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First Asians Come To America
Filipino sailors settle in America. -
First Large Scale Immigration Of Asians To America
Lured by tales and dreams of making it rich on "Gold Mountain" (which became the Chinese nickname for California), The Gold Rush was one of the pull factors that led many Chinese to come to the U.S. to find their fortune and return home rich and wealthy. -
Asian Americans Start Working On Transcontinental Railroad Project
The project pitted the Union Pacific (working westward from Nebraska) and the Central Pacific (working eastward from Sacramento) against each other for each mile of railroad track laid. -
Asian Americans Complete Transcontinental Railroad To No Credit.
A famous ceremony was staged where the two railroad lines met in Promontory Point, Utah. Although a handful of Chinese workers were allowed to participate in the final ceremony and a small group were personally congratulated by Stanford Leland and his partners who financed the project, perhaps not too shocking,the Chinese workers were forbidden from appearing in the famous photograph of the ceremony,even though without their work and their lives, the project may never have been completed. -
Chinese Exclusion Act Is Passed
This act barred virtually all immigration from China and prevented all Chinese already in the U.S. from becoming U.S. citizens, even their American-born children. For the first time in U.S. history, a specific ethnic group was singled out and forbidden to enter the U.S. -
Japanese Immigrants Come To America.
The next Asian group to come to the U.S. in large numbers were the Japanese. They initially came to Hawai'i as cheaper replacements for Chinese workers beginning around 1890. In Japan's case, they also experienced economic and military domination by the west, which began when Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1853 with his infamous "black ships," threatening war if Japan did not open itself up for trade with the west. -
Gentlemens Agreement Passed.
But unlike workers from China, Japanese workers were actively recruited to work in Hawai'i and the U.S. and were initially closely supervised by the Japanese government to insure that they were doing well.However, once again, the Japanese eventually received the same type of discriminatory treatment the Chinese had received earlier, which culminated in 1907 Gentlemen's Agreement.Japan agreed to stop issuing passports for Japanese workers to go to the U.S. -
Internment Camps Created Because Of Executive Order 9066
This effectively revoked the rights of Japanese Americans (two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens) and eventually led to about 112,000 Japanese Americans being rounded up and thrown into prison camps in nine states. The lives of Japanese Americans were devastated -- not only were their economic lives destroyed, their emotional security was shattered, but their cultural traditions were severely damaged as well. -
Exclusion Law Revoked
The Exclusion Law is revoked 61 years after it was passed. -
Japanese Prisoners Allowed To Leave
The Executive Order was finally rescinded and all Japanese American prisoners were allowed to leave. However, historians point out that this was still long before the Japanese surrender and during a time of the war when, arguably, the fighting was at its most vicious. Therefore, the fact that these alleged spies were released at the height of the war was further evidence against the argument that their imprisonment was an essential security measure. -
1965 Immigration Act
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 represents a significant watershed moment in Asian American history. Reversing decades of systematic exclusion and restrictive immigration policies, the Act resulted in unprecedented numbers of immigrants from Asia, Mexico, Latin America, and other non-western nations entering the U.S. In the process, these new arrivals, particular from Asia, have transformed the demographic, economic, and cultural characteristics of many urban areas.
