Japanese Immigration

            Japanese Immigrants to California between 1880 and 1920 were treated very poorly by the white citizens. Japanese Laborers were not allowed to leave their country legally until after 1884. Even though all Japanese are different, they were treated .
             the same by the white citizens. Being the same to the whites, they presented a threat to the American's living lifestyle. The Japanese immigrants were hard workers that wanted a new life in a new country. They did what ever it took to have a good life in the United States of America. Whites feared that the immigrants would take away all their jobs. Japanese were very good agricultural workers. White farmers were resentful of the bountiful crops raised by the Japanese immigrants. Japanese immigrants started to get more superior and get more jobs than the whites. The whites had to put an end to the Japanese's success in America for the sake of their race.
             In California, the Japanese made great progress in Agriculture even with all the discrimination surrounding them. They controlled the market with their fruits and vegetables. White farmers saw the Japanese's success as a threat to them. Even though the Japanese could not own or lease land, the Issei (first generation Japanese in the United States) farmers were able to remain competitive with the whites because of their skill in growing intensive crops, use of unpaid family labor, willingness to cooperate if they had common economic problems, and ability to endure long hours and bad living conditions. The Japanese had a lot of determination to make it big in America. They saw the United States as the land of opportunity. They wanted that opportunity to get rich and have a good life.
             In 1905, the Asiatic Exclusion League was founded in San Francisco. This was the official beginning of the anti-Japanese movement. Many important labor leaders were those in attendance at the league's first meeting. The group was formed to stop all migration of Japanese and to destroy all dreams of the immigrants making it big in the United States of America.