We’ve all heard in general terms how immigrants helped build the United States of America. However, did you know that statement is literally true?
Without Chinese immigrant workers, the Transcontinental Railroad would not exist. The railroad sparked the development of the West, so it is literally true that without immigrants, America’s western expansion would have been quite different. Interestingly, because of prejudice, it almost never happened.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the transcontinental railroad bill on July 1, 1862. However, for the first few years, the railroad barely achieved any progress. One of the big drawbacks was labor. The on-going Civil War was a giant sinkhole of labor, drawing in the men who would normally have worked construction jobs, like the railroad. As a result, there were few men available for the task of laying down track. The Union Pacific, which was working its way westward, put down just 40 miles of track in two years.
Meanwhile the Central Pacific, coming east from California, had its own problems getting enough workers. When it advertised for 5,000 men to do a job and got only 200, Superintendent Charles Crocker knew something had to be done. He suggested hiring Chinese laborers from the vast pool of Chinese immigrants already in California.
Construction boss James Strobridge met his idea with skepticism, and said the Chinese were not strong enough to move heavy rock and tons of earth, reflecting common stereotypes about the Chinese.
Crocker, however, had a ready retort. “Did they not build the Chinese Wall [Great Wall of China], the biggest piece of masonry in the world?” he asked.
Reluctantly, Strobridge hired 50 Chinese on a trial basis. They quickly proved to be such good workers that he hired every Chinese immigrant he could find, and the railroad was trying to bring over thousands more from China.
Prejudice is like a screen, obscuring the true person behind it. Here it almost affected an entire country’s development.
Comments
Stereotypes Are Used to Benefit Best Interest of U.S.
I like the metaphor of prejudice being a screen. I agree with this statement. When looking at a person from a stereotypical standpoint, we miss out on the true qualities of that person. In America we allow immigrants to do certain things when it benefits us. In this case, Chinese immigrants typically had a hard time finding work because of the stereotypes about them. However, when the U.S. decided that we needed more people to build the railroads, they allowed the immigrants to work. Once the railroads were built, the U.S. government decided they didn't need the Chinese immigrants anymore and signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Furthermore, this is a good example of how it is a privilege to be white. The white people in power get to decide the definition of a certain group of people; that definition can either be good or bad depending on the best interest of white supremacists. When this happens, people are not defined by the individual merit but by the stereotypes of the 'category' that society has put them in.
Stereotypes Are Used to Benefit Best Interest of U.S.
I like the statement that “prejudice is a screen.” When we judge people through a stereotypical lens, we tend to overlook their individual characteristics. In the U.S. immigrants are given or denied certain rights, based on the best interest of the U.S. For example, it was hard for Chinese immigrants to find work before they were asked to help build the transcontinental railroad. Then, once the railroad was built the U.S. government decided that they didn't need chinese immigrants anymore, and signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Furthermore, this is a good example of white privilege. Whites have the privilege to define a group of people. They can define these groups in good or bad terms to benefit their self-interest. In cases of prejudice, people are defined by the stereotypes of the 'category' they fit into rather than their individual merit.