Chapter 15-1 Critical Thinking #3

3) Which immigrant group do you think faced the greatest challenges in the United States? Why?



The Asian immigrants faced the greatest challenges in the United States. For one, the trip from Asia to Angel Island took 3 weeks, as opposed to the 1 week trip from Europe to Ellis Island. The majority of immigrants couldn't afford more than steerage, which was cramped, and dirty, and they would be crowded in with hundreds of strangers with unknown diseases with no fresh air (p. 462). Asians arrived in Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Procedure was very different than the orderly way of doing things at Ellis island, almost opposite. Immigrants faced harsh questioning and long detention in filthy building where they waited to find out if they were going to be sent back to Asia (p. 463).
All immigrants faced problems once they actually got to the U.S., such as prejudice, and the difficulty of finding a home, but it seems that the Asians were received more hostility than other immigrants who were Anglo-Saxon, or from the "right" countries. Nativists were concerned that Asians were going to take the jobs of native-born Americans, since they accepted lower wages (p. 464). During the depression of 1873, when jobs were scarce, labor groups pressured the government to restrict Asian immigration, and anti-Asian feelings intensified. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned entry to the U.S. to all Chinese except for students, teachers, government officials, merchants, and tourists. The law wasn't repealed until 1943 (p. 465). In addition to this, the local board of education in San Francisco segregated the schools so that the Japanese had to go to a different school. Japan was infuriated at this, and luckily the Gentleman's Agreement was figured out between President Roosevelt in 1907, in which the school board agreed to desegregate the schools if Japan would restrict the emigration of unskilled workers coming to the United States (p. 465).