Social History for Every Classroom

Search

Social History for Every Classroom

menuAmerican Social History Project  ·    Center for Media and Learning

A Chinese Immigrant Tells of Labor in a New Land (shortened, with text supports)

Since their arrival in the United States in the 1850s, Chinese immigrants confronted social, political, and economic discrimination. Many Americans believed that the Chinese posed a threat to white workers and should not be eligible for citizenship. This hostility eventually led to the passage of the Chinese-Exclusion Act in 1882, which severely restricted the flow of immigration from China and increased prejudice against the Chinese. In this short autobiography, a successful Chinese-born businessman attempts to dispel common misconceptions about the Chinese.


Source | Lee Chew, “The Biography of a Chinaman,” Independent, 15 (19 February 1903), 417—423, from History Matters, The U.S. Survey on the Web, http://historymatters.gmu.edu.
Creator | Lee Chew
Item Type | Newspaper/Magazine
Cite This document | Lee Chew, “A Chinese Immigrant Tells of Labor in a New Land (shortened, with text supports),” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed March 19, 2024, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1846.

Print and Share