Paper Beats Paper: "Paper Sons" and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Good evening yall! I'll be writing this blog post about the "Paper Sons" and their struggle to come to the U.S. I'll also be touching on some of the acts and legal procedures that occurred.

"Paper Son" was a term coined for young Chinese males trying to beat the system by buying papers. These papers were established by Chinese-American citizens who could go back and forth. Once they go to China, they would pick out a bunch of potential wives and children so they'd be able to come to the U.S. The boys that were ready would try to come to the U.S., most being only sons by "paper", hence the term.

We know from class that the Chinese were welcomed throughout the middle part of the century. With the abundance of gold, there is not much record of them not being wanted around. However, when gold truly became scarce, the sentiments changed. They did not cost a lot for labor which drove prices down, angering a lot of white labor workers. The Chinese were an integral part to the history such as building the transcontinental railroads.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the only law in American History to deny citizenship based on a specific nationality. Before this law, U.S. was open to most immigrants with varying jobs and skills. Yellow peril combined with a recession led to creation and acceptance of this act which was the beginning of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The loophole however was that a son or daughter of a citizen was also granted entry regardless of nationality.

In order to truly grasp how laws where created at the time, I'm going to bring it back a few years. Christine mentioned the court case People v. Hall which featured a Chinese witness who witnessed a white man murdering another Chinese individual. The court essentially deemed the testimony admissible which demonstrated that anyone who isn't a citizen can get away with murder.

Coming to the U.S. because of the opportunities were extremely difficult for the Paper Sons. Memorizing key information of their proposed family was only a small step in maintaining one's life in a time with much negative sentiments towards their ethnicity. It was only till WWII when the many of the Chinese Exclusion acts and laws were overturned, only to have the shifting negativity move towards the Japanese.

As you can see, in the game of immigration rock, paper, scissors, the U.S. may attempt to the different laws on paper, but it takes a lot of courage to beat the system as use paper against them.

Thank you for reading yall. :)