Episode Detail: Between Two Worlds - Becoming American: The Chinese Experience
In Part 2, Chinese-Americans recall their lives (and those of their parents and grandparents) under the Exclusion Act, which was in force from 1882 to 1943. The law kept most Chinese (including wives of many immigrants) out of the U.S., and at first denied citizenship to those already here. But it was constantly fought in court, and immigrants “kept pushing their way in,” says host Bill Moyers. Then came Dec. 7, 1941, when Japan, an enemy of China, attacked Pearl Harbor. It was, says Moyers, “Chinese-Americans' deliverance.”
