1901

Organic Act which makes Hawaii a territory of the United States signed on April 30.

1902

William Taft, future President, becomes first civil governor of the Philippines under American rule.

Anti Chinese sentiments persist. Mrs. Charlotte Smith, of the Women's National Industrial League of America testified before the US Senate in 1902: "The Chinese are like the sponge; They absorb and give nothing in return but bad odors and worse morals. They are a standing menace to the women of this country. Their very presence is contaminating."

California makes interracial marriage between Asians and whites illegal. Its not overturned until 1948.
Kathryn Kempf '01 on Racial Intermarriage

Korean immigration to Hawaii organized by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association.

1903

2,000 Japanese and Mexican Sugar Beet workers go on strike in Oxnard, California and form a successful union.

1st 100 laborers arrive in California from the Philippines, beginning large-scale Filipino immigration.

1904

Syngman Rhee, future president of South Korea, arrives in Hawaii and begins organizing the Korean National Liberation Movement among Hawaii's Korean community.

Beginning of Asian Indian immigration to California. By 1923 there are about 7,000, mostly Punjabi, in the US.

1905

Asiatic Exclusion League formed in San Francisco to end all Asian immigration. They acted as a lobby group and propogandists and were closely associated with labor unions.

China boycotts the US to protest discrimination against Chinese.

Treaty of Portsmouth, NH - US moderates treaty between Japan and Russia. Korea acknowledged as within the influence of Japan. Teddy Roosevelt wins Nobel Peace prize for his efforts.

November- San Francisco Schoolboard seeks to remove Japanese children from white schools. Federal government under Teddy Roosevelt forced to intervene to prevent international incident. Roosevelt promises to negotiate an end to Japanese immigration in return for San Francisco cooperation.

1907

24 Korean Organizations found United Federation in Honolulu to work for Korean independence. Begins publishing "United Korean News"

1908

Gentleman's Agreement made between US and Japan. Japan promises to reduce immigration to the United States but is permitted to allow wives and family to immigrate and be reunited with male laborers already in the US.

1909

Japanese sugar plantation strike in Hawaii.

1910

Japan claims Korea as a colony.

Japanese and Korean "picture brides" begin arriving in the US and Hawaii.

Angel Island detention center established off of San Francisco to regulate immigration to the west coast. Long waits, bad conditions face many Asian immigrants.
Student Reflection: Another Island

1911

Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku breaks world record for 100-yard freestyle by 4.6 seconds. He wins a spot on the 1912 US Olympic team, later that year.

1912

Duke Kahanamoku wins gold medal at Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden.

1913

Alien Land Law makes it illegal for Asian immigrants to own land in California. European immigrants are not affected. Passed on May 19th. Similar laws follow in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Minnesota.

The Hindi Association formed by Har Dayal.

1917

Congress passes Immigration Restriction Act, which bars all immigrants from the "Asiatic Barred Zone". Ends most Asian immigration except from the US colony of the Philippines and Japan is not mentioned because of the existing Gentleman's Agreement.

1923

Supreme court declared Asian Indians ineligible for US citizenship in US v. Bhagat Singh Thind.

1924

Congress passes National Origins Acts - adds Japan to group of Asian nations prohibited from sending immigrants to the US. Also, drastically reduces quotas for Southern and Central Europeans.

1929

Stock market crash and nation settles into the Great Depression.

1932

Anna May Wong in Shanghai Express.

1937

Japan invades China. Chinese Americans rally to raise support for China throughout the US.

1939

WPA describes NY's Chinatown:

The Work Progress Administration was one of the ambitious work program established by the New Deal. One project was to hire writers to document the nation's cities and write travel guides to promote tourism:

On Chinatown's grocery stores:

"Neatly stacked in the windows are Chinese vegetables (grown on Long Island)--tender green Chinese cabbage, blanched bean sprouts, fibrous brown lily roots, crinkly bitter melons, great squashes resembling watermelon covered with a white bloom, water chestnuts, young pods of peas--with smoked squid, shark fin, blubber, roast ducks, and roast pork hanging from hooks."

WPA Guide to NY, 1939, p. 105.

1941

Pearl Harbor bombed in sneak attack by Japanese forces on Dec. 7th

1942

Executive Order 9066 signed by FDR on Feb 19th. Japanese American internment begins. 120,000 Japanese are rounded up from the West Coast and placed in internment camps located in isolated parts of the country. 2/3 are American-born and therefore citizens. Average stay in these camps was approximately 3 years.
John Lee '02, Japanese Incarceration - Executive Order 9066 (1942)

Carolyn Lee '06, The Double-Consciousness of the Nisei

First Filipino Infantry Battalion formed, a segregated unit of Filipino Americans, on April 22nd.

Segregated Japanese American infantry battalion is formed in Hawaii on May 26th. Becomes the all-nisei 100th Battalion.

1943

May - 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all-Japanese American troop recruited from the internment camps, was assembled for training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.

Dec. 17 - Chinese Exclusion Act repealed. Chinese granted the right to become naturalized citizens. Small immigration quota, 105 per year, established.

1944

442nd Regimental Combat Team, which later includes 100th Battalion, lands in Italy. Becomes most decorated unit for its size during WWII.

December 18 - US Supreme Court rules on Japanese American internment. Upholds its constitutionality in Korematsu vs. United States.

Korean Post-War Assistance Society formed by Korean Americas to send relief goods to Korea after the war.

War Relocation Authority begins the process of closing the internment camps by the end of 1945.

1945

Germany Surrenders on May 7th

Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan - August 6

Nagasaki destroyed by second atomic bomb - August 9th

Japan surrenders on August 14th and surrender agreement signed on September 2nd.