All Asian immigrants faced prejudice, economic hardship, and social indignity. Those who came to the United States to work in mines, farms, and railroads accepted lower wages, which drew the ire of white residents. Asians became victims of riots and attacks. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and the 1924 Asian Exclusion Act barred additional immigration and declared Asians ineligible for citizenship. Without citizenship, they could not own land.
Courtesy of National Japanese American Historical Society
“These people were truly, in every sense, aliens. The color of their skins, the repulsiveness of their features, their undersize of figure, their incomprehensible language, strange customs, and heathen religion . . . conspired to set them apart.”
—Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of California, 1890
