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Essay, 3 pages (650 words)

Asian american history: prewar, wwll, postwar

Asian American History Asian American History in MLA form Asian American History 2 America is known as ” The Melting Pot” because its citizens consist of many
who migrated from different countries and nationalities. These various peoples ” melted”
together to form a new group of people know as Americans. Moving to a new country
and ” melting” down cultures, beliefs, religions, etc. to fit into the American culture is not
easy. Change, whether good or bad, is difficult to accept. As you will find in this essay,
Asian American history faced many challenges as it evolved into its current status.
Before World War II, the California Gold Rush (1848) brought an influx of
Chinese immigrants. These Asian immigrants faced many hardships, laws that limited
their freedom, and even experienced violence and abuse. Johnson (2005) in an article
titled, Asian-American History, states that ” In 1850, just over 1, 000 Asian immigrants
entered the U. S., but ten year later, the figure had jumped to nearly 37, 000 mostly
Chinese”.
Due to the overwhelming amount of new arrivals, ” which had swelled to nearly
65, 000 in 1870, and over 107, 000 in 1880″ according to Johnson, many areas passed laws
against Asians, especially the Chinese because of their number. In one instance,
California passed a law in 1913, prohibiting ” aliens ineligible to citizenship” from buying
land or leasing it for longer than three years. Riots and protests against Asians broke
out in many cities.
During World War II, life obviously got harder for Asian immigrants. Executive
Order 9006 was signed by President Roosevelt authorizing military commanders to

Asian American History 3
designate areas ” from which any and all persons may be excluded”. This was meant
mainly for the Japanese. There were many strikes including the Protest at Topaz
Relocation Center in 1943. This crisis led to the naming of the Center as a segregation
center. Le speaks in more detail about life during this era:
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. That is, their
tradition of self-reliance was replaced by being forced to rely on the
government for their most basic needsEvery Japanese American who
was imprisoned was eventually forced to prove their loyalty by answering
two questions — (1) whether or not they would be willing to be drafted to
fight in the war or volunteer as a nurse and (2) whether they would swear
to obey all the laws of the U. S. and not interfere with the war effort. (Le
2005.)
The end of the war meant changes for Asians in America. Laws
that were written were repealed. In 1952, it was passed that Japanese
Americans could become United States citizens through the process of
naturalization.
Le’s statement below best concludes this essay of the present and

Asian American History 4
future status of Asian Americans:
For the 20 or so years after the war, the entire Asian
American population tried to rebuild their lives, develop
their communities, and tried to assimilate as best as possible.
It helped that the U. S. was experiencing a huge economic
boom, which not only provided these Asian American groups
with new opportunities, but also gave the native White
population enough opportunities as well so that they didn’t see
Asian Americans as threats. However, a new and important
piece of legislation was passed in 1965 that again fundamentally
changed the landscape of Asian America.
Today Asian Americans enjoy all the rights and freedoms of every citizen,
regardless of where they came from and how they choose to live, and they are a
great contribution to America’s ” Melting Pot”.
Asian American History 5
Works Cited
Johnson, David. ” Asian-American History”. Copyright 2000-2005. Pearson
Education. 11 Dec. 2005, http://www. infoplease. com/spot/immigration1. html.
Le, C. N. ” Construction & Destruction”. Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian
America. 11 Dec. 2005. Asian-Nation. 11 Dec. 2005

http://www. asian-nation. org/internment. shtml.

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