The Oriental Menace Comes to the South
This chapter follows Chinese and Japanese who migrated from the West Coast to the South following the Civil War through the early twentieth century. Both Chinese and Japanese laborers and farmers sought economic opportunities and reprieve in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas from growing anti-Asian hysteria. However, when they arrived in the South, the reality failed to live up to their expectations. Although small in number, the very presence of Chinese and Japanese in the South triggered a fear among southerners of a yellow invasion of their territory. In response, southerners’ distaste for Asian settlers later gave way to legislators passing laws and amending constitutions to prohibit aliens ineligible for citizenship (Asians) from owning property in their states.