The Chinese Exclusion Act, The American Experience

[homersapien 11,452]

For those you unfamiliar with "The American Experience", you are missing one of the best sources of American history available.  I suggest you check it out.

This thread is about a recent show on the Chinese exclusion.  Here's the preview:

https://www.pbs.org/show/american-experience/

It documents a part of our history for which many - including me - have only 'peripheral' knowledge.   (I am sure plenty more have never heard of it.) 

It's two hours long but well worth the investment, IMO.

One of the ironies that occurred to me while watching it considers the portrayal -at the time - of the Chinese as savages good only for menial labor.  Now, consider the modern paradigm of Asian kids as academic "overachievers"  in a class of their own.  This illustrates how diversity is so important for our countries future. 

There are a lot of parallels in it to what is happening today regarding immigration.  It makes for a good starting point of discussion immigration policy in general.

Anyway, I highly recommend it and would enjoy discussing it further.  Here's the full show:

https://www.pbs.org/video/the-chinese-exclusion-act-eixnlw/