19th Century US History

 On February 19th, 1869, Abraham Lincoln helped make the Act to prohibit "the Coolie trade" in America.  "SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act hereinbefore contained shall be deemed or construed to apply to or affect any free and voluntary emigration of any Chinese subject..." Although this act seems good in nature to end the exploitation of "coolie" laborers, it was almost impossible to tell a "coolie" from a harmless Asian immigrant. This act meant to help Asian laborers made way to the Chinese Exclusion Act which banned all Chinese immigrants altogether. Chinese Exclusion Act This act was a federal law instated by President Chester Arther on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for the next ten years. This act was created after years of turmoil and the growing of anti-Chinese sentiment.  After being used and exploited for cheap labor similar to slave work, Asian laborers were now prohibited.  Look

With the news of the California goldrush spreading globally, introduced about 300, 000 new immigrants, about 25,000 being Chinese. Foreign immigrant men were looking to make some quick money mining for gold and faced a lot of discrimination for doing so.  Violence and Hatred Towards Asians White laborers looked down upon these Asian men for their easy and unskilled labor. Asian workers faced lots of violence at the hands of white Americans.  "One of the most serious riots occurred on 30 June 1861 when approximately 2000 European diggers attacked the Chinese miners. Although they tried to get away from the mob, about 250 Chinese miners were gravely injured and lost all their belongings."(NMA) Violence on the goldfields | National Museum of Australia (nma.gov.au) The fear of gaining new competition to "inferior" workers made white men spiteful as they grew more violent.  It wasn't uncommon for work sites to not hire anyone but white men to work in their mines or o

 While a majority of workers were Asian men, Asian women were also kidnapped, threatened and exploited in different ways.   Crimpers would entice women and young girls with false promises of citizenship and marriage to wealthy men. These women truly believed they were getting a fair deal with a content life in America. Other times crimpers would give these women no choice to come to America because they would threaten their lives.  After the challenges faced on board terrible ships, they wouldn't be greeted with wealthy husbands, but brothels and forced prostitution. This of course wasn't legal but passed through immigration by pretending these women were mail order brides. Mail Order Bride: A woman who accepts a contractual marriage arranged by an agency after long distance courtship.  Their new pimps and madams "...had them sign what the women believed were legal work contracts although this was in fact sexual slavery."(3:48 FORGOTEN HISTORY) Some of the biggest ill

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 Crimping- The Practice of kidnapping or entrapping people into serving as sailors through deceptive techniques. Chinese Crimps were paid for each Asian migrant they transported. They would deceive workers into thinking they would receive a fair paying job in America and receive many benefits. They would lie and fake promises to recruit workers. When they were desperate, they would also torture, kidnap, or bind them to debt in order to get workers to agree. The journey to America was done by ship over treacherous waters. The workers on board were mistreated resulting in high deathrate. The method of transportation is said to have been similar to African slavery transportation methods. Overcrowded boats, disease, and shackled to be kept under control. "Chinese emigrants were transported in overcrowded vessels and dehumanizing settings, where the average death rates on board were high- twenty-five or thirty percent , and sixteen percent for Cuba."(Ginese-Blasi 3) Image of Chine

Cuba has had a relationship with southern states before and after the Civil War. With these strong ties introduced the ideas of Asian workers to Louisiana to white men who had traveled and visited between the US and Cuba. These ideas were implemented into American agriculture work soon before the abolishment of slavery.  Colorism and Racism for workers These Asian workers were viewed as "in between" white and black people. They were not African Americans who faced black codes and segregation. They were also not white Americans who were viewed as important in status. In social status, these laborers were viewed as higher than freed slaves and way lower than whites.  Praises were made to these Asian workers about their work efforts and were made to compete against Black workers.  "Journalist Whitelaw Reid reported that he had heard...'We can drive the n----- out and import coolies that work better, at less expense, and relieve us from this cursed n----- impudence.'

 The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865.  This amendment states that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Although this meant that all slaves were freed from ownership, this did not mean they were granted citizenship. They were denied basic freedoms and struggled against racist laws. Newly freed African Americans couldn't vote, weren't allowed in schools, and were denied most housing. Jim Crow laws segregated blacks in all public places in previously confederate states. All of problems for "free" black people caused much violence and death against them. The 13th amendment didn't create freedom for African Americans, it just ended TRADITIONAL slavery. Despite all of this new change going all around, the question on most southern landowners' minds is, "Wh

 Ginés-Blasi, Mònica. 2021. “Exploiting Chinese Labour Emigration in Treaty Ports: The Role of Spanish Consulates in the ‘Coolie Trade.’” International Review of Social History 66, no. 1: 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859020000334. Rhoads, Edward J. M. “‘White Labor’ vs. ‘Coolie Labor’: The ‘Chinese Question’ in Pennsylvania in the 1870s.” Journal of American Ethnic History 21, no. 2 (2002): 3–32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27502811. Stanley L. Engerman. 1999.  Terms of Labor : Slavery, Serfdom, and Free Labor . Making of Modern Freedom. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.collegeofsanmateo.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=6679&site=ehost-live . Shlomowitz, Ralph. 1979. “The Transition from Slave to Freedman Labor Arrangements in Southern Agriculture, 1865–1870.” The Journal of Economic History 39, no. 1: 333–36. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050700096583. Aje, Lawrence, and Catherine Armstrong. 2019. “The Tra