full image - Repost: A fun extra credit source analysis assignment about Chinese racial abuse in early U.S. history using history lectures. Do you guys have anything to add or discuss? (from Reddit.com, A fun extra credit source analysis assignment about Chinese racial abuse in early U.S. history using history lectures. Do you guys have anything to add or discuss?)
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Source 1: Chinese Merchant Complains of Racist Abuse, 1860, Pun Chi, draft https://ift.tt/19ATxYZ 2: The great fear of the period That Uncle Sam may be swallowed by foreigners : The problem solved, 1860 - 1869, Cartoon https://ift.tt/CuKMF4k Different Mirror a History of Multicultural America by Ronald TakakiA draft called a Chinese Merchant Complains of Racist Abuse was written in 1860 by Pun Chi and an anti-immigrant cartoon known as The great fear of the period That Uncle Sam may be swallowed by foreigners : The problem solved was published between 1860 - 1869. Both these pieces were created a decade after the first Chinese immigrants flocked to the United States in the 1850s. The draft was written to convince the reader to try and stop the racist abuse the Chinese were receiving and the cartoon was created due to many white Americans seeing immigrants as a threat to their vision of manifest destiny. In what ways and to what extent did the Chinese immigrants experience prejudice, discrimination, and exclusion in the United States?The United States Declaration of Independence, states that all men are created equal. However, while all men are created equal they certainly are not treated equally in the land of the free. From when the European settlers first colonized North America to the 21st century the U.S. has had a history of minorities experiencing prejudice, discrimination, and even dehumanization. In the 1900s there was deep segregation in the South and there was widespread disenfranchisement. The White South had no desire or intention of ever incorporating black people into its population (lecture 4/6/22). There were widespread lynchings where mobs of murders people targeted nonwhite people such as African Americans, Chinese, Mexicans, etc. (lecture 4/6/22). The U.S. was constructed with a racial regime that intended to target minorities and keep them at the bottom. The Chinese were just one of many minorities that were targeted based on their nationality, skin color, culture, looks, etc.In the draft Chinese Merchant Complains of Racist Abuse, Chi has detailed experiences of prejudice and discrimination. For instance, Chi explains that many Chinese were actually quite excited to immigrate to the United States. Many presumed they would have been met with cordiality and favor. However, when they arrived they weren’t. Chi describes the experience by saying, “At once, when we leave the vessel, boatmen extort heavy fares; [...]; as we go on our way we are pushed and kicked and struck by the drunken and the brutal; but as we cannot speak your language, we bear our injuries and pass on.” The Chinese were being discriminated against because they weren't white. The prejudice continues as many Chinese were ineligible for naturalized American citizenship, which was reserved for white individuals, due to a 1790 federal legislation. Chinese miners struggled in difficult conditions in California mines in the 1860s (Takaki, pg. 180). Chi then said that “the collectors of the licenses make unlawful exactions and robbers strip, plunder, wound and even murder some of us.” The Chinese weren’t being treated equally they faced considerable discrimination and prejudice because they weren’t white Americans and were from a different land.The anti-immigrant cartoon shows a strongly racist depiction of a Chinese immigrant and an Irish immigrant "swallowing" Uncle Sam–the United States. This depiction shows the Chinese as savages that have come to take over America. The Chinese immigrant then consumes the Irish immigrant in the second illustration. This means the Chinese won’t just stop with Americans but will swallow up everything, that they are greedy. Against the backdrop, railroad networks and the promise of American growth can be seen. Both these cartoons show the xenophobic hatred Chinese people were receiving because many white Americans viewed them as a threat to their vision of Manifest Destiny.The value of these two sources conveys how at the time the U.S. was xenophobic against the Chinese. These sources were created during a period of rapid growth in America as it expanded. While the draft was written as a cry for help against the discrimination. The cartoon was created as a response to the increasing number of immigrants in the 1800s. Nonetheless, both sources show the xenophobic hatred the Chinese people were receiving and both are important because they show the inequality in the country.A limitation of the cartoon would be it portrays a Chinese person. In the illustration, the Chinese man is portrayed as strongly racialized. He’s also portrayed as a savage and threat to American growth as he is shown shallowing Uncle Sam. These depictions were far from the truth because many Chinese people were rather kind. Chinese immigrants choose to migrate to the United States to escape danger at home and seek better chances. During the gold rush, it was the perfect opportunity to go to America. They didn’t come to take over and destroy American progress. All those depicts were made up because of xenophobic hatred and unreasonable fear.A limitation of the draft would be how it only focuses on the Chinese people. During the gold rush, there were many other minority groups such as the Native Americans and Mexicans that also experienced racial abuse. California state officials paid officials and bounties to private militias that launched attacks on the state Indians and Mexicans received discrimination (lecture 3/30/22). The draft has great points and by all means, has good intentions, but the draft focuses on the Chinese and does not mentions the other groups. It makes it seem that only the Chinese are the only ones experiencing racial abuse or that it is not that bad of a problem for the other minorities.These sources are significant for comprehending the theme of how minorities have been subjected to prejudice and discrimination throughout the history of the United States. Since the beginning of this country, a racial regime was constructed that treated and made minorities such as the Chinese, Native Americans, Mexican, etc. inferior to a white man even though all men are created equal. Social legislation policies were enacted with the intent to reinforce racial prejudice as the 1790 federal law that made it ineligible for the Chinese to receive naturalized American citizenship and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act banned all Chinese immigration going forward (lecture 4/6/22). Both these sources reveal the prejudice and discrimination that was rooted deep in America and these sources open a deeper knowledge of that theme that has existed since the founding of the United States.
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