The Huddled Masses
Japanese Immigration | Previous | Next |
Digital History ID 3293 |
Overpopulation and rural poverty led many Japanese to emigrate to the United States, where they confronted intense racial prejudice. In California, the legislature imposed limits on Japanese land ownership, and the Hearst newspaper ran headlines such as 'The Yellow Peril: How Japanese Crowd out the White Race.'
The San Francisco School Board stirred an international incident in 1906 when it segregated Japanese students in an 'Oriental School.' The Japanese government protested to President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt negotiated a 'gentlemen's agreement' restricting Japanese emigration.