Module 2: Restriction and Exclusion from Migration
Who “belongs” in the United States?
In May 1905, a large group of people met in San Francisco and formed the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League. Their goal was to stop Asian labor migration to the United States. Two years later, they renamed the group the Asiatic Exclusion League, in response to the increasing migration of South Asians to the West Coast. The group broadened their target, declaring their aim to stop “the Oriental immigration problem.” 1
The Asiatic Exclusion League and similar white supremacist groups, as well as xenophobic politicians, contributed to the racialization of Asian groups as dangerous and threatening. This resulted in violence against Asian communities and the passage of various laws barring different Asian groups from immigrating or gaining citizenship. Despite concerted efforts to deport, exclude, segregate, and exclude Asian groups in the United States, these Asian groups resisted in big and small ways.
This module examines the policies that restricted and excluded Asian migration to the US and the various ways in which Asian Americans have resisted these policies throughout history.
Why did the US government exclude Asian Americans from migrating to the US?
How can laws, policies, and narratives lead to violence against certain communities?
How have Asian Americans resisted restriction and exclusion throughout history?