American Social History

Monday 25th: Discussion/lecture on Asian-American immigration, identity and citizenship. Why are Asians frequently omitted from the national narratives of immigration and from the concept of the melting pot? How does their history and experience differ from, or resonate with, that of other immigrant groups?

Topics: “Golden Door,” Chinese Exclusion Act, “Yellow Peril,” Rock Springs Wyoming riot (1885) and other anti-Asian riots of the same era, Supreme Court case Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) and U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), Chinatowns (when/where), Japanese immigration, Issei/ Nisei, 1924 Oriential Exclusion Law, Executive Order 9066.

Wednesday 27th, our reading is a digital archive website, JARDA (Japanese-American Relocation Digital Archive), found at: http://www.calisphere/universityofcalifornia.edu/jarda/

Questions to consider as you explore this archive:

• What kinds of sources does this repository make available to historians interested in the Japanese-American experience during World War II?
• What can you learn from these sources about the experience of Asian-Americans in the 20th century?
• What customs, cultural practices or worldviews clashed during the internment process?
• Were interned Americans able to maintain their cultural practices?
• What questions do these materials raise for you?

Friday 29th: Our last presentation day. If you are missing a 3rd response paper, please turn one in today on this week’s readings.

Presenter ideas: Presenters this week can focus either on the experience of Mexican-Americans in the American West using resources from last week, or on Asians in the American West using JARDA, or can compare/contrast the two in their presentations. If you need additional ideas:

• Listen to the recent NPR “Morning Edition” 5-part series, by reporter Jason Bobien, traveling the entire US-Mexican border. What is so important about this region? What are some of the current issues, problems, and stories from the border?
• Explore some of the experiences of Vietnamese Boat People. How do their stories intersect with changes in US immigration policy in the 20th century?
• Peruse some of the images, photographs and other resources in the Library of Congress American Memory archive “The Chinese in California, 1850-1925.” How is this website different from JARDA, and what use might social historians make of the items within it?
• Use the online Bracero Archive to understand the bracero program and how it fits into immigration history in the 20th century.

Image: Mrs. Fong Soon, undated photograph, from Library of Congress American Memory Collection, “The Chinese in California”