The Irish as unmixable in the national pot, 1889

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2 The Irish as unmixable in the national pot, 1889

3 Caption on sign: No dumping ground for refuse. Sam s hammer: U.S. Public Sentiment Barrel: Undesirables for America Dress: Some European Officials

4 Welcome to All! This cartoon of 1880 expresses the American s image of his country s immigration policies. Caption above Uncle Sam: U.S. Ark of Refuge. Caption on small sign: Free education, free land, free speech, free ballot, free lunch

5 The U.S. Hotel Badly Needs a Bouncer. Sign behind desk reads: No Beggars or Loafers Allowed in this Establishment. Sign on wall reads: U.S. Hotel Rules and Regulations: Guests are Required to Preserve Order. NO BOMB-THROWING NO INCENDIARY TALK. NO COMMUNISM. NO FENIANISM.

6 Immigration cartoon protesting discriminatory immigration laws. Those not qualifying for entrance: Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc, George Washington, etc. Art Young cartoon.

7 Political cartoon from 1882, showing a Chinese man being barred entry to the Golden Gate of Liberty. The caption reads We must draw the line somewhere, you know.

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9 Published in The Wasp in 1881 captured white Californians fears of Chinese immigration and invoked a comparison between San Francisco and New York. While New York welcomed European immigrants to America s shores, San Francisco feared the disastrous effects of Chinese immigration. As a result, a statue of a Chinese male coolie in San Francisco Bay mocks New York s Statue of Liberty, then under construction

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13 Ellis Island of the West

14 From 1910 to 1940, San Francisco and the Angel Island Immigration Station served as the entry point for over half a million people from eighty different countries around the world. Two-thirds of the newcomers came from China and Japan, but there were also immigrants from India, Korea, Russia, Mexico, the Philippines, Germany, Spain, Italy, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, and Chile, the Pacific Islands, Australia, and New Zealand. Half a million people were processed through Angel Island (both arrivals and departures)

15 Angel Island vs. Ellis Island Angel Island was popularly called the Ellis Island of the West. However, it was in fact very different from its counterpart in New York. Ellis Island enforced American immigration laws that restricted, but did not exclude European immigrants. Angel Island, on the other hand, was the chief port of entry for Chinese and other immigrants from Asia, and as such, enforced immigration policies that singled out Asians (for long detention and exclusion.)

16 Ellis Island 12 million from % of all immigrant arrivals were detained Detention time was 1-2 days 98% were admitted Angel Island 500, 000 from % of all immigrant arrivals were detained Chinese counted their detentions time in weeks, months, years. The longest detention was 765 days 93% of Chinese were admitted but only after lengthy legal battles and long detentions

17 Wong Chung Hong, the first to be admitted through Angel Island on January 25, 1910.

18 Case Studies Tom Yip Jing, Mrs. Wong, Soto Shee, and Yee Shew Ning Write up a response to the following questions: 1. Summarize their experiences on Angel Island. 2. What did you find most interesting about their personal experience? Why? 3. What do you think about the process?

19 Angel Island Gatekeepers 1930s

20 Medical exam in hospital Angel Island

21 Board of Special Inquiry interrogation, 1923

22 Immigration Interrogation Questions (Chinese Applicants) What is your name? How old are you? What are your parents names? What are their ages? When were they married? Do you have any brothers or sisters? What are their names and ages?

23 What is the name of your village? How many houses are on your street? Who lives in the third house on the left hand side of your street? List all names and ages Who is the oldest man in your village?

24 How many steps lead up to your house? How many windows does your house have? How many clocks are in your house? How many chickens do your neighbors own? How far is it from your village to the nearest hill? When were the windows put into your house?

25 Fong Hoy Kun, who was applying for admission as a son of a native in 1918, faced these questions: Q: Which direction does the front of your house face? A: Face west. Q: Your alleged father has indicated that his house in How Chong Village faces east. How do you explain that? A: I know the sun rises in the front of our house and sets in the back of our house. My mother told me that our house and also the How Chong Village faces west. Q: Cannot you figure this matter out for yourself? A: I really don't know directions...

26 Q: How many rooms in all are there on the ground floor of your house? A: Three; (changes) I mean there is a parlor, two bedrooms and a kitchen. There are five rooms in all downstairs. The two bedrooms are together, side by side, and are between the parlor and kitchen. Q: Do you wish us to understand you would forget how many bedrooms are in a house where you claim to have lived seventeen years? A: Yes, I forgot about it. Q: Did you visit the Sar Kai Market with your father when he was last in China? A: No. Q: Why not, if you really are his son?

27 Interior of Chinese men s barracks, Chinese made up 70% of all detainees. Between men and women were detained in the Angel Island barracks at any given time for an average stay of 2-3 weeks.

28 Law Shee Low s wedding portrait in China, 1921 (detained on Angel Island in 1922.) One woman was questioned all day and then deported. She told me they asked her about life in China: the chickens and the neighbors, and the direction the house faced. How would I know all that? I was scared.

29 Lee Puey You immigrated as the daughter of a U.S. citizen In She was detained for 20 months while her case went up to the U.S. Supreme Court. I must have cried a bowlful of tears on Angel island.

30 Tet Yee, detained on Angel Island for 6 months in Smiley Jann, detained on Angel Island for 3 weeks in 1931.

31 Why is Angel Island Significant? Its history helps us answer an essential question about immigration and the U.S.: Is the United States a nation of immigrants that welcomes newcomers and helps them to achieve their dreams? Or is it a gatekeeping nation that builds fences and detention centers to keep out aliens it identifies as undesirable and dangerous (and unfit to become Americans)? Lee/Yung: The history of immigration through Angel Island tells us that the United States is both. For some immigrants, American represents the chance to remake themselves; for others, the U.S. and its opportunities remain out of reach Which America immigrants encounter is determined by economics, politics, foreign relations, and often the newcomer s race, nationality, class, and gender.

32 Angel Island Immigrants: Who Were They? Chinese: young, male laborers (single or married with wives and children remaining in China); intending to be in the U.S. temporarily but gradually deciding to settle in the U.S. over the years. Japanese: male laborers, educated, increasing number of women as Japanese decide to stay in the U.S. by WWII, large U.S- born second generation South Asians: young male laborers and students interested in Indian nationalism; a mixture of Hindus, Muslims, but mostly Sikh Koreans: come as refugees fleeing Japanese colonialism; higher proportion of women, children, educated, Christian Filipinos: young male laborers, Catholic, American in outlook; come as U.S. nationals; can migrate freely until 1935, but cannot vote Russian Jews: migrating as families fleeing persecution

33 Angel Island today What discovery led to the preservation of the Angel Island Immigration station in the 1970s? 1970 discovery of poems by Alexander Weiss, CA State Park Ranger on Angel Island First I saw the deeply carved stuff and I said, wow! But then I looked around and shined my flashlight up and I could see that the entire walls were covered with calligraphy, and that was what blew me away. People had carved this stuff on every square inch of wall space, not just in this one room but all over. Although Weiss could not read the writing on the walls, he knew they were culturally and historically significant. His supervisor did not share his opinion. Weiss was told not to bother with the bunch of graffiti because the building was going to be torn down as part of the Master Plan.

34 42. There are tens of thousands of poems composed on these walls. They are all cries of complaint and sadness. The day I am rid of this prison and attain success, I must remember that this chapter once existed. In my daily needs, I must be frugal. Needless extravagance leads youth to ruin. All my compatriots should please be mindful. Once you have some small gains, return home early. By one from Heungshan

35 43. Imprisoned in the wooden building day after day, My freedom withheld; how can I bear to talk about it? I look to see who is happy, but they only sit quietly. I am anxious and depressed and cannot fall asleep. The days are long and the bottle constantly empty; my sad mood, even so, is not dispelled. Nights are long and the pillow cold; who can pity my loneliness? After experiencing such loneliness and sorrow, Why not just return home and learn to plow the fields?

36 99. I clasped hands in parting with my brothers and classmates. Because of the mouth, I hastened to cross the American ocean. How was I to know that the Western barbarians had lost their hearts and reason? With a hundred kinds of oppressive laws, they mistreat us Chinese. It is still not enough after being interrogated and investigated several times; We also have to have our chests examined while naked. Our countrymen suffer this treatment All because our country s power cannot yet expand. If there comes a day when China will be united, I will surely cut out the heart and bowels of the Western barbarian.

37 Changing Demographics Any thoughts about this study?