1882-1945
This political cartoon entitled "The Chinese Must Go!" shows how Americans disliked having the Chinese in America and wanted them gone.
Image: Grand Rapids People's History Project
Image: Grand Rapids People's History Project
Laundries
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The Chinese immigrants were willing to do anything to make money. They became house servants, cooks, waiters, gardeners, vegetable growers, train cleaners, and owners of restaurants and laundries. Mexican women who usually ran the laundries became angered when they discovered so many Chinese immigrants opened up laundries. They said that their charged too much for terrible quality. Even local newspapers asked them to upgrade their way of washing clothes. No matter what people said about the Chinese running laundries, it didn’t make them quit because by 1889, they monopolized the laundry business, causing the relationship between the Chinese and the Mexicans worsen.
Chinatown was a place where Chinese immigrants could speak their language and practice their culture in peace. It was often crowed, which lead to dirty water from their laundries dumped on the streets causing odorous smells and pig pens leaving trash everywhere. Chinatown was so unclean, people had to order them to tidy up. Citizens of other cities were so angry at the Chinese, they drove them out of town, but even though El Paso felt the same way, they let the Chinese stay. On May 6, 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created. The act stated that for 10 years, there would be no immigration from China. If they were caught sneaking in, they would quickly be deported back to China. The act also forbade any Chinese in America to become a citizen. This act was created because Americans were tired of Chinese coming to America and taking all the jobs and not becoming part of American culture. The next act, the Scott Act, was established on October 1, 1888. It stopped any Chinese worker that left America to re-enter the U.S. The Geary Act, made in 1892, added 10 more years to the Chinese Exclusion Act and required all Chinese immigrants to receive a certificate of residence within 1 year. The Gresham-Yang Treaty in 1894 allowed Chinese workers back in the U.S. if they owed a minimum of $1,000 or had a family in America. In 1904 though, Congress cancelled the treaty and in 1943, during World War II, when America and China became allies, Congress also cancelled the Chinese Exclusion Act and Chinese immigrants could travel to America like other immigrants. |