TOPIC 6.9 Responses to Gilded Age Immigration
Racist Reactions to Chinese Immigration & Antiracist Resistance
Wong Chin Foo, the “original Chinese-American,” was a leading immigration activist and antiracist and resistance leader.
KC-6.2.I.C Increasing public debates over assimilation and Americanization….immigrants negotiated compromises between the cultures they brought and the culture they found in the United States.
Objective 1: Students will evaluate primary sources in order to understand American reactions to Chinese Immigration
Objective 2: Students will be able to explain Chinese American resistance to discrimination
This KEy Concept in an Antiracism in an classroom:
“The banning of a whole category of people directly challenges foundational questions of what American freedom means and what American history means, and who “we the people” can constitute.” - Dr. John Kuo Wei Tchen
“Have they not the same right to come here as men from other nations? Is not this the country that boasted of its free and liberal institutions?” - Wong Chin Foo
The story of discrimination faced by Chinese Americans is a tragic example of how racism can be so powerful that it causes Americans to vote against their own stated values and their own self economic interest. The story of Chinese immigration is also a story of successful antiracist activism which eventually forced the courts to acknowledge the citizenship of all people born within the borders of the United States.
Notes
This lesson starts with a review of the content from the 6.8 lesson, “The Chinese Immigrants that Made America Great” and continues with a mini DBQ about American reactions to Chinese Immigration. Students use the S.P.Y. method (explanation included in teaching materials) to further understand discrimination faced by Chinese American immigrants. The class wraps up with a great discussion and leads to further understanding of the power of both racism and antiracism in American history.
This lesson was completed in partnership with the Immigrant History Initiative which is led by founders Julia Chang Wang and Kathy Lu, two Yale Law School graduates. The recent resurgence of overt political xenophobia prompted them to think deeply about the importance of immigration in shaping our nation. Their resources are invaluable to any student of American history and Antiracist APUSH has partnered with the organization to tailor their curriculum to fit the objectives and key concepts of both APUSH and any standard American history survey course.