Discussion Question: Week Nine Readings

In Edith Eaton's "In the Land of the Free" the baby was taken away because the family couldn't provide that correct papers that the exclusion act required. The exclusion act was to keep Chinese Immigrants out because of the fear that they would ruin the"good order" of American society, but what harm could a baby do? When older generations come from China, they bring with them their traditions and culture and Americans were afraid of those things were ruining the American culture. But a baby doesn't have those traditions instilled in them yet, we even see at the end the baby is more American than Chinese since he is speaking English. Children that grow up in America tend to be more American than Chinese, so why would the exclusion act make it harder for immigrants to bring children into the country?

Claire, Eugene, Reem, Theodora