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Article: Echoes of the Chinese Exclusion Era in post-9/11 America.
- Article from:
- Chinese America: History and Perspectives
- Article date:
- January 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Chinese Historical Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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From 1910 to 1940 the immigration station on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay served as the gateway and processing and detention center for an estimated 175,000 immigrants seeking to enter the United States. Most immigrants processed at the island facility were Asian; the majority was Chinese. The result of the discriminatory Chinese exclusion laws (1882-1943) that prohibited all but a few exempt classes of Chinese to apply for admission into the country, Angel Island embodied America's racist, gate-keeping efforts. It was especially designed to exclude and restrict immigrants believed to be a threat to the nation. The immigration station on Angel Island closed as a ...