This video is a story about a Chinese family trying to immigrate to the United States in the early nineteen hundreds when Chinese immagrents were treated unfairly through the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was not ended until 1943. This was the only time when people were discriminated against for their race. The video illustrates a single mother’s family with her two boys coming to Ellis Island. Upon arrival, they are first separated from the other immigrants of any race besides Chinese and then the older son is separated from his mom and younger brother. They undergo invasive screening tests and are questioned about things that don’t seem to be applicable to their immigration. The older son is not released until weeks after the rest of his family.
Firstly, this video shows how unfairly the Chinese immigrants were treated upon immigration to the United States when they were leaving their home country in hopes of a better life based solely on their race. Secondly, this video illustrates how different and even more racist it used to be for immigrants to come to the United States, regardless of specific races beyond Chinese. This video also illustrates strong discrimination against immigrants, which is a political culture that is not as openly found in the United States as much as it used to be but, unfortunately, is still an opinion and mindset that can be found in our country.
Five Discussion Questions:
- What are some ways the immagration process has improved since the 1940’s?
- What were some specifics that stood out to you about the unjust treatment of immagrants in this video?
- In what ways has the United States Immagration Standards by Race/Ehtnicity changed since the 1940’s?
- What ended the Chinese Exculsion Act in 1943?
- What was the main cause of immagration for many people in the 1900’s and has that changed since then?
*This was a good asignmant and I think it would be a good one to use again in the future