Asian Americans

Early Immigrants

Between the years 1840 and 1920, customs officials counted approximately 370,000 Chinese, 400,000 Japanese, 7,000 Koreans, 7,000 Asian Indians, and 180,000 Filipinos entering the United States. As a point of comparison, more than 35 million European immigrants entered the United States on the “other” coast during the same time period.

The earliest Chinese immigrants, who arrived on the West Coast during the 1840s, were well received by the U.S. residents. Among them were wealthy successful merchants as well as skilled artisans, fishermen, and hotel and restaurant owners. Thus, these initial Chinese immigrants gained favor not only from business employers but also from the government and the public. However, their presence was soon overwhelmed by larger numbers of relatively unskilled Chinese recruited to come to North America.

Following the end of the British slave trade, Western powers became increasingly interested in the importation of cheap labor and found an abundant supply on the Asian continent. Contrary to popular belief, these immigrants did not necessarily leave their homelands because they were devoid of opportunities. Often they were actively recruited and, in some instances, tricked into leaving their countries with promises of unlimited opportunity and religious freedom that were based more on the mythology of the U.S. West than on concrete reality.

Opposition to Early Asian Immigration

At first, the growing number of U.S. entrepreneurs welcomed cheap immigrant labor in Hawai'i and California. However, as the number of Asian workers became noticeable, the new immigrants became the targets of increasing animosity from U.S. workers. Along the West Coast, Asians were deemed as an “inferior race” and became targets of open, and often violent, acts of prejudice. Asian immigrants faced much more than simple discrimination and harassment; they confronted a barrage of laws and policies aimed directly at limiting their rights. Asian Americans became a growing concern for White labor and those who saw the presence of Asian faces as representing a “yellow peril” to the White Americans. What made these unjust laws possible was that Asian Americans were viewed as foreign and were denied the right to naturalize. Without this right, they did not acquire the right to vote until after World War II, robbing them of any political power they may have exercised.

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