Essay Example. Chinese Exclusion Act and the Kansas Exodus

Primarily, the two American historical events, the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Kansas Exodus, were marked with intense social violence and racial discrimination on two immigrant communities in the United States, the Chinese, and the African Americans, respectively. Therefore, this paper underscores an insightful discussion regarding the two events.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The Chinese Exclusion Act

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, enacted on May 6, 1882, was an act with the primary aim to execute particular treaty stipulations relating to the Chinese community in the United States. The United States federal law signed by the then president Chester A. Arthur prohibited the immigration of all Chinese laborers and, more specifically, banned the immigration of the Chinese women into the United States. Notably, it goes down in history as the first act and remains the only law implemented to bare or hinder all members of a specific national or ethnic group from immigrating into the United States.

The law did several issues; firstly, it exacerbated the racial discrimination in the United States during that time since the motive primarily was driven by racial concerns of reinstating the white supremacy. In addition, the law also stopped or prohibited the immigration of Chinese into America, especially women. As a result, industrialists took advantage of the law hence using Chinese workers as a wedge to keep wedges low (Soennichsen, 2011).

The Kansas Exodus

The Kansas Exodus, also known as the Exodus of 1879, was the first general migration of the African Americans or the black community following the Civil War. During this time, the Exodusters, which was the name given to the African Americans who migrated to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado escape the adverse, cruel and one-conducive environments caused by the Back Codes. The 40,000 plus Exodusters' primary cause of migration out of the south was to escape the bulldozing or racial violence perpetrated by the white supremacist groups in the south, such as the White League and the Ku Klux Klan.

Additionally, the migration from the south was also escalated by the widespread discriminatory laws known as the Black Codes that rendered African Americans second-class citizens after the end of the reconstruction era. The occurrence of the migration was also perpetuated by the majority of the southern white’s population constant resentment to black emancipation which culminated into oppressive environments and poor work conditions as well as low wedges (Lassieur & Freeberg, 2019).

In conclusion, the two events are significant historical landmarks that are responsible not only for the alteration of present-day demographic arrangements but also for the composition of the present-day constitutions stands on social matters.

References

Lassieur, A., & Freeberg, E. (2019). Journey to promised land: A story of Exodusters. Mendota Heights, MN: Jolly Fish Press.

Soennichsen, J. R. (2011). The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood.