Historical Implications Reflection

From the very beginning, the United States has been created and developed by people from many nations.
Chinese Filipinos were the first Asians to come to the western hemisphere. Mexico was their first settling location.
Eventually, around 1750, Filipino sailors were the first to settle in the U.S. in what we know today as Louisiana.
Roughly 90 years later, in the early 1840s, the British and Spanish brought over slaves from China, India, and the
Philippines to islands in the Caribbean, Peru, Ecuador, and other countries in South America. This move was made
to make up for the shortage of slaves from Africa.
However, the first large-scale immigration of Asians into the U.S. didn't happen until late 1840s and early
1850s. This was also around the time that gold was discovered in American soil. The Chinese were lured by dreams
of making it rich on "Gold Mountain." Gold Mountain was the Chinese given nickname for California. The Gold
Rush was one of the major factors that led many Chinese to come to the U.S. to find their fortune and return home
rich and wealthy. During this time around 85% of the Chinese immigrants in California were involved in the mining
business. [1]
In addition to mining in search for gold in California, Chinese, Korean and Japanese immigrants also came
to Hawaii as contract laborers to work in sugarcane plantations. While in California, Chinese miners experienced
their first taste of discrimination in the form of the Foreign Miner Tax. This was a tax that was supposedly imposed
on and collected from every foreign miner. [1] The reality, however, was that this tax was only collected from the
Chinese. Miners from European countries were simply overlooked and passed by without having to pay anything.
Physical attacks as well as murders occurred when some Chinese miners objected and refused to pay the unfair tax.
Eventually, the Chinese tried to go to court to demand justice and equal treatment but at the time, California's laws
prevented Chinese immigrants from testifying against Whites in court. As a result, many murders went unsolved as
many murderers went free.
Construction of the transcontinental railroad was the next big thing that attracted Chinese immigrants. In
1862, the construction of the Railroad started in Sacramento; this caused another Chinese movement. When the
Gold Rush hype had died down, Chinese immigrants became unemployed. When the Railroad construction began,
Chinese slowly migrated inland to work as construction workers. The increase of Asian immigrates in the West
caused some Americans to fear the change represented by the growing number of Asians. This fear lead to the
United States passing laws such as Asian Exclusion Act and Chinese Exclusion Act to drastically restrict Asian
immigration. Asian immigrants were forbidden from owning land, intermarrying with Whites, owning homes,
working in many occupations, getting an education, and living in certain parts of the city or entire cities. Due to this
fact they basically had no other choice but to retreat into their own isolated communities as a matter of survival.
These first Chinatowns at least allowed them to make a living among themselves. This is where the stereotypical
image of Chinese restaurants and laundry shops, Japanese gardeners and produce stands, and Korean grocery stores
began.
Unlike the immigrants of the early part of this century who were primarily from Europe, the great bulk of
the last decade`s immigrants, approximately eighty percent, were from Asia and Latin America. The face of
America is changing; becoming more diverse and complex than at any time in our history. We`re no longer a white-
and-black society struggling to integrate two major groups of people who have been in this country for nearly 400
years, but a multiracial, multiethnic society in which newcomers are arriving every day. [2]
Our scholars need a better understanding of the world in which we live in. Understanding that includes
knowing of the history of other nations and how America was formed. They need to understand geography, which, if
taught well, will also teach them why nations developed as they did. Rivers, seas, terrain, climate are all important to
the development of culture and should be understood as such. [2] The conversation should begin simply with the
origin of this country as a country of immigrants with a history of newcomers trying to make their way out of the
hardships they faced. If this information is delivered to students and discussed openly, students will not only learn
about themselves but also experience the differences of others, allowing them to embrace the diversity to its max. In
order to know and understand where you are, you must know and have an understanding of where you came from.




References

1 Chang, Iris (2003). The Chinese in America : a narrative history. New York: Viking
2 Fostering Appreciation for Cultural Diversity: Recognizing America`s Changing Complexion
By Linda Chavez | From Forum Journal | January/February 1993 | Vol. 7, No. 1