CHINESE

IMMIGRANTS
8TH GRADE HISTORY
STANDARD 8.12
MS. CANDELAS
 Learning Objectives
Goal: Students will be able to understand the history of early Chinese Laborers and why the
U.S Government pushed to issue the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Course Standards
8.12 Students analyze the transformation of the American economy and the changing social and political conditions in the United States in response to the Industrial Revolution.
1. Trace patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets, and trade and locate such development on a map.
2. Identify the reasons for the development of federal Indian policy and the wars with American Indians and their relationship to agricultural development and industrialization.
3. Explain how states and the federal government encouraged business expansion through tariffs, banking, land grants, and subsidies.
4. Discuss entrepreneurs, industrialists, and bankers in politics, commerce, and industry (e.g., Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Leland Stanford).
5. Examine the location and effects of urbanization, renewed immigration, and industrialization (e.g., the effects on social fabric of cities, wealth and economic opportunity, the conservation
movement).
6. Discuss child labor, working conditions, and laissez-faire policies toward big business and examine the labor movement, including its leaders (e.g., Samuel Gompers), its demand for collective
bargaining, and its strikes and protests over labor conditions.
7. Identify the new sources of large-scale immigration and the contributions of immigrants to the building of cities and the economy; explain the ways in which new social and economic
patterns encouraged assimilation of newcomers into the mainstream amidst growing cultural diversity; and discuss the new wave of nativism.
8. Identify the characteristics and impact of Grangerism and Populism.
9. Name the significant inventors and their inventions and identify how they improved the quality of life (e.g., Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright.
 Hook

◦ Everyone close your eyes and imagine that later

today on the news you hear that the President
is banning all people of your ethnic background
must leave America. How would you feel ? What
would you say or do?
◦ Now that I have everyone thinking, pair share
and discuss this with your partner.
◦ Today’s lesson is on Chinese Immigrants and
the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
First Wave of the
Chinese Immigrants
◦ China in the 1850’s was politically divided
◦ The economy was chaotic, and its citizens were
becoming poor
◦ Families were starving and there were no jobs
available
◦ Chinese population was overpopulated due to
overcrowding
First Wave of the
Chinese Immigrants
◦ In America, the Gold Rush in California became
well known.
◦ Americans from all over the U.S migrated to
California to get gold.
◦ The Chinese heard of the success and chance
of earning money .
◦ They flocked in huge numbers to California to
test their luck.
Life In America

◦ Only Chinese males migrated to the U.S

◦ They did not want to become permanent residents of
America
◦ The goal was to earn money and return it back to their
homeland
◦ The Chinese had no interest of staying because they saw the
U.S as a job opportunity.
Life In America

◦ After the Gold Rush ended, some Chinese laborers

stayed in California.
◦ They established their own China Towns and shops by
San Francisco.
◦ The Chinese worked odd jobs as nannies, cooks, and
on the railroads.
◦ In the 1860s, the Chinese built the railroads and
hundreds died in the mines building them.
◦ Hostility and racism began to emerge against them by
the white Americans.
 ◦ What makes the Chinese immigrants migrating to

Question Time
America different compared to other second wave
migrants?
- Help: Think about why they came and their
reasoning for coming.
Racism Continues

◦ In the 1870’s jobs were becoming scarce in America & the

whites blamed the Chinese for taking over their jobs.
◦ Political cartoons began to illustrate the Chinese in negative
way by racially discriminating them
◦ Some businesses did not allow the Chinese to enter their
shops
◦ Their businesses were broken into and trashed.
◦ The U.S government did nothing to help stop the racial
tensions and profiling.
Leading Up To The
Chinese Exclusion
Act
◦ Anti Chinese Riots began to break out and pressure
from the Americans to band the Chinese
◦ Some Chinese men were becoming prominent and
wealthy figures in America
◦ Chinese laborers in America increased rapidly and
took over the Western States
The Chinese
Exclusion Act
◦ Passed in 1882
◦ Required them to carry special licenses that show
they are in America temporally for work
◦ Limited the number of Chinese allowed to enter the
USA
◦ Each license showed if they were students,
diplomats, or merchants
◦ Failure to show license resulted in a fine and arrest
◦ This was the first time a specific group in America
was targeted and banned from entering the
country
GRAPHS SHOWING THE PERCENTAGE OF CHINESE
IMMIGRANTS
 Video Link

◦ https://youtu.be/fWIAv7yTqLE
Question Time
◦ Why did the white Americans go to extreme
lengths to pass legislation towards the Chinese
immigrants?
 Culminating Activity
◦ Now lets think and discuss in groups if the passing of the Chinse Exclusion Act set any precedents on how
future immigration groups in America would be treated? Yes or no and explain why