Migration

Historically, reasons for the migration of Asians to the United States were similar in some ways to those for the Atlantic migration of Europeans - to escape from poverty and civil war and to find employment opportunity and freedom. Chinese laborers were recruited to build the transcontinental railroad in the mid-19th century and provide domestic services in cities such as San Francisco. They were followed by the Japanese and Filipinos in the early 20th century, who labored in Hawaiian plantations , California farms, and Alaskan canneries. Of these early Asian Americans, only the Japanese were allowed to immigrate as families at the insistence of the Japanese government. For these early generations, Asians in America were largely bachelor communities of temporary sojourners , with male to female ratios as high as 10-to-1.