Author(s)

Xiaolin Mao

College of International Education, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China.

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.

Chinese Immigrants, Racism, Chinese Exclusion Act, Institutional, Marginalization

Mao, X. (2022) Institutional Racism: Chinese Immigrants’ Encounters in America, 1850-1943. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 10, 414-424. doi: 10.4236/jss.2022.106029.