History Paper: World War 2

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World War II marks a major turning point in the status of Asian Americans in the American society
Asian Americans refer to Asian immigrants who immigrated to America. It also refers to citizens of Asian ancestry who were born in the United States. This paper argues that the Second World War marked a major turning point in the status of Asian Americans in the American society. It marked a turning point because from that point onwards, Filipino Americans and Chinese Americans – people who were previously discriminated upon by fellow Americans because of their race – were accepted and assimilated into American society and were absorbed in various industries. For Japanese Americans, WW2 was a major turning point since from that moment on, there was an increase in anti-Japanese racism in the United States. Japanese Americans were removed from their homes and incarcerated in internment camps in the year 1942 following the Pearl Harbour attack by militarist Japan in the year 1941.
WW2 had a considerable impact on Asian American perspectives of colonialism, citizenship, democracy, patriotism, as well as nationalism. Chinese Americans and Korean Americans who had been campaigning against being colonised by Japan were glad when America declared war against the Japanese following the attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbour in 1941 December. In 1943, the U.S. Congress repealed exclusion of the Chinese and gave China a yearly immigration quota of 105 and bestowed naturalization rights to the immigrants from China as a way of countering Japanese propaganda as regards America racism and also to recognize the contributions made by China as America’s ally.
The war marked a key turning point given that from the moment when China and America became allies and united against the Japanese during the war, Chinese Americans were not condemned any more in American society as a yellow peril, and they embraced new occupational as well as educational opportunities during the period of the Second World War and even after the war. In essence, America’s declaration of war against the Japanese on 8th December 1941 and similar declaration by China made the United States and China to become allies and this changed American’s view of Chinese Americans going forward.
“For the first time since Chinese labour exclusion began, absorption of the Chinese into the American industry has been significant” (190). The war marked a key turning point since during the war and even after it, more and more Chinese Americans went to work in the navy and the army, and some went into airplane and shipbuilding facilities. Chinese American girls also got jobs in American society; something that rarely happened prior to the war. In other words, it was not easy for Chinese Americans to get jobs in the American society before the war but during and after the war, it was very easy for them to secure jobs; hence the war marked a major turning point for them. In Fresno California, Chinese American girls and boys trained at the NYS resident project for employment with Consolidated Aircraft. A lot of Chinese Americans were also absorbed into war industries in the United States. The China I...