Analysis of Asian Americans: An Interpretive History by Sucheng Chan - Book Report/Review Example

Running Head: Asian Americans…. Sucheng Chan. Asian Americans: An Interpretive History Order#: 283016 Sucheng Chan. Asian Americans: An Interpretive History Introduction and outline: When a young sapling is transplanted from one geographical area to another, it may survive and grow, if proper care is taken and the conditions are suitable for its growth. What will happen when a grown up tree is pulled from the roots and taken to some other area? The inherent nature of the tree is to grow, but in this particular case, it will face problems to find proper place for its roots, stabilize and ultimately grow. The process of its growth is tough as it will have to face root-competition with the local trees already there. Immigration and the resettlement process in USA were of that type in the initial stages. For the early Asian Immigrants, the task was tougher, considered from any angle. They had to encounter the awkward situations in the land of their arrival, look after children and family, homeland support totally cut-off and many such issues! One understands the importance of social unity when one is in a foreign land. The immigrants formed social organizations to guide the new arrivals at the ship, helped them to secure jobs, opened credit channels, and actively helped them in domestic issues like marriages. They were provided with legal aid, when necessary. The book under review by Sucheng Chan, gives a good account of Asians in the United States from the 1840s. How these communities struggled to create their own destinies, and fought for their rights at the social and legal levels. “The five groups of Asian immigrants came under three different sets of circumstances. The Chinese, the first to arrive, were pushed out by powerful forces at home as well as attracted by the discovery of golden California.”(Chan, 1991, p, 3) Racial discrimination was part of their life in the early stages of immigration, but as they settled and flourished, differences amongst these groups, began to crop up and added to their existing problems. Nevertheless, these groups strongly impacted the overall American life and culture. “Initial Japanese, Korean, and Filipino immigration followed a second pattern: it was induced by Hawaiian sugar plantation owners who sent agents to recruit workers by the thousands as sugar cultivation expanded.”(Chan, 1991, p, 3)Ethnicity and nationality split the Asian Americans. There was never a perfect bonhomie amongst the different communities. Discrimination by the European settlers was part of the life of Asian Americans. The stories of harsh toil in the California goldfields and in the building activities related to transcontinental railroads, is a blot, which can never be erased from the dark pages of the history of America. Europeans used every opportunity to exploit them for aggrandizement of wealth. All nationalities, Koreans, Filipinos, Japanese and Chinese suffered. The civil rights movement of the 1950-1970s, though initiated mainly for Negroes, indirectly benefited Asians. The first part of the struggle of the immigrants was for survival under difficult circumstances in a new land; the second stage was to assert their social and political rights. During the third part of the struggle the immigrants saw improvement in their status and decrease of racial inequality. They were in the process of full integration in the mainstream of the American society. The unfair treatment meted out to the Asian Americans by the Euro-Americans reflects in the writings of Chan. Her main focus is how the Asian Americans succeeded in creating a deep and profound impact on the history of United States, in all the important segments like politics, economics and agriculture. The process of conglomeration of different races from all parts of the world, though not in the boiling pot at present, racial tensions can be seen and experienced in every part of life of America even now. The only silver lining is the legal safeguards provided to members of every ethnic group, male or female. The citizens of America, belonging to all sections of the society have realized that it is in the national interest and their individual interest to curtail and if possible eliminate the racial tensions. The missionary zeal and spirit is evident in the writings of Chan. While giving the clarion call to avoid the racial tensions, Chan, at the same time, pleads that racial tension is still the major problem that haunts United States. Struggles through poverty, inequality and discrimination have been the parts of their lives throughout and the ordeal is far from over. She, therefore, cautions the Asian American community to be vigilant, keep up the fighting spirit alive, and not to relax unless and until true equality is secured for all ethnic groups of Asian Americans. The birth, circumstances of growth and upbringing of the author has important bearing on the content and writing style of the author. Chang is no exception to this rule. She was born on April 16, 1941, in Shanghai, China. She did her High School in New York City. Her early memories relate to war in China. Her father encouraged her to read and learn historical novels. She received a master’s degree in Asian studies from the University of Hawaii in 1965 and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1973. She has several accomplishments in her teaching career and career as a writer. The canvas of the book is vast. Chang traces the history of the immigration of the Asian Americans from 1660s, when Chinese and Filipinos reach Mexico on ships of the Manila galleon. The process goes on and the next important phase of immigration is traced to 1830s when Chan mentions about Chinese “sugar masters” working in Hawaii and locates Chinese sailors and peddles in New York. In the first chapter of the book, “The International Context of Asian immigration,” she elucidates the factors that initiated the process of immigration to USA. In the year 1835 U.S. and China sign the first treaty for the befit of the immigrated workers. Destiny played its part to hasten the process of immigration1848, with the gold discovery in California, and mass immigration of Chinese followed. The economic interests began to play their part, and in 1850, California imposed Foreign Miner’s tax and enforced it mainly against Chinese miners, who often had to pay tax more than once. In 1852, the first group of 195 Chinese contract laborers landed in Hawaii and over 20,000 Chinese entered California. They first appeared in court in California. Even though some reviewers say that the writing of Chang is biased and it favors the Asian Americans, going by the facts, and the indignities suffered by the Asian Americans, it is difficult to object to the observations of Chang. The Chinese for example, had to face several social and legal hurdles for their stay in USA. In 1858, California passed a law to bar entry of Chinese and “Mongolians.” Some of the laws can only be termed as barbaric. For example, California imposed a “police tax” of $2.50 a month on every Chinese in 1862, and going by the money-value then, that was a big sum. Systematic discrimination continued. This led to mutual resentment. In 1877, anti-Chinese violence erupted in Chico, California. In 1879, California’s second constitution prevented municipalities and corporations from giving employment to Chinese. More was in store for the Chinese immigrants. California State Legislature passed a law requiring all incorporated towns and cities to remove Chinese outside of city limits but the U.S. circuit court intervened to declare the law unconstitutional. Racial discrimination got the legal sanctity when section 69 of California’s civil code prohibited issuing of licenses for marriages between whites and Mongolians, Negroes, mulattoes and persons of mixed blood. Even when the racial discrimination continued to raise its poisonous hoods in different forms, the Asian Americans fought with the legal remedies available to them. The residents of Tacoma, Seattle and many places in the American West forcibly expelled the Chinese, and the immigration of Chinese to Hawaii, came to an end. Chinese laundrymen won a case in Yick Wo vs. Hopkins, which declared that a law with unequal impact on different groups is discriminatory. Chan highlights discrimination and harassment at every step to prevent Asian Communities to find their rightful places which continued to happen in many parts of USA. It is difficult to believe that such draconian laws were in existence in USA some decades ago. In 1922, Takao Ozawa vs. U.S declared that Japanese were not eligible for naturalized citizenship. New Mexico passed an alien land law. Cable Act declared that any American female citizen who married an alien ineligible to citizenship would lose her citizenship. The long battle to win social, economic and political equality began fructifying when in 1964 Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first Asian American woman to serve in Congress as representative from Hawaii. Conclusion: Sucheng Chan has given us a very interesting book viewed from any angle-sociological, historical, economics and political. This is a well studied document which every Asian American must read, to know how difficult it was for the initial immigrants to get established in USA and the ordeals and humiliations they had to undergo. Recollection of the past, whether it is sweet or sour, is exciting when the present conditions are good and sound. High marks to the intrinsic strength of American democracy that it has now elected an Asian American as President of the country! References: Chan, Sucheng: Book: Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (Immigrant Heritage of America Series) Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Twayne Publishers; 1 edition (January 1, 1991) Language: English ISBN-10: 0805784373 ISBN-13: 978-0805784374 Read More