In San Francisco, and it is an important site not only for what happened back then in the early 20th century but also because it is so timely today. It is timely because, when we pick up any newspaper, we see headlines like this. This is just from last week. Republicans slam obamas immigration at townhall. Attempt will fight any to reverse immigration action. Moving forward to fix our broken immigration system. House conservatives warn boehner dont cave on immigration. Does anyone know what some of these headlines are referring to last week . What was the big debate in congress . What was the proposed shutdown . Diego. They were threatening to shut down dhs funding because of obamas executive action referring to families. Erika right. So obamas executive action that would protect millions of undocumented immigrants, the undocumented immigrants, parents of undocumented immigrants, parents of u. S. Citizens or illegal immigrants. This would halt of their deportation. But we know that this is quite a controversial action right now. Governors of 26 states have sued the white house because they believe this executive action exceeds the president s authority. At the same time, there is a judge in texas who halted the immigration order, and this has created gridlock in congress. Obama says he is going to continue to fight. He had a town hall in miami that was sponsored by someone where he was talking about his commitment to reforming immigration laws. We know because we have been studying immigration history for the past several weeks that this is just the latest in our nations immigration debate, but it does seem like it is a contracted one. And there doesnt seem to be an end in sight. So how do we consider this immigration debate with what we have been talking about most recently . Immigration through ellis island . That story of european immigrants coming to new york, passing through ellis island certainly there were examinations, there were physicals, there was some detention, but it was primarily pretty shortlived, and most immigrants were admitted pretty easily into the country. And not only that, but this story has taken on a myth of its own. It really is the bedrock of this idea that the United States is a nation of immigrants. How do we reconcile this great immigration debate that is going on today and then this idea that we are a nation of immigrants . I think one of the ways that we can think about this complicated history of immigration is through looking at immigration through angel island. Because we know that not all immigrants were welcomed into the country. Not all immigrants were able to achieve their american dreams. But rather, we picked and sifted and chose which immigrants to let in and which immigrants to let out. Or keep out. And many times, this really was dependent upon an immigrants race, ethnicity, gender, class, this idea of who is fit to become a citizen and who is not. And this is the history that is best exemplified through immigration through angel island. This is in the San Francisco bay. It is that other island, not alcatraz, but that other island in the San Francisco bay that is now a california state park. So, the immigration station on angel island was open from 1910 to 1940. We primarily think about it as an entry point for immigrants from china and japan. And two thirds of the immigrants who did come through angel island were from those two countries. But as you can see, there are over 80 countries represented for the immigration stream that came through angel island according to our research. It ranged from places like denmark and luxembourg, french indochina, the name for cambodia, vietnam and laos, south africa, spain, switzerland. There were people who came south from canada and north from south america. This is a photograph of the immigration building on a july on angel island. When immigrants would dock, they would land on a pier and go up this pier, and this is the first site they would see. There are three entrances here. Racial segregation was the order of the day. There was an entrance for employees, there was an entrance for whites, and for asians. Within that administration building, there were separate waiting areas as well. So at all times, the different groups were segregated from each other through this administration building. So, when we compare to ellis island, ellis island is primarily enforcing laws that relate to immigrants from europe. Right . It is in new york, and most of the immigrants coming over are coming from across the atlantic. Angel island is situated in San Francisco. It is primarily enforcing laws that are targeting asian immigrants, and the laws are very, very different. While ellis island is a, mostly a processing center, angel island is a place of interrogation, health examinations, and detention. And this history is not as wellknown, but it is important because it helped shape our modern immigration system. So lets take a look at who these asian immigrants were. When we think about this great era of immigration, there are two great eras of immigration. One is the one that we are living in today, and the other is around the turn of the century from 1830 to 1930. There are 35 Million Immigrants who come during this century of migration. The vast majority, 32 million, are from europe. This is about one Million Immigrants from asia and another Million Immigrants come from latin america. So in the big picture, this is just a drop in the bucket, right . One million out of 35 million who are coming. And it is pretty diverse. There is about 450,000 chinese, they are the largest group. There is also 380,000 japanese. 150,000 filipinos. H koreans000 to 9000 and south asians. South asia is the term that was used to describe immigrants from india, pakistan, and bangladesh. There is a great diversity, not only ethnicity but also in terms of numbers. And remember, theres only one million of them, but asia and asian immigration helps to ignite some of our most divisive immigration debates. So who were these immigrants . The chinese they are like the european immigrants that we studied. They are mostly young male laborers. They want to come to the United States. They are thinking about their stay is temporary, they will make money, return home. That is why they come alone, even if they are married. They tend to leave their wives and children behind. But over the years, they decide eventually that they would like to stay in the United States. So they start calling for their family members. Similarly, the japanese are also male laborers. So remember, this is a time when immigrants are needed for their labor. Right . And it is for railroad building, for agricultural work, it is for light in the streets. They want unskilled laborers to do that work. Japanese are also male laborers. They are more educated than some immigrantsr asian because of compulsory education in japan. They also come thinking they will stay only temporarily, but over time, again, like the chinese, they decide that the u. S. Is worth settling down in , and they start calling for their wives and fiancees to come as well. By world war ii, the japaneseamerican population is such that there is really a great proportion of u. S. Born children. This is very different than the other groups. The immigrants who are coming from south asia are really extremely diverse. There is a mixture of hindus, muslims, but primarily they are sikh. They are of the sikh religion, and they are from one area which is the food job region the punjab region in presentday india and pakistan. There are both male laborers, but increasingly, there are a lot of students coming over. One of the things that makes this group pretty unique is that this is a time of intense indian nationalism, and the immigrants coming over at this time are very much a part of the nationalist movement. Koreans are a small group. They are small because japan has colonized korea by this time. And japan is very much controlling who goes in and who leaves the country. And so only a small number of koreans are coming over to the United States, primarily to the west coast and to hawaii. They also are coming for work but more so than other groups. They really see themselves as refugees. Similarly to the russian jews that we were studying last week, they are fleeing japanese colonialism, which was harsh and restrictive. Korean language was banned, korean newspapers were banned. There was a lot of surveillance. They see themselves as refugees fleeing their homeland. And potentially staying away for a long time. So they come, a higher proportion come as a families. Come as families. One of the other things that makes them unique or different from other asian immigrant groups is that they are often christian because of the role of american and u. S. Missionaries in korea at this time. It is a broad Diverse Group of , people who are coming. The last group are filipinos. They also are coming as male laborers, but again, what makes them unique is that they are coming as a totally different immigrant status, and not even an immigrant status. The philippines has been colonized by the u. S. So filipinos when they migrate, they migrate as u. S. Nationals. This is a different legal category. They are not subjected to immigration laws, which is really important. So as every other immigrant group is restricted, filipinos can still come without restricted and without interrogations and inspections. They also see themselves as americans. They have grown up with american teachers area they have grown up with american culture. They have grown up believing about the glory and riches of america. And so they believe they are coming to just another part of the country, that they are already americans. But they are unequal in status. U. S. Nationals allows them to migrate, but they are not citizens. They cannot vote. So when they come, they often face a lot of surprising to them antiasian sentiments. Diversity the broad of asian immigrants who are coming to this country early 20th century. When they come, they set in motion the reaction that americans have to them sets in motion some of the most divisive immigration debates that we have ever had in this country. This may be surprising to many people, because today, when we talk about asianamericans, we talk about the popular understandings that they are on the rise. That they are what is the stereotypes of asianamericans . [indiscernible] erika they are smart. What else . They are a particular type of minority. Do you guys remember the term . Taylor. They are the model minority. Erika they are the model minority. What does that mean . It means out of all marginalized groups, they are somehow exemplary and constitute a narrative that the rest of marginalized people should ascribe to. Erika right so they can , succeed, they can achieve economic success, academic success, and they do sell on their on without government programs. Asianamericans are the model minority. That is the stereotype about asianamericans today. It may be surprising in the early 20th century, they were considered not only undesirable immigrants, but also in a symbol foreigners to such a degree that the u. S. Wanted to not only reduce their numbers but exclude them altogether. Historians describe this power of antiasian sentiment with this quote. He says the presence of asians on american soil highlighted fundamental cleavages in american society, meeting they were the first noneuropean immigrant group to come in such great numbers. That they came at a time that there was class tensions, changing race relations. This is postcivil war, post reconstruction. These ideas about what does it an american, what does it mean to be free, what does it mean to be a worker, what rights do we have . And what is the role of the u. S. In the world . All of these things late 19th century, early 20th century are just rife with all of these massive changes in american society. So some of the ways that antiasian sentiment plays out is through prejudice, bias, prejudgments, economic discrimination dashboard barred from certain jobs political disenfranchisement. Remember the nationalization act that said only free white persons can become citizens . And can vote. Already asian immigrants are barred from becoming natural citizens. Physical violence. Immigration exclusion, which is what we are going to be talking about mostly today. Social segregation. You cannot join certain clubs, live in certain areas. And that during world war ii, incarceration. The Mass Relocation and incarceration of japanese americans. So how did, what did this look like in person . What did this look like in reality and on the ground . This is a cartoon from 1881 in San Francisco. It is from a magazine called the wasp. And i am going to ask you to tell me what you see. What is this cartoon telling us about what americans think about chinese immigration at this time . Yes. Well, it appears to be a sort of a reaction to what is perceived as sort of this overwhelming numbers of chinese immigrants. And this is a mockery of the statue of liberty but also this image of conquest because it is standing on a skull. It is clearly a chinese man due to the long braid, which marks chinese and this caricature. It is definitely this sort of mirror image of new york. Erika good. What is the title of the cartoon . A statue for our harbor. Erika right. A statue for our harbor. So in San Francisco as opposed to new york. So in new york, they have a statue of liberty. It welcomes european immigrants. In San Francisco, this is what our statue would be if we allow chinese immigration to come without restrictions. So a couple things that jeremy just mentioned. We can recognize this as a chinese male. He has got this long queue. This was a hairstyle that was qing empire the but in the United States, it a sign ofn as femininity, exoticness, subhumanness. He is wearing robes. They are very tattered. This is not the classical greek figure. It has no dignity. He is standing on a skull, meaning that he is bringing ruin. Does anyone see what he is holding in his left hand . Joy . It is an opium pipe. Erika yes. It is an opium pipe. Another symbol of the vice of chinese immigration is bringing vice and bringing drugs and immorality. There is writing emanating from the ring around his head. Can anyone see what that writing is . It is hard to see from the middle. Cartoon. Says filth. M right erika the bottom right is filth. Then what else . Immorality. Erika immorality. Good. Up on top . Is it disease . Erika disease. We are reading right to left as the chinese would. To. And canruin anyone point out those last two . Ruin to white labor. Erika right. Chinese immigration is bringing filth, immorality, disease, to ruin to white labor. Catastrophic. Chinese immigration is catastrophic to San Francisco, to california. The foundation of the statue is crumbling. The ships that are coming are capsizing. The moon in the background has slanted eyes. This is the future of california. This is the future of the United States through chinese immigration without restrictions. This is not an outlier. This is not a far right or far left or extreme example about this, of this antiimmigrant sentiment. This is one of the most well respected, well read, illustrated magazines in the late 19th century. So what is the effect of some of this popular sentiment . One is through violence. There are countless episodes of the chinese being driven out, literally being with mobs driving them out of small towns like eureka, california as well as big cities like tacoma and seattle. This is an illustration of one of the wellknown incidents, the massacre of chinese at rock springs, wyoming in september of 1885. Around aed about mining incident. Some of the white workers and Chinese Workers were debating whether they wanted to go on strike. The white workers went on strike. The chinese decided not to, and the white workers drove them out after inflicting massive violence on this group. So there is about 28 who are killed, 15 wounded, and hundreds are driven out into the outlying areas. So this is some of the sentiment that is shaping chinese immigration, but one of the really fascinating aspects of this history is, remember how diverse all those asian immigrants groups were . Nevertheless, when this idea of chinese immigrants as being a threat to the United States a class threat, a racial threat, an economic threat it became attached to other asian immigrant groups as well. So that the newspapers would say chinese excluded, but now we have a japanese problem. Or japanese excluded, now the hindus are coming, or the filipinos. They kept on calling them another invasion. It kind of got a little ridiculous because there was the second asiatic invasion, then the third asiatic invasion, and it came this typology that was framing the threat of asian immigration. And again it had very real consequences. On the left is a newspaper clipping from the New York Times in 1907 talking about again the driving out or the expulsion of Southeast Asian immigrants in a little town of marysville. This is more troubling, i think. This is a private letter that was sent to a townsman in california. The town sheriff or the town mayor. It was collected and archived at the uc berkeley archives. This is from the 1930s. So a threat to expel the filipinos, or they would inflict violence on the town. Japanese immigration perhaps invoked a more broadscale and Even International concern. This was called the yellow peril. It had to elements. One element was the familiar refrain that japanese immigrants assimilible, were racially inferior, they were taking away jobs, they were mixing with whites. The second aspect more unique to japan and japans rising power in the world. They are an empire. They defeated russia in 1904. They defeated china in 1894. They have colonized korea. So there is this idea of an asian empire, japans asian empire that is infusing that antijapanese sentiment with even greater force. That they are even more of a knows, thosee who japanese immigrant farmers picking your strawberries may be the first advance guard from a colonizing japan. This was the rhetoric by the 1920s and 1930s, that japanese immigrants in california, hawaii, oregon, and washington were soldiers in disguise and would be ready to do this. Anyone recognize the artist . Dr. Seuss. Ok. What does this say . What does this mean to you . 1942. So that day is significant. Taylor. There is an element of malfe