Chinese Exclusion Act
“That statue represents Liberty holding a torch – which lights the passage of those of all nations who come into this country. But are the Chinese allowed to come? Are the Chinese here allowed to enjoy liberty as men of all other nationalities enjoy it? Free from the insults, abuse, assaults, wrongs and injuries from which men of other nationalities are free? By the law of this nation, a chinaman cannot become a citizen.” - Saum Song Bo
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The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed and signed in 1882, making it illegal for Chinese workers to immigrate to the United States and denying citizenship for those already in America. This act was the first of its kind to deny entry to the United States based on one’s ethnic background.
This act is the culmination of built-up anti-Chinese sentiments since Chinese immigrants began arriving in the United States in mid-late 19th century. The barring of immigration and citizenship was rooted in the principle that Chinese immigrants cannot assimilate into American society. Because they could not “fit” into what was deemed American, there is no reason for them to become an US citizen. What at first were local discriminations led by those like John Bigler in California eventually became a national topic in Congress. Fears of Chinese workers taking over the workforce and acting as pawns for big corporations proliferated in local news media until Congress passed the Act in the spring of 1882.
It is important to look at the Chinese Exclusion Act in the context of widespread racism throughout this time in history. The onset of Black disenfranchisement in southern states and the continuous takeover of American Indian reservations that coincided with the denial of Chinese immigrants paints a dark pall of racism rampant across the nation.
Despite the passage of the act and its renewal 10 years later, the Chinese fought back en masse. In a 30 year period, over 10,000 lawsuits were filed against the Chinese Exclusion Act for an estimated population of 110,000, and with the outcome of United States vs. Wong Kim Ark, it granted any person born on American soil the right for US citizenship. What was democratically created does not mean it was morally sound, and Chinese’ tenacity against the Chinese Exclusion Act highlights a significant example of this in the great American experiment.
It was not until World War II and the pressures to become allies with China did the act get repealed by the Magnuson Act of 1943, allowing a mere 105 Chinese immigrants a year. Only when the Hart-Celler Act in 1965 was passed did race-based immigration quotas got eliminated. While the Chinese Exclusion Act has been repealed for almost 80 years now, America’s complicated relationship with immigration still carries on. As historian Erika Lee puts it, “That duality in our complicated relationship of immigration has shaped who we are as a nation; it's shaped our economy, our society, our politics. And it continues to shape our ongoing understanding of what it means to be an American, and how we continue to debate that to this day.”
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