AAST 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Caucasian Race, Internalized Oppression, Scientific Racism

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Asian American Studies
• Course: AAST 200
• Professor: Janelle Wong

Document Summary

Debates over immigration today: deportation of undocumented immigrants, sanctuary cities, national-origin bans (7 countries currently, length and conditions in immigrant detention facilities. Immigration exclusion based on national origin: chinese exclusion act (1882) Expanded in 188 to include both skilled and unskilled laborers. Expanded in 1917 to include all asian nations: exclusion hand-in-hand with detention, deportation, and raids. Chinese become first illegal immigrants because they now had to enter or remain illegally. Had to forge documents and assume new identities (paper sons) 1940-1950"s chinese immigrant registry led to deportations in spite of incentives . What drives hostility toward chinese immigrants: fear of threat to american way of life. 1924 immigration act quotas determined by proportion of each national- origin group in 1890. 2% of total number of people in each nationality in us because of 1890 national census. Purpose of using 1890 census is in attempt to recreate 1890"s racial diversity (or lack thereof)