{"product_id":"9780807866757","title":"Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act","description":"The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred practically all\u003cbr\u003eChinese from American shores for ten years, was the first federal\u003cbr\u003elaw that banned a group of immigrants solely on the basis of race\u003cbr\u003eor nationality. By changing America's traditional policy of open\u003cbr\u003eimmigration, this landmark legislation set a precedent for future\u003cbr\u003erestrictions against Asian immigrants in the early 1900s and\u003cbr\u003eagainst Europeans in the 1920s.\u003cbr\u003e     Tracing the origins of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Andrew\u003cbr\u003eGyory presents a bold new interpretation of American politics\u003cbr\u003eduring Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Rather than directly\u003cbr\u003econfront such divisive problems as class conflict, economic\u003cbr\u003edepression, and rising unemployment, he contends, politicians\u003cbr\u003esought a safe, nonideological solution to the nation's industrial\u003cbr\u003ecrisis--and latched onto Chinese exclusion. Ignoring workers'\u003cbr\u003edemands for an end simply to imported contract labor, they\u003cbr\u003eclaimed instead that working people would be better off if there\u003cbr\u003ewere no Chinese immigrants. By playing the race card, Gyory\u003cbr\u003eargues, national politicians--not California, not organized\u003cbr\u003elabor, and not a general racist atmosphere--provided the motive\u003cbr\u003eforce behind the era's most racist legislation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"The University of North Carolina Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47129178898672,"sku":"9780807866757","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780807866757_p0.jpg?v=1763740744","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780807866757","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}