese, who live like degraded
slaves. We should all understand that this state of things
cannot be much longer endured.
Vocabulary
Imminent: about to happen
Source: The document above is a speech to the workingmen of San Francisco
on August 16, 1888.
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
Document D: Autobiography of a Chinese Immigrant (Modified)
If this document were your ONLY piece of evidence, how would you answer
the question: ‘Why did Americans pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act?’
The treatment of the Chinese in this country is all wrong and mean. . .
There is no reason for the prejudice against the Chinese. The cheap
labor cry was always a falsehood. Their labor was never cheap, and
is not cheap now. It has always commanded the highest market price.
But the trouble is that the Chinese are such excellent and faithful
workers that bosses will have no others when they can get them. If
you look at men working on the street you will find a supervisor for
every four or five of them. That watching is not necessary for
Chinese. They work as well when left to themselves as they do when
some one is looking at them.
It was the jealousy of laboring men of other nationalities — especially
the Irish—that raised the outcry against the Chinese. No one would
hire an Irishman, German, Englishman or Italian when he could get a
Chinese, because our countrymen are so much more honest,
industrious, steady, sober and painstaking. Chinese were persecuted,
not for their vices [sins], but for their virtues [good qualities].
There are few Chinamen in jails and none in the poor houses. There
are no Chinese tramps or drunkards. Many Chinese here have
become sincere Christians, in spite of the persecution which they
have to endure from their heathen countrymen. More than half the
Chinese in this country would become citizens if allowed to do so,
and would be patriotic Americans. But how can they make this
country their home as matters now are! They are not allowed to bring
wives here from China, and if they marry American women there is a
great outcry.
Under the circumstances, how can I call this my home, and how can
any one blame me if I take my money and go back to my village in
China?
Source: The passage above is from Lee Chew, “The Biography of a
Chinaman,” Independent, 15 (19 February 1903), 417–423.
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
Name__________________
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion: Graphic Organizer
What factors contributed to the Chinese Exclusion Act?
STEP 1: Read the timeline carefully. Write your HYPOTHESES for why the Chinese Exclusion Act was
passed in 1882.
STEP 2: Read document A-D. For each, write any evidence you find for what led to the Chinese
Exclusion Act of 1882.
Based on this document, why did many white Americans
support the Chinese Exclusion Act?
Document A:
Play
Document B:
Nast Cartoon
Document C:
Workingmen speech
Document D:
Lee Chew’s Autobiography
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
In the space below, answer the following question: Why did Americans pass the Chinese
Exclusion Act of 1882?
Use evidence from the documents and the timeline.
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
BRAINSTORM
Discuss: Why do immigrants
come to the United States?
NOTES on New Immigration
-Before 1880s, most immigrants were from Northern (England) &
Western (France) Europe
-Late 1880s, most immigrants coming from Southern (Italy) and
Eastern (Poland) Europe
Emma Lazarus Poem on
Base
Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning
to breathe free, the wretched
refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tossed, to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden
door!
“I came to America
because I heard
the streets were
paved with gold…
When I got here, I found
out three things: First,
the streets weren’t paved
with gold; second, they
weren’t paved at all; and
third, I was expected to
pave them”
Ellis Island
Southern and Eastern Europeans
1. Motivation to move
a. Push: Fleeing land shortage, job
shortage, famine
b. Pull: religious and political freedom
2. Port of entry: Ellis Island in NYC
2. Why Americans discriminated
a.
fear religious differences
i.
ii.
b.
US = Protestant
immigrants = Catholic, Jewish
fear job competition
3. Anti-immigration policies
a.
b.
Quota Act of 1924: only 2% of
each nation’s present population
allowed to enter
De facto discrimination (socially
enforced)
i. Ghettos (secluded community)
Angel Island Immigration Station
Chinese
1. motive to move:
a. push factor: fleeing land shortage and
political revolution
b. pull factor: job opportunities: build
transcontinental railroad
2. Port of entry: Angel Island in San
Francisco
3. Why Americans discriminate
a.
b.
c.
fear job competition
fear cultural differences
fear of racial mixing
3. Why Americans discriminate
a.
b.
c.
fear job competition
fear cultural differences
fear of racial mixing
4. Anti-immigration policies
a.
http://www.pbs.o
rg/weta/thewest/p
eople/i_r/kearney.
htm
Denis Kearney Disturbance: resent job
competition… cut off hair of Asians and
murder
3. Why Americans discriminate
a. fear job competition
b. fear cultural differences
c. fear of racial mixing
WHEREAS, in the opinion of the Government
of the United States the coming of Chinese
laborers to this country endangers the good
4. Anti-immigration policies
order of certain localities within the territory
a. Denis Kearney Disturbance: resent job
thereof: competition…
Therefore, cut off hair of Asians and
murder the coming of Chinese
Be it enacted…
b. Chinese
Exclusion
Act: prohibit
laborers
to the United
States
be, . . . immigration of
Chinese
suspended;
andlabor
during such suspension it
shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to
come, or, having so come after the expiration
of said ninety days, to remain within the
United States.
Chinese Exclusion Act
3. Why Americans discriminate
a.
b.
c.
fear job competition
fear cultural differences
fear of racial mixing
4. Anti-immigration policies
a.
b.
c.
d.
Denis Kearney Disturbance: resent job
competition… cut off hair of Asians and
murder
Chinese Exclusion Act: prohibit immigration of
Chinese labor
Alien Land Law – non-citizen Asians could not
own land
Page Law: excluded all “Oriental Women”
from immigrating… assumed they were
prostitutes
Questions: Framing the Issue…. 1. Why did immigrants come to the United States? 2. What was their arrival like? 3. Once they got here, what did they do? 4. What did other Americans think of immigrants? 5. How did they become “American”? European Im
mmigration as a Threat Chinese Imm
migration as aa Threat Inspecting an
nd Testing Im migrants Angel Island, CA Ellis Island, NYY Selections: “Mental Examination of Immigrants: Administration and Line
Inspection at Ellis Island”
Dr. B. U. Mutt, Public Health Reports, Vol. 30, no. 20, May 18, 1917
Immigrants not traveling in the cabin, who enter the United States at the port of New
York, are first brought to Ellis Island in order to undergo an examination to
determine their fitness for admission.
The average immigrant remains at Ellis Island two or three hours, during which time
he undergoes an examination by the Public Health Service in order to determine his
mental and physical condition, and by the Immigration Service in order to find out
whether he is otherwise admissible.
Immigrants are brought from the various steamships throughout New York Harbor
to Ellis Island by means of barges. As soon as they land at Ellis Island they undergo
the medical inspection and examination which are conducted by the officers of the
Public Health Service...
In the medical inspection, which is conducted by the first officer or the one who
occupies the proximal position, attention is paid to each passing alien. The alien's
manner of entering the line, his conversation, style of dress, any peculiarity or unusual
incident in regard to him are all observed. Knowledge of racial characteristics in
physique, costume and behavior are important in this primary sifting process.
Every effort is made to detect signs and symptoms of mental disease and defect. Any
suggestion, no matter how trivial, that would point to abnormal mentality is sufficient
cause to defer the immigrant for a thorough examination.
The following signs and symptoms occurring in immigrants at the line inspection
might suggest an active or maniacal psychosis:
Striking peculiarities in dress, talkativeness, witticism, facetiousness, detailing,
apparent shrewdness, keenness, excitement, impatience in word or manner,
impudence, unruliness, flightiness, nervousness, restlessness, egotism, smiling, facial
expression of mirth, laughing, eroticism, boisterous conduct, meddling with the
affairs of others, and uncommon activity.
Psychoses of a depressive nature would he indicated by: Slow speech, low voice,
trembling articulation, sad faces, tearful eyes, perplexity, difficulty in thinking, delayed
responses, psychomotor retardation.
Alcoholism, paresis, and organic dementias may exhibit any of the following signs:
Surliness, apprehensiveness, untidiness, intoxication, apparent intoxication, confusion,
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aimlessness, dullness, stupidity, expressionless face, tremulousness, tremor and
twitching of facial muscles, ataxia, stuttering and tremulous speech, great amount of
calmness, jovial air, self-confident smile, talkativeness, fabrications, grandioseness,
sullenness, fussiness, excessive friendliness, defective memory, misstatement of age,
disorientation, difficulty in computation, pupil symptoms, and other physical signs.
Various kinds of dementia, mental deficiency or epilepsy would be suggested by:
Stigmata of degeneration, facial scars, acneiform rashes, stupidity, confusion,
inattention, lack of comprehension, facial expression of earnestness or preoccupation,
inability to add simple digits, general untidiness, forgetfulness, verbigeration,
neologisms, talking to one's self, incoherent talk, impulsive or stereotyped actions,
constrained bearing, suspicious attitude, refusing to he examined, objecting to have
eyelids turned, nonresponse to questions, evidences of negativism, silly laughing,
hallucinating, awkward manner, biting nails, unnatural actions, mannerisms and other
eccentricities.
On the inspection line, immigrants afflicted with defective hearing, defective vision,
and fever frequently assume peculiar attitudes and do strange things all of which are
suggestive of mental disease.
Some of these cases are likewise put aside for further mental examination.
Experience enables the inspecting officer to tell at a glance the race of an alien. There
are, however, exceptions to this rule. It occasionally happens that the inspecting
officer thinking that an approaching alien is of a certain race brings him to a standstill
and questions him. The alien's facial expression and manner are peculiar and just as
the officer is about to decide that this alien is mentally unbalanced, he finds out that
the alien, in question belongs to an entirely different race.
The peculiar attitude of the alien in question is no longer peculiar; it is readily
accounted for by racial considerations. Accordingly the officer passes him on as a
mentally normal person. Those who have inspected immigrants know that almost
every race has its own type of reaction during the line inspection.
On the line if an Englishman reacts to questions in the manner of an Irishman, his
lack of mental balance would be suspected. The converse is also true. If the Italian
responded to questions as the Russian Finn responds, the former would in all
probability he suffering with a depressive psychosis…
2
Selections: "Hyphenated Americanism" (1915)
Theodore Roosevelt’s address to the Knights of Columbus, Carnegie Hall,
NYC.
There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to
hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very
best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born
abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true
of the man who puts "native" before the hyphen as of the man who puts German
or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the
spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must
unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance. But if he is heartily
and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as
good an American as any one else.
The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all
possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a
tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, IrishAmericans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or
Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling
more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of
the American Republic. The men who do not become Americans and nothing else
are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this
country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his
actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly
mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the
sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better
it will be for every good American. There is no such thing as a hyphenated
American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the
man who is an American and nothing else.
For an American citizen to vote as a German-American, an Irish-American, or an
English-American, is to be a traitor to American institutions; and those
hyphenated Americans who terrorize American politicians by threats of the
foreign vote are engaged in treason to the American Republic.
The foreign-born population of this country must be an Americanized population
- no other kind can fight the battles of America either in war or peace. It must talk
the language of its native-born fellow-citizens, it must possess American
citizenship and American ideals. It must stand firm by its oath of allegiance in
word and deed and must show that in very fact it has renounced allegiance to
every prince, potentate, or foreign government. It must be maintained on an
American standard of living so as to prevent labor disturbances in important
plants and at critical times. None of these objects can be secured as long as we
1
have immigrant colonies, ghettos, and immigrant sections, and above all they
cannot be assured so long as we consider the immigrant only as an industrial asset.
The immigrant must not be allowed to drift or to be put at the mercy of the
exploiter. Our object is to not to imitate one of the older racial types, but to
maintain a new American type and then to secure loyalty to this type. We cannot
secure such loyalty unless we make this a country where men shall feel that they
have justice and also where they shall feel that they are required to perform the
duties imposed upon them. The policy of "Let alone" which we have hitherto
pursued is thoroughly vicious from two stand-points. By this policy we have
permitted the immigrants, and too often the native-born laborers as well, to suffer
injustice. Moreover, by this policy we have failed to impress upon the immigrant
and upon the native-born as well that they are expected to do justice as well as to
receive justice, that they are expected to be heartily and actively and singlemindedly loyal to the flag no less than to benefit by living under it.
We cannot afford to continue to use hundreds of thousands of immigrants merely
as industrial assets while they remain social outcasts and menaces any more than
fifty years ago we could afford to keep the black man merely as an industrial asset
and not as a human being. We cannot afford to build a big industrial plant and
herd men and women about it without care for their welfare. We cannot afford to
permit squalid overcrowding or the kind of living system which makes impossible
the decencies and necessities of life. We cannot afford the low wage rates and the
merely seasonal industries which mean the sacrifice of both individual and family
life and morals to the industrial machinery. We cannot afford to leave American
mines, munitions plants, and general resources in the hands of alien workmen,
alien to America and even likely to be made hostile to America by machinations
such as have recently been provided in the case of the two foreign embassies in
Washington. We cannot afford to run the risk of having in time of war men
working on our railways or working in our munition plants who would in the
name of duty to their own foreign countries bring destruction to us…
All of us, no matter from what land our parents came, no matter in what way we
may severally worship our Creator, must stand shoulder to shoulder in a united
America for the elimination of race and religious prejudice. We must stand for a
reign of equal justice to both big and small. We must insist on the maintenance of
the American standard of living. We must stand for an adequate national control
which shall secure a better training of our young men in time of peace, both for
the work of peace and for the work of war. We must direct every national
resource, material and spiritual, to the task not of shirking difficulties, but of
training our people to overcome difficulties. Our aim must be, not to make life
easy and soft, not to soften soul and body, but to fit us in virile fashion to do a
great work for all mankind…
2
Letter from M. Goodstein to his aunt in Poland (1890)
... This past 4 November, it was exactly one year since I left home. On 4 December I
arrived in New York and on the 12th I reached San Bernadino. I can tell You for sure
that I should have left home 15 years earlier. It would have been much better for me,
a thousand times better because I am not able even to describe it to You, how I
looked at first and how different I look now. I do not want to write about it
because if I start I may never finish with it. I would like to ask the people at home
just this one question: why is it forbidden for a young man to take a walk with a girl,
to talk to her and to become acquainted with her. I do not consider it a sin, and I did
not find it in the Gemora to be a sin either. Only You, the Polish people, are so
backward and as a result when this type of young man arrives here, he is called a
“greener,” and in Germany, “Polish” or “Russian pig.” This is the truth.
I do not mean to insult You, but it is especially true that in Your small towns within
a half hour everything is known all over and becomes gossip. And so when a young man
from there arrives here, what kind of an impression does he make? First, he cannot
open his mouth because he does not know the language. Then, when he gets together
with people, he does not know how to behave and how to have a good time. So people
make fun of him. I can understand it because first, he is not able to talk, and then,
he is not able to eat because he is not used to this kind of food. He also does not
know how to hold a knife or a fork or a table napkin. And he does not know how to
sing or raise a toast in company. At home we only used to say, “Lehayim.” At home we
only sang zmires. And he does now know how to dance because I have never seen
anyone dance or play at home because people would open their mouths in wonder.
They would not go to the theater because this, too, was considered a sin. And as far
as dress at home – one used to put on a shirt and a scarf around one’s neck and this
was all. Here, however, one has to have different clothes for the summer and for the
winter. The same is true for women.
In our store, we also sell women’s dresses and even underwear. And it may happen
that a young man has to sell to some young girl some such things or whatever. We
also sell, here, undershirts, shirts, collars, fine ties, pocket watches, top hats and
overcoats. All this the young man was not acquainted with at home. So here he is
shown everything like a small child. And people laugh at him. I am not telling this, God
forbid, about myself. When I arrived here, I was already different. The only thing was
that I could not speak English, but now this is all already behind me...
Source: http://www.jaha.org/edu/discovery_center/push-pull/letterstohome.html
A Sample Interrogation of a
"Paper Son"
This photo shows a Chinese immigrant being questioned during
an interrogation by the "inspectors" of Angel Island.
The following interrogation is a sample of what questions were asked and how the
Chinese immigrants answered. Chinese immigrants often memorized full books of
information in order to pass this grilling. These immigrants were called "paper sons."
What is your name?
Leong Sem.
Has your house in China two outside doors?
Yes.
Who lives opposite the small door?
Leon Doo Wui, a farmer in the village; he lives with his wife, no one else.
Describe his wife.
Chine Shee, natural feet.
Didn't that man ever have any children?
No.
How old a man is he?
About 30.
Who lives in the first house in your row?
Leong Yik Fook, farmer in the village; he lives with his wife, no one else.
How many houses in your row?
Two.
Who lives in the first house, first row from the head?
Yik Haw, I don't know what clan he belongs to.
Why don't you know what clan he belongs to?
I never heard his family name.
Do you expect us to believe that you lived in that village if you don't know the clan names
of the people living?
He never told us his family name.
How long has he lived in the village?
For a long time.
Who lives in the first house, third row?
Leong Yik Gai; he is away somewhere; he has a wife, onse son and a adaughter living in that
house.
According to your testimony today there are only five houses in the village and yesterday
you said there were nin.
There are nine houses.
Where are the other four?
There us Doo Chin's house, first house, sixth row.
What is the occupation of Leong Doo Chin?
He has no occupation; he has a wife, no children.
Describe his wife.
Ng Shee, bound feet.
Who is another of those four families you haven't mentioned?
Leong Doo Sin.
Where is his house?
First house, fourth row.
There are two [other] families, who are they and where do they live?
Chin Yick Dun, fifth row, third house.
What is his occupation?
No occupation.
What family has he?
He has a wife and a son; his wife is Chin Shee, natural feet.
Did you ever hear of a man of the Chin family marrying a Chin family woman? [This was
forbidden by Chinese custom.]
I made a mistake; her husband is Leong Yick Don.
What is the name and age of that son?
Leong Yik Gai; his house is first house, fourth row.
You have already put Leong Doo Sin in the fourth row, first house.
His house is first house, third row.
You have already put Leong Yick Gai first house, third row.
I am mixed up.
This sample interrogation clearly shows the difficult and overly specific questions
asked by the interrogators. The questions were very unrelated to actually gaining
citizenship: their primary function was to limit Chinese citizenship as much as
possible.
Source:
Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas. The Chinese American Family Album. Oxford University Press: New York, 1994.
pg. 44-45.
Discovering a Paper Son
For actor Byron Yee, family history provides the inspiration
for his one-man show. "My name is Byron Yee. I am the
second son of Bing Quail Yee. I am the son of a paper son.
"My father was an immigrant. He came to America to escape
the Japanese invasion of China in 1938. He was 15 years old
and he didn't know a word of English. He didn't have a
penny in his pocket and he was living in a crowded
apartment in New York City with relatives he had never met.
I know nothing about my father's history, about his past."
With little to go on, Byron set out to decipher his father's
story. He started at Angel Island, located in the middle of
San Francisco Bay. "Angel Island has been called the Ellis
Island of the West and for the most part, all the Chinese
who came to the United States came through here, from a
period of 1910 to 1940. But the rules were a little bit
different. European settlers, Russian settlers were processed
within an hour. The Japanese were kept for one day. But the
Chinese were detained anywhere from three weeks to two
years for their interrogations. So this was not so much the
Ellis Island of the West for the Chinese; it was more like
Alcatraz."
In 1882, Congress passed a law prohibiting Chinese laborers
from immigrating to the United States. The Chinese
Exclusion Act was the only immigration law ever based on
race alone. But people found ways around the act: US law
states that children of American citizens are automatically
granted citizenship themselves, no matter where they were
born. Taking advantage of that opening, some immigrants
claimed to be legitimate offspring of US citizens when in fact
they were not. These individuals, mostly male, were called
paper sons.
Byron's next step was to find his father's immigration file.
The National Archives regional office in San Bruno, California
contains thousands of files related to Angel Island. While
Byron did not find his father's records there, he did find
those of his grandfather, Yee Wee Thing. In one of the
documents in his grandfather's file, Byron found a cross
reference to his father, Yee Bing Quai. To avoid the scrutiny
of Angel Island, Byron's father had sailed through Boston.
Byron found his file at the National Archives in
Massachusetts.
Most Chinese immigrants
came through Angel
Island in San Francisco
Bay.
The 1882 Chinese
Exclusion Act prohibited
the immigration of
Chinese laborers.
Yee Bing Quai's
immigration file.
Byron's father and his
family in China
"My father at 15. He is asked 197 questions: 'When did your
alleged father first come to the United States?' 'Have you
ever seen a photograph of your alleged father?' 'How many
trips to China has your alleged father made since first
coming to the United States?'" The lengthy interrogation
made Byron suspect that his father was in fact a paper son.
Maybe this was why he never knew his father's story.
Though Byron's mother knew very little about her husband's
past, she did have an old photo, which she sent to Bryon - a
portrait of his father's family back in China. Byron learned
that the baby on the left was his father. The boy in the
middle was Yee Wee Thing, not Byron's grandfather at all,
but his uncle.
"It kind of floored me because all of a sudden it made a lot
of sense - why he was the way he was, why he never really
talked about his past, why he was very secretive. It
explained a lot about him and about his history.
"You see my story is no different from anyone else's… In all
of our collective past, we've all had that one ancestor that
had the strength to break from what was familiar to venture
into the unknown. I can never thank my father and uncle
enough for what they had to do so that I could be here
today. One wrong answer between them and I would not be
here."
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Poetry from Angel Island
1) Imprisoned in the wooden building day after day,
My freedom is withheld; how can I bear to talk about it?
I look to see who is happy but they only sit quietly.
I am anxious and depressed and cannot fall asleep.
The days are long and bottle constantly empty;
My sad mood even so is not dispelled.
Nights are long and the pillow cold; who can pity my loneliness?
After experiencing such loneliness and sorrow,
Why not just return home and learn to plow the fields?
2) There are tens of thousands of poems on these walls
They are all cries of suffering and sadness
The day I am rid of this prison and become successful
I must remember that this chapter once existed
I must be frugal in my daily needs
Needless extravagance usually leads to ruin
All my compatriots should remember China
Once you have made some small gains,
You should return home early.
3) I am distressed that we Chinese are
in this wooden building
It is actually racial barriers which cause
difficulties on Yingtai Island.
Even while they are tyrannical they still
claim to be humanitarian.
I should regret my taking the risks of
coming in the first place.
4) Leaving behind my writing brush and removing my sword, I came to America.
Who was to know two streams of tears would flow upon arriving here?
If there comes a day when I will have attained my ambition and become successful
I will certainly behead the barbarians and spare not a single blade of grass.
5) This is a message to those who live here not
to worry excessively.
Instead, you must cast your idle worries to
the flowing stream.
Experiencing a little ordeal is not hardship.
Napoleon was once a prisoner on an island.
Source: Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940
(Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1980)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
An Act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese
Whereas in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers
to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof:
Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage
of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the
coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and
during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or having so
come after the expiration of said ninety days to remain within the United States.
SEC. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States
such vessel, and land or permit to be landed, any Chinese laborer, from any foreign port
place, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished
a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese laborer
brought, and maybe also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.
on
or
by
so
SEC. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not apply to Chinese laborers who were in the
United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall
have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this
act, and who shall produce to such master before going on board such vessel, and shall produce
to the collector of the port in the United States at which such vessel shall arrive, the
evidence hereinafter in this act required of his being one of the laborers in this section
mentioned; nor shall the two foregoing sections apply to the case of any master whose vessel,
being bound to a port not within the United States, shall come within the jurisdiction of the
United States by reason of being in distress or in stress of weather, or touching at any port
of the United States on its voyage to any foreign port or place: Provided, That all Chinese
laborers brought on such vessel shall depart with the vessel on leaving port.
SEC. 4. That for the purpose of properly identifying Chinese laborers who were in the United
States on the seventeenth day of November eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come
into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and in
order to furnish them with the proper evidence of their right to go from and come to the
United States of their free will and accord, as provided by the treaty between the United
States and China dated November seventeenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, the collector of
customs of the district from which any such Chinese laborer shall depart from the United
States shall, in person or by deputy, go on board each vessel having on board any such Chinese
laborers and cleared or about to sail from his district for a foreign port, and on such vessel
make a list of all such Chinese laborers, which shall be entered in registry-books to be kept
for that purpose, in which shall be stated the name, age, occupation, last place of residence,
physical marks of peculiarities, and all facts necessary for the identification of each of
such Chinese laborers, which books shall be safely kept in the custom-house.; and every such
Chinese laborer so departing from the United States shall be entitled to, and shall receive,
free of any charge or cost upon application therefor, from the collector or his deputy, at the
time such list is taken, a certificate, signed by the collector or his deputy and attested by
his seal of office, in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, which
certificate shall contain a statement of the name, age, occupation, last place of residence,
persona description, and facts of identification of the Chinese laborer to whom the
certificate is issued, corresponding with the said list and registry in all particulars. In
case any Chinese laborer after having received such certificate shall leave such vessel before
her departure he shall deliver his certificate to the master of the vessel, and if such
Chinese laborer shall fail to return to such vessel before her departure from port the
certificate shall be delivered by the master to the collector of customs for cancellation. The
certificate herein provided for shall entitle the Chinese laborer to whom the same is issued
to return to and re-enter the United States upon producing and delivering the same to the
collector of customs of the district at which such Chinese laborer shall seek to re-enter; and
upon delivery of such certificate by such Chinese laborer to the collector of customs at the
time of re-entry in the United States said collector shall cause the same to be filed in the
custom-house anti duly canceled.
SEC. 5. That any Chinese laborer mentioned in section four of this act being in the United
States, and desiring to depart from the United States by land, shall have the right to demand
and receive, free of charge or cost, a certificate of identification similar to that provided
for in section four of this act to be issued to such Chinese laborers as may desire to leave
the United States by water; and it is hereby made the duty of the collector of customs of the
district next adjoining the foreign country to which said Chinese laborer desires to go to
issue such certificate, free of charge or cost, upon application by such Chinese laborer, and
to enter the same upon registry-books to be kept by him for the purpose, as provided for in
section four of this act.
SEC. 6. That in order to the faithful execution of articles one and two of the treaty in this
act before mentioned, every Chinese person other than a laborer who may be entitled by said
treaty and this act to come within the United States, and who shall be about to come to the
United States, shall be identified as so entitled by the Chinese Government in each case, such
identity to be evidenced by a certificate issued under the authority of said government, which
certificate shall be in the English language or (if not in the English language) accompanied
by a translation into English, stating such right to come, and which certifi- cate shall state
the name, title or official rank, if any, the age, height, and all physical peculiarities,
former and present occupation or profes- sion, and place of residence in China of the person
to whom the certificate is issued and that such person is entitled, conformably to the treaty
in this act mentioned to come within the United States. Such certifi- cate shall be primafacie evidence of the fact set forth therein, and shall be produced to the collector of
customs, or his deputy, of the port in the district in the United States at which the person
named therein shall arrive.
SEC.7. That any person who shall knowingly and falsely alter or substitute any name for the
name written in such certificate or forge any such certificate, or knowingly utter any forged
or fraudulent certificate, or falsely personate any person named in any such certificate,
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum
not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned in a penitentiary for a term of not more
than five years.
SEC.8. That the master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or
place shall, at the same time he delivers a manifest of the cargo, and if there be no cargo,
then at the time of making a report of the entry of the vessel pursuant to law, in addition to
the other matter required to be reported, and before landing, or permitting to land, any
Chinese passengers, deliver and report to the collector of customs of the district in which
such vessels shall have arrived a separate list of all Chinese passengers taken on board his
vessel at any foreign port or place, and all such passengers on board the vessel at that time.
Such list shall show the names of such passengers (and if accredited officers of the Chinese
Government traveling on the business of that government, or their servants, with a note of
such facts), and the names and other particulars, as shown by their respective certificates;
and such list shall be sworn to by the master in the manner required by law in relation to the
manifest of the cargo. Any willful refusal or neglect of any such master to comply with the
provisions of this section shall incur the same penalties and forfeiture as are provided for a
refusal or neglect to report and deliver a manifest of the cargo.
SEC. 9. That before any Chinese passengers are landed from any such line vessel, the
collector, or his deputy, shall proceed to examine such passenger, comparing the certificate
with the list and with the passengers ; and no passenger shall be allowed to land in the
United States from such vessel in violation of law.
SEC.10. That every vessel whose master shall knowingly violate any of the provisions of this
act shall be deemed forfeited to the United States, and shall be liable to seizure and
condemnation in any district of the United States into which such vessel may enter or in which
she may be found.
SEC. 11. That any person who shall knowingly bring into or cause to be brought into the United
States by land, or who shall knowingly aid or abet the same, or aid or abet the landing in the
United States from any vessel of any Chinese person not lawfully entitled to enter the United
States, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in
a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.
SEC. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States by land without
producing to the proper officer of customs the certificate in this act required of Chinese
persons seeking to land from a vessel. And any Chinese person found unlawfully within the
United States shall be caused to be removed there from to the country from whence he came, by
direction of the President of the United States, and at the cost of the United States, after
being brought before some justice, judge, or commissioner of a court of the United States and
found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States.
SEC.13. That this act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the Chinese
Government traveling upon the business of that govern- ment, whose credentials shall be taken
as equivalent to the certificate in this act mentioned, and shall exempt them and their body
and house- hold servants from the provisions of this act as to other Chinese persons.
SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to
citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.
SEC.15. That the words "Chinese laborers", wherever used in this act shall be construed to
mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining.
Approved, May 6, 1882.