Blog #5 

            What I thought was interesting from reading Chapter 9 was the distinguishable difference between the lives of Chinese immigrants and Japanese immigrants. Chinese immigrants were rejected immediately and were considered to be aliens who did not have the right to naturalization. The Exclusion Act made the Chinese community stationary since there was a high number of older males and an extreme low number of females. The Japanese, although they did experienced discrimination, had a more fortunate experience than the Chinese. According the the book, this is highly due to Japan’s powerful military, which was noted by Roosevelt. So instead of an Exclusion Act, the Gentlemen’s Agreement still allowed certain relatives of the laborers who had already been in America to immigrate as well. In addition, several Japanese were more successful in their agriculture business and actually became financially stable.

            What was also surprising was the slow pace of assimilation of the French Canadians. I thought that French Canadian immigrants were more likely to be accepted by society because they were more “white” than Asians. However, most of them practiced constant cultural reinforcement and many also returned to their homeland freely, thus enabling them to hold on to their culture. Their strong ability to maintain their language and customs made the process of acculturation slower than other groups.