TITLE:
Institutional Racism: Chinese Immigrants’ Encounters in America, 1850-1943
AUTHORS:
Xiaolin Mao
KEYWORDS:
Chinese Immigrants, Racism, Chinese Exclusion Act, Institutional, Marginalization
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.6,
June
30,
2022
ABSTRACT: Based on a unique chapter of American history
that spans almost a century (1850-1943), this article traces the racial and
economic origins of the deplorable sociopolitical status of Chinese immigrants
in America by exploring why Chinese immigrants came to America and how they
were then unfairly persecuted by a racially motivated legislation—the 1882 Chinese
Exclusion Act— and the grave
consequences it caused to the Chinese American community. By employing archival evidence and legal documents, this
essay shows how racism and labor market competition were taken advantaged of as
tools to fashion American racial policy particularly toward the Chinese
immigrants. Finally, this article concludes that it was this politically instituted
law that barred Chinese from becoming equal members of the mainstream
American society. This essay intends to offer
a racial-institutional perspective to the understanding of the
segregation and marginalization of Chinese Americans before WWII.