This is the immigration station in San Francisco. Its important for not only what happened back then in the 20th century but its timely today. Its timely because when we pick up any newspaper we see headlines like this. This is just from last week. Republicans slam obamas immigration townhall. Obama. Ill fight any attempt to reverse immigration action. Moving forward it to fix our broken immigration system. House conservatives warn boehner dont cave on immigration. U. S. Immigration dispute threatens security ob agency shutdown. Does anyone know what some of the headlines are referring to last week . What was the big debate in congress . What was the proposed shutdown . Deeg o. Therapy pausing to shutdown dhs funding because the obamas executive action referring to families. Right so ab obamas executive action protecting millions of undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants, parents of undocumented immigrants who are parents of u. S. Citizens or legal residents. This would halt their deportation. But we know that this is quite a controversial action right now. Governors of 26 states have sued the white house because they believe this executive action exceeds the president s authority. At the same time, there is a judge in texas who halted the immigration order. And this has created grid lock in congress. Osh says he will continue to fight. He had a townhall in miami that was sponsored by a supporter where he was talking about his commitment to reforming immigration laws. We know because we have been studying immigration history in the past several weeks this is the latest in the immigration debates. But it seems like its a contracted one. And there doesnt seem to be an end in sight. So how do we consider this immigration debate with what weve been talking about most recently . Immigration through ellis island, that story of european immigrants coming to new york, passing through ellis island, certainly there were examinations. There were physicals. There was some detention. But it was primarily pretty shortlived. And most immigrants were admitted pretty easily into the country. And not only that but in story has taken on a myth of its own. It really is the bedrock of this idea that the United States is a nation of immigrants, right. So how do we reconcile this great immigration debate thats going on today and then this idea that that we are a nation of immigrants . I think one of the ways that we can think about this complicated history of immigration is through looking at immigration through angel island, because we know that not all immigrants were welcomed into the country. Not all immigrants were payable to achieve their american dreams. But rather we picked and sifted and chose which immigrants to let in and which immigrants to let out. Or to keep out. And many times this really was dependent upon an immigrants race, ethnicity, gender, class, the idea of who is fit to become a citizen and who is not. And this is the history that is best bests demonstrated by angel island. This is now a california state park. So the immigration station on angel island was open from 1910 to 1940. We primarily think about it as an entry point for immigrants from china and japan. And twothirds of the immigrants coming to angel island were from those countries. But you can see 80 countries represented for the immigration station for angel island. According to research it ranged from places like denmark and lucks embourke. And french endochina. South africa, spain, spirits switzerland. Also folks coming south from canada and north from south america. This is a photograph of the Administration Building on angel island. When immigrants docked they would land on a pier. They would go up this pier. And this is the first sight they would see. There are three entrances here. And racial segregation was the order of the day. There was an entrance for employees. There was an entrance for whites. And there was an entrance for asians. Within the Administration Building there are separate waiting areas as well. At all times the different groups were segregated from each other through this Administration Building. So when we compare it to ellis island. Ellis island is primarily enforcing laws that relate to immigrants from europe. Its in new york. And most of the immigrants coming over are coming across from the atlantic. Angel island is situated in San Francisco on the pacific ocean, primarily enforcing laws that are targeting asian immigrants. And the laws are very, very different. So what while ellis island is mostly a Processing Center. Angel island is place of interrogation, Health Examinations and detention. And this history is not as wellknown. But its important becauses it helped shape our modern immigration system. So lets look at who these asian immigrants were. When we think about this great era of immigration there is two great eras of immigration. One is the one that we live in today. And the other is around the turn of the century. From 1830 to 1930. There are 35 Million Immigrants coming during this centerry of migration. The vast majority, 32 million are from europe. This is about a Million Immigrants from asia. And another Million Immigrants come from latin america. In the big public picture this is a drop in the bucket, one million out of 35 million who are coming. Its pretty diverse. There is 450,000 chinese. Theyre the largest group. There is also 380,000 japanese. 150,000 filipinos and then 7 to 8 to 9,000 each korean and south asia. South asia was the term used to describe immigrants from india, pakistan and bangladesh. It was a great diversity not only in ethnicity but also in terms of numbers. And remember there is only a million of them. But asian immigration helps to ignite some of our most divisive immigration debates. So who were these immigrants . The chinese. They are like the european immigrants that we studied. They are mostly young male laborers. They want to come to the United States. Theyre thinking the stay is temporary. That they will make money, return home. Thats why they come alone, even if theyre married, they tend to leave wives and children behind. But over the years they decide eventually that they would like to stay in the United States. So they start calling for their family members. Similarly, the japanese are also male laborers. So remember, this is a time when immigrants are needed for their labor, right . And its for railroad building, agricultural work, for light industry, for mining so they want unskilled laborers to do that work. So japanese are also male laborers. They are generally more educated than some of the other asian immigrants because of compulsory education in japan. They also come thinking that theyre going to stay only temporarily. But over time, again, like the chinese they decide that the United States is worth settling down in. And they start calling for their wives and fiances to come as well. So that by world war ii the japanese American Population is such that there is a great proportion of u. S. Born children. This is very different than the other groups. The immigrants who are coming from south asia is really differs. A mixture of hindus, muslim but primarily seikh. And theyre in from one area, the pun jab area of pakistan. Increasingly there are a lot of students coming over along with laborers. One of the groups making this group unique is that this is a period of intense indian nationalism. And the immigrants coming over at the time are very much a part of that nationalist movement. Koreans are a small group. Theyre a small group because japan has colinized korea by this time. And japan is very much controlling who goes in and who leaves the country. And so only a small number of koreans are coming other to the United States, primarily to the west coast and hawaii. And theyre also coming for work. But more so than other groups they really see themselves as refugees. Similarly to the russian juice that we were studying last we can. They are fleeing japanese colonialism which was extremely harsh and restrict of. Korean newspapers and language was band. There was lots of surveillance thp they see themselves as refugees fleeing their homeland and potentially staying away a long time. So they come a higher proportion come as families. One of the other things making them unique or oh different is that theyre often christian because of the role of u. S. Missionaries, american missionaries in korea at this time. So its a really broad Diverse Group of people who are coming. The last group are filipinos. They also are coming as male laborers. But, again, what makes them unique is that they are coming as a totally different immigrant status, not even an immigrant status. The philippines hags colinized by the United States. So they my grate as u. S. Nationals. This is a different legal category. Theyre not subjected to immigration laws which is really important. As every other immigrant group is restricted filipinos can come without restriction and interrogation. They see themselves as american. Theyve grown up with american teachers, grown up with american culture. Theyve grown up believing about the glory and riches of america. And so they believe that theyre coming to just another part of the country, that theyre already americans. But they are unequal in status. U. S. Nationals allows them to my grate but theyre not citizens thp they cannot vote. When they come they often face a lot of surprising to them antiasian sentiment. So this is the broad diversity of asian immigrants who are coming to this country early 20th century. And when they come they set in motion the reaction that americans have to them sets in motion some of the most divisive immigration debates that we have ever had in this country. And this may be surprising to many people. Because today when we talk about asianamericans we talk about the popular understanding that theyre on the rise whats the stereotype of asianamericans . Theyre smart. What else . Theyre a particular type of minority . Do you guys remember the term. Marry the model minority. Theyre the model minority. What that mean. You out of all marginalized groups they are exemplary and they institute what rest should ascribe to. They can achieve economic success, academic success and they do so on their own without Government Programs so they are the model. Thats the stereotype about them today. It may be surprising that in the early 20th century they were considered not only undesirable immigrants but also inassumable foreigners to such a degree that the United States wanted to not only reduce their numbers but exclude them altogether. So historians describe this you know power of antiasian sentiment with this quote. She says the presence of asians on american soil highlighted fundamental cleavages in american society, meaning they were the first noneuropean immigrant group to come in such great numbers. They came at a time of class tensions, changing race relations. This is post civil war, soviet reconstruction. These ideas about what does it mean to be an american, what does it mean to be free, what does it mean to be a worker, what rights do we have . And what is the role of the u. S. In the world . All of these things late 19th century, early 20th century are just rief with all of the massive changes in american society. So some of the ways that antiasian sentiment plays out is through prejudice, bias, prejudgments, economic discrimination, barred from certain occupations, politicking disenfranchisement. Remember the 1790 naturalization act that said that only free, white persons can become citizens, right . And can vote. So already asian immigrants are barred from becoming naturalized citizens. Physical violence. Immigration exclusion, which is what were going to be talking about mostly today, social segregation. You cant join certain clubs, live in certain jars. During world war ii, incarceration, the Mass Relocation and mass incarceration of japanese american citizens. So what did this look like . Person . What did this look like in reality and on the ground . This is a cartoon from 1881 in San Francisco. Its from the magazine called the wasp. Im going to ask you to tell me what you see. What is this cartoon telling us about what americans think about chinese immigration at this time . Yes. Well, its it appears to be sort of a reaction to what is perceived as sort of in overwhelming number of chinese immigrants. And this this is sort of its a mockery of the statue of liberty. Right. But its also this image of conquestions because its standing on a skull. Its clearly a chinese man due to the long braid, which marks a lot of chinese and the fact that its a chinese character. But its a mirror image of new york. Good. And so what is the whats the title of the cartoon. A statue for our hasher. A statue for our harbor. So in San Francisco as opposed to new york. In new york theyve got the statue of liberty it welcomes european immigrants if in San Francisco this is what youre statue would be if we allow chineses immigration to come without restriction. A couple of things that jeremy just mentioned, we can recognize this as a chinese male. He has got this long qeu. It was a hair style mandated by the chinese empire. But in the United States it became seen as a sign of femininity, exoticness, its an opium pipe. Its an opium pipe. Yeah. So another symbol of the vice of chinese immigration is bringing drugs and immorality. So theres writing that is emanating from the rays around his head. Can anyone see what that writing is . Its hard to see from the middle, cartoon. The bond in right is filth. Yeah. Then what else . Immorality. Immorality. Good. Up on top . Disease. Disease. And then were going to go were reading right to left as the chinese would, right . This one says ruin too. And can anyone point out those last two . White labor. Yes. Ruin to chinese immigration. So bringing filth, immorality, disease, ruin to white labor. Okay. Catastrophic. Chinese immigration is catastrophic to San Francisco, to california. The foundation of the statue is crumbling, the ships that are coming are capsizing. And then the sun or the moon in the background has slanted eyes. So this is the future of california. This is the future of the United States to chinese immigration come unrestricted. And this is not an outlier. This is not a far right or far left or extreme example about this of this antiimmigrant sentiment. This is one of the most wellrespected, wellread illustrated magazines in the late 19th century. So whats the effect of some of this popular sentiment . One is through violence. There are countless episodes of the chinese being driven out, literally being with mobs driving them out of small towns like eureka, california, as well as big cities like tacoma and seattle. This is an illustration of one of the wellknown incidents, the massacre of chinese at rock springs, wyoming, in september of 1885. It happened about around a mining incident. Some of the white workers and Chinese Workers were debating whether they wanted to go on strike. The white workers went on strike. The chinese decided not to, and the white workers drove them out after inflicting massive violence on the group. So theres about 28 who are killed, 15 wounded and hundreds are driven out into the outlying areas. So this is sentiment shaping some of the chinese immigration. But one of the aspects of this history is remember how diverse of the asian groups were . Nevertheless when this idea of chinese immigrants as being a threat to the United States a class threat, racial threat, economic threat, it became attached to other asian immigrant groups as well. So that the newspapers would say chinese excluded, but now we have a japanese problem. Or japanese excluded, now the hindus are coming. Or the filipinos. They kept on calling them another asiatic invasion. It kind of got ridiculous. There was the second asiatic invasion and then the third and it became this typology that was framing the threat of asian immigration. And, again, it had very real consequences. So on the left is a newspaper clipping from the New York Times in 1907 talking about, again, the driving out or the expulsion of south asian immigrants from a town in marysville. And this is more troubling, i think. This is a private letter that was sent to a townsman in california, the town sheriff or the town mayor. And it was collected and archived at the uc berkeley archives. This is from the 1930s. So a threat to expel the filipinos or they would inflict violence on the town. Japanese immigration perhaps invoked a more broad scale and Even International concern. This was called the yellow peril. And it had two elements. One was the familiar refrain that japanese immigrants were inassumable, that they were racially inferior, taking away jobs, mixing with whites, but the second aspect was more unique to japan and japans rising power in the world. They are an empire. They defeated russia in 1904. They defeated china in 1894. Theyve colonized korea. So theres this idea of an asian empire, japans asian empire, that is infusing that antijapanese sentiment with even greater force. That theyre even more of a danger because who knows, those japanese immigrant farmers who are picking your strawberries may be the first advanced guard from a colonizing japan. This was the rhetoric by the 1920s and 30s that japanese immigrants in california, hawaii, oregon and washington were actually soldiers in disguise. And would be ready to do this. Anyone recognize the artist . So what does this say . What does this mean to you . 1942, so that dates significant. Theres an element of malfeasance and the cartoon implies they have some sort of connection with the government of their country of origin and theyre willing to act on the desires of that government should they be called to do so. And how so . What are they going to do . Blow up something. The little boxes that theyre carrying say tnt, so its assumed theyre going to do some sort of damag