Early Chinese Immigrant Experience in the U.S.

When Chinese immigrants first immigrated to the U.S., they were often treated kindly. However, soon after their arrival, they were subject to targeted taxation, unfair wage rates, and other forms of discrimination. Like other minority groups in the U.S., they were pitted against other groups to compete for wages and jobs. 

Chinese immigrants were major contributors to the Central Pacific Railroad, forming 90 percent of the workforce at one point. They also helped California to develop its agricultural lands and make them fit for the agricultural industries that would ultimately lead to a large portion of California’s economy and the United States’ food supply. Chinese immigrants also often opened laundries, seeking self-employment in a field with little competition with white men (because laundry work was seen as women’s work) in an effort to avoid the kinds of discrimination they faced in other fields and to gain agency in a political and social climate that was oppressive. As time progressed, more and more barriers and forms of racism and oppression would be laid upon Chinese Americans, forbidding their testimony in court for or against white persons and prohibiting interracial marriage. Such laws were rooted in racism and white supremacy that suggested Chinese (as well as African Americans and American Indians) were a lesser people both physically and intellectually. However, without Chinese immigration to the U.S., construction of railroads would likely have gone very differently. Similarly, California may not be the agricultural state that it is; much of California’s land might have remained unavailable for the kinds of farming it is used for today.

During economic downturn at the end of the 19th century, as many working class Americans experienced unemployment, more restrictions were imposed upon Chinese immigrants. There was a 10 year ban on Chinese immigration and Chinese Americans were prohibited from obtaining citizenship. It was not until after the 1906 earthquake that more opportunities were available for citizenship and for families to come the the U.S.