DISCRIMINATION AGAINST GOLD RUSH IMMIGRANTS

• Immigrants who came to California in the early 1850’s for the Gold Rush faced horrible discrimination. They were not treated fairly by those around them.  Two of the largest immigrant groups were Chinese (almost 50,000 Chinese came) and Irish. Between 1845 and 1849, thousands of people in Ireland died due to the Potato Famine. There was not enough food for the people who lived there to eat. Those who were lucky were sponsored by wealthy patrons who paid travel expenses for them to start a new life in America. Many of those who came had already suffered the loss of children or other family members. By the 1870’s, the Irish and Chinese populations in California were so large, that people who had lived in California before their arrival grew worried. They thought the immigrants were trying to take their jobs, or were using resources that belonged to them.  They treated the immigrants unfairly.

• Chinese and Mexican immigrants were sometimes forced off their land and told they must live in certain cities or areas. The land on which they had lived was taken over by squatters, people who settle on land they do not own in the hopes of claiming it after time has passed.  The immigrants struggled to find jobs, or had to take jobs where they worked hard for very little pay. Occasionally, immigrants went on strike to try to improve their working conditions and pay.  The strikes were not usually successful.

• The United States government gave in to the pressure of citizens and passed some unfair laws during this time. In 1850, immigrant miners were forced to pay a Foreign Miners Tax of $20 per month, just to have the right to look for gold alongside the other miners. Many had to give up their dreams of gold, unable to pay what was then a very large amount of money. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 excluded any more Chinese immigrants from coming to the United States, and it was not changed until 1943. Struggles to balance immigration with what is best for our nation continue even today. Sometimes it is difficult to understand the passage of unfair regulations, and it takes a long time to make things right again. Many immigrants are still waiting for a fair chance to pursue their American dreams.

Name:__________________________________

Answer the following questions based on the reading passage. Don’t forget to go back to the passage whenever necessary to find or confirm   your answers.

1) There are many conflicts even today when people of different races interact. Why do you think that is?

2) You read that the Chinese and Mexicans were made to live in certain areas, much like the Native Americans. Do you think this was fair? Why, or why not?

3) From the context of the passage, what do you think a strike is?

 

4) What do you think was the intent of the Foreign Miners Tax of 1850?

5) Why do you think immigrants stayed even though there was discrimination?