1. Asian American Experience
Setting the Historical and Cultural Context

2. A Look into Japanese American Experience in the United States

3. Early history
Japanese nationals were prohibited by their government to emmigrate to US until 1885
US sought to include Japanese in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and 1890
US perceived Japan as a Pacific threat when Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War
Gentlemen’s Agreement 1908
Stipulated how many Japanese would be allowed to immigrate to US
Prohibited unskilled laborers from coming to US

4. Life in the United States
Faced discrimination in employment
Unions excluded them
Barred from holding professional positions
Faced discrimination in education
Segregated from white students (1906)
Faced discrimination economically
Legislature to restrict their economic power
Alien Land Act 1913: cannot own land
1920: legislation prohibited them from leasing farmland

5. Immigration Laws
Japanese immigrants were prevented by law from becoming naturalized American citizens
Cites 1790 law that restricted citizenship only to whites
Immigration Act of 1924
Allowed only those immigrants racially eligible for citizenship to enter the country.
Act cut off immigration from Japan
First wave of immigration
Primarily unmarried, unskills wokers
After 1907, immigrants primarily skilled workers
Gap in age and culture developed
Issei (first generation immigrants, born in Japan)
Nisei (second generation, born in the United States)

6. Life in the United States
“Doesn’t my citizenship mean a single blessed thing to anyone? Monica Sone Nisei Daughter
1941: World War II
Forced resettlement: Internment
Leave homes, businesses and move to camps
National security
Japanese nationals
American citizens of Japanese ancestry

7. World War II Internment

8. Life in Internment camp

9. Map of Internment camps

10. Life in Internment camps

11. Welcome to the United States The Chinese Experience

12. Promise of Gold Mountain
“Return to the old country quickly to avoid going astray” “I’ve risked a perilous journey to come to the Flowery Flag nation. Immigration officers interrogated me: “I am deported, an imprisoned in this barren mountain” “Deported to this island, like a convicted criminal. Like animals, tortured and destroyed at others’ whim.

13. Early Chinese Immigration
“Golden Mountain”: Promise Land
Violated Chinese tradition
Confucian doctrine: “Man must value family above all else and should not leave”
Promise of Gold Mountain—California (America)
Escape from poverty of China (famine; war; taxes)
Improve social position at home (return a rich man)
Promise was illusory
Victims of prejudice
treated like criminals

14. The Chinese Immigrant 1849-1870: Chinese first arrivals in US
Most came from Kwangtung, China’s south coast (port city)
: est. 40,000 immigrants
Most young males immigrated (90%)
Left families behind
Return to China in a few year with prosperity
Immigrants worked at jobs inland
Contract workers (repay passage)
Most stayed West to work the gold mines
Laundry
cooking

15. Arriving at Angel Island

16. Life in America Subjected to unfair legislation
State of California levied taxes upon the income of the Chinese worker
Exclusionary legislation was passed on the local, state, and federal levels.
American policy prohibited female immigration
Schools were ordered to be racially segregated
California prohibited Asians from obtaining business licenses or owning real estate
Scott Act 1888: prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the country ; prohibited re-admittance from China

17. The Chinese Exclusion Act 1882-1943
Violation of the Burlingame Treaty of 1868
Employment rights
Immigration rights
Chinese nationals who attempted to enter the United States legally were routinely detained for questioning
After 1910, they were held at Angel Island
Examined and questioned about status
Decision: admittance or deportation
Process took months

18. In Support of Exclusion Act

19. Arguments for Exclusion Act
1880: 105,465 Chinese
White racists alarmed with number
Began movement to keep them out
Claimed they could not be assimilated
Competed unfairly in labor
Inherited hostility from blacks
Transferred perceptions of inferiority to Chinese
Anti-Chinese riots

20. Life at Angel Island

21. Angel Island—Ellis Island of the West
Process took months
Invasive health exams; long interrogations
Separated by gender
Allowed no visitors
Facility declared “uninhabitable” in 1920
Remained in operation until 1943
Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 was a part of the United States’ attempt to improve its strategic position as US enters World War II against Japan.
1945 immigration laws allowed only 100 per year
1949, 1960s-70s; 1989 movements that lead to increased Chinese immigration

22. Maxine Hong Kingston Born in America Chinese was her first language
Began English writing at age 10
Chinese name of “Ting Ting”
Native to California

23. Kingston’s Noted Works
China Men
Tripmaster Monkey
The Fifth book of Peace
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of Girlhood Among Ghosts
Memoir: first person nonfiction narrative that recounts historical/personal significant events in which the writer was a participant or an eye witness
Breaks from the mold and tells this in 3rd person
Blend of folklore, myth, feminism, and autobiography

24. Title of novel: meanings?
Woman: connotations?
Warrior: connotations?
Background: connotations?

25. Point of View Bicultural identity First person vs. Third Person
Value of each?
Why choose third for a memoir?
It is pretty consistent, but not as plausible since there are times that the daughter expresses ideas from the mother’s head—the mother could have expressed these at some point, but it fictionalizes the memoir to an extent. The story itself would have changed entirely if it had been told in first person.
Changing the point of view would change the focus because it would require more focus on the self

26. Themes Silence (cultural silence)
Power of women (models of womanhood; ancestral help)
Memory infuses identity in present (person you become comes from past)
Choices (to be silent or to have talk story)