Asian Immigration Research Paper

Asian Immigration to the United States For the most part, Asians have had a rough time becoming equals in American society. But because of their hard work, and strong family ethics Asians as a whole have definitely become a keystone in the society of the United States. The first Asians to arrive on American shores were the Chinese. Chinese people started immigrating en masse during the 19th century. Most of them worked as railroad workers or miners. The Chinese faced a lot of prejudices and discrimination upon their arrival, and throughout their lives. Chinese Americans entered the United States through Angel Island. Angel Island is the equivalent to Ellis Island, but instead of on the East coast, Angel Island is on the West Coast of California.
Gaelic landed on Honolulu Harbor with the first wave of Korean immigrants. “The boat carried 120 men, women and children, who made up the first significant group of Korean Americans.” Most of these men and women would become cheap workers and laborers on Hawaii’s booming sugar plantations. Throughout the next several years over 7,000 more Koreans would immigrate to Hawaii to meet the large demand for their low-wage work. Most of these immigrants were men. Many of the Korean workers married picture brides, who were chosen through a process of exchanging photographs between America and Korea. 3 “The Immigration Act of 1924, one of a series of anti-Asian exclusion laws, put a virtual end to immigration from Asia, preventing even Asian spouses from joining their families in America. Koreans did not – because they could not by U.S. law – immigrate to the United States for over 25 years.” 3 Many Koreans came to the United States to seek help in freeing their homeland from Japanese rule. But Korea wasn’t freed from the Japanese until the United States took victory in World War II. The next large wave of Korean immigration started during the Korean War which was in 1950 to 1953. “The largest wave of immigration from Korea – and the largest wave of immigration from all of Asia – began with the passing of the Immigration Act of 1965.” 3 For the first time in the history of the United States, immigrants from all over were now allowed to enter America in
Their country was at unrest during this time, so it was very ideal for the Japanese people to move out. “However, before the first generation of immigrants could enjoy the fruits of their labor, they had to overcome hostile neighbors, harsh working conditions, and repeated legislative attacks on their very presence in the country.” In the 1870s and 1880s, during the peak of the Hawaiian sugar cane boom, many Japanese immigrated to Hawaii to work. “Thus as of 1900, the majority of half of all the Japanese immigrants in the world living in the U.S. lived in Hawaii.” throughout the years, the general regional distribution of Japanese Americans changed from two-thirds of the 85,000 Japanese in the U.S. living in Hawaii at the turn of the century, to just over half of the 220,000 Japanese living on mainland America – mostly the West coast in 1920. 4 As a result Japan attacking America’s Pearl Harbor on December 7, 194 and order went out for all Japanese men, women and children to be sent to internment camps as a safety measure. This hardship was overcome by the Japanese Americans, and now the Japanese are prominent, well-respected members of