Chapter 14 Q & A

After Pearl Harbor, how were Japanese- Americans treated and what did they do to be accepted?

After Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Americans were seen as spies and out of fear, Americans threw them into camps to keep them in control.  While probably nearly all of them were not spies,  most loved their new lives in America and were deeply affected by this unfair treatment.  I think that the people of America reacted out of fear, which continues today, instead of acting sensibly.  To prove their allegiance to America, many Japanese families sent their sons to join the war.  It is said in the beginning of this chapter that it is possible that two years were shaved off of the war time because of these Japanese-American soldiers.  They were fearless and brave, and their knowledge of the language is what really benefitted the military at that time.  They were able to overhear generals orders and report back to their camps what was heard.  This is such a similar story even to today.  We need people who belong to minority groups in America to keep things going.  They take jobs and provide service and diversity which makes up what America is.  Without these people, the things we have today wouldn’t be possible.  This is a perfect example of Americans acting out of fear, and making senseless decisions.  When the mistake is realized then we figure out that we really need these people to help us. 

 

Chapter Eleven Q & A

Question One:  What Caused Jewish people from Russia and Germany to migrate to America?

People immigrated from Russia and Germany in hopes of a better life.  They heard from relatives and friends the riches that are available to the average worker in American and drew them to come.  The Jewish people in these countries at that time were forced into merchant working and suffered from such high amounts of competition that they struggled to survive.  So when they heard about the wages that they could receive in America, they rushed to get jobs.  Another driving factor was fear of survival in their homelands.  There were groups of people who would hunt down the Jewish people and hurt or even kill whoever crossed their path.  America was a source of hope and gave them something to strive for.  In this chapter there is an account of a little girl who knew of the ‘raids’ against Jews but didn’t understand why.  She also knew that they lived in fear and closed their windows and remained indoors on those nights. 

 

Question Two:  Since so many who came to America were skilled craftsmen what jobs, and working conditions did they endure upon arrival?

Many of the immigrants were highly skilled workers when they arrived in their new homeland.  Most of the women who came over, came to work as tailors like they had in their homeland.  Conveniently, New York City was at the heart of a garment industry boom and needed these highly skilled Jewish seamstresses to create the mass produced garments.  This eventually led to more and more workers cramming into the workshops to be able to produce greater quantities of goods.  Different companies employed different types of workforces, like for example using the section system of workers which assigned one task to each employee, for example one worker would make the hole for the button and then next would sew on the button.  This caused the workers abilities to actually decline.  Those who used to be able to create a whole dress were reduced to only knowing how to sew on buttons.  The working conditions eventually got reduced to being considered sweatshops.  People sewed elbow to elbow for up to fifteen hour days.  Those who didn’t work in the sweatshops rented carts and sold what they could, which could have been fruits or secondhand clothing.  These people endured great hardship in an effort to better their families’ condition and gain status in the new land. 

 

Question Three:  How did the value of education change among the immigrants who came to America?

In their homelands, it was more valuable to be highly educated than to have money.  It was said that fathers would be happy to have their daughters marry scholars than to marry a worker.  While in their homeland education was valuable, these matters changed upon arrival to America.  The wives who came over with their scholarly husbands refused to work to allow their spouse to sit and read books and attend lectures.  Many of the scholars turned workers rented out carts because they had no other skill than their education.  In America the value of being a hard worker was the most valuable thing a person possessed. 

Takaki Chapter 7- Foreigners in Their Own Land

Question One:  On page 174 there is the quote “passports or no passports” describing the American migration into Texas while it was occupied by Mexico.  This is still going on today however instead of the American migration to Mexico, it’s the Mexican migration into America.  What are the differences between these two migrations? 

           

The Americans moved into Mexican Texas to expand the country, and to grow crops there.  There was a lot of land in Texas and there was very little governmental rule over the now state.  It was very easy for the American to cross into Texas without passports or questioning so many did.  It was still considered to be well off if you were a land owner and there you could host large areas of land without question.  I think the main difference between these two migrations is the direction of the flow.  This history of the expansion of the country given by Takaki, displays America’s motivations only for the benefit of the white man.  So during this chapter the benefit of the white man was to move into Texas and eventually claim it as America, and currently the benefit of the white man are to keep the Mexicans out of jobs.  Even though there may not be many differences  between these two migrations other than time period, it is clear that these two migrations seem to have many common factors. 

 

 

Question Two:  In the middle of the chapter Takaki starts to describe the movement of the southern border between Mexico and the U.S. and mentions that the U.S. government allowed some Mexicans to stay and become American citizens.  What hardships did the Mexicans who chose to stay in their native land face?

 

            The Mexicans who stayed felt alienated.  As Takaki puts it, they became aliens in their native lands.  In Texas and in California, the languages used there switched from Spanish to English and many of the Spanish speakers didn’t learn English.  The changes could really be seen in California when the Americans moved in.  The majority of the population in California was Mexican, and even though it was under American rule, they controlled the elections when they were united.  However, once gold was discovered Americans rushed into the land and soon outnumbered the Mexicans.  Takaki shows the white men who moved into the land as being greedy of the riches that California possessed.  They even imposed a tax on Spanish speaking people, even those who were American citizens, charging a large sum of money for that time as a mining tax.  This was a way to further alienate the Mexican people from their rights as citizens. 

 

Question Three:  By the 1900s what kind of jobs did the Mexicans occupy? 

 

            They started to take the jobs that were hard work and the jobs that many Americans didn’t want.  They first started to work the lands by using their system of irrigation, which Takaki described as transforming the land of Texas from scrubby brush, to lush and green.  Soon after, they took on the job of constructing the railroad between Texas and Mexico.  It was hard to get the white men to work on the railroad for such low wages which is why Mexicans took over the job.  This wage duality between the labor costs of white men and Mexican men ended up sticking for a very long time.  Even though they accepted the unfair wages, they also took great pride in their work and in their heritage and often held strikes against their employers for fair wages. 

 

Chapter Four Q&A

Toward The Stony Mountain

 

Question One:  Government played a large role in how the Indians were portrayed to the people, why do they have to show the natives in such a negative light?

 

            The government showed the Indians as ruthless and animalistic for a few reasons.  The first being support, the government needed the support of the people to take the land away from the Indians and learned the effectiveness of striking fear in the people.  One example of this is how they call the Indians cannibals, and they do not honor women.  This causes the battles fought to appear less than about land and more about honor.  It all comes down to monetary gain.  The government needed the support of the people and this was easily attained by instilling fear in them.  Many things said about the Indians are true.  When in battle Indians are ruthless murderers, but outside of that they are environmentally conscious.  I think that Indians were instrumental in the success of the colonies because without the generosity and giving nature of the Indians the whites would have had trouble growing crops and feeding their families.  They had to show the natives in a negative light in order to get what they wanted, which was land.  If they had not shown them in only this way then their plans would not have been nearly as effective.

 

Question Two:  On page 90, it said that some Choctaw Indians were allowed to stay but had to register with an agent but received land in return.  What does this show you about how Indians are seen in White society?

 

            This showed me that in this instance, white people understood the value of the Indians.  These people were farmers and had been farming the land for a long time and knew it well.  The people who they allowed to stay were the ones who were willing to assimilate into the new white culture and change their ways to some degree.  After saying that, this also shows a great division because of their two very different cultures.  When you think about the people today who have to consult with an ‘agent’, I think of criminals!  They do this because they want to keep tabs on what these people are doing and when.  This was a way to further monitor the Indians while ‘accepting’ them into their culture.  I found this to be surprising but at the same time a little expected.  This is because the white people still feared the Indians and obviously saw them as a threat because they insisted on them checking in with agents.  The Indians were ‘accepted’ but only under certain conditions which were hard to hold up for them.  This was a way for the government to look like they were humanitarians yet still discriminate and take land away from the Indians. 

 

Question Three:  After reading about the Pawnees, the Choctaws, and the Cherokees, could there have been a way to please both parties of the Whites and the Indians? 

 

            I think that if initially they had both worked together to live in peace something could have been worked out, but to try after all the things that had happened I think there were only bad choices.  People became greedy of the land, and saw the weakness in the Indians.  The Indians initially only really cared about the state of their environment.  The Pawnees were careful not to overhunt the buffalo, and developed proper forms of agriculture to keep the land fertile.  So when their way of life was totally disrupted by being moved, and the railroads, they had nothing left to find sanctuary in.  I think that the government definitely made some bad choices when deciding what to do with the Indians.  Putting the Cherokees into internment camps was an extreme and fearful way of dealing with their problems.  I think that by the time other people got into office, the relations between the two parties were so severed that there was nearly nothing to be done.  The spirit of the Indians had been lost already and those who fought for their rights were silenced.  I think that the issue should have been dealt with initially and that by removing the rights of the Indians so severely that it cannot be fixed even today. 

Takaki Chapter 8 Reading Journal

The beginning of chapter eight of Takaki talks about the Chinese immigration to the United States.  I found this to be surprising because I had never really read about the history of their immigration, and why they came here.  They initially came to join the “49ers” in the search for gold in California.  Many people came from China and stayed for several years to bring money back to their families in China.  There was a story described that a man came to the U.S. for a few years, and when he returned to China, was wealthy and bought land equivalent to four city blocks and built a palace for his family.  I thought that this story explained the surge in Chinese immigration.  When people see how only after a few years the riches that America has to offer, everyone wanted an opportunity to work and to become wealthy.  Then there was a change in the work that the immigrants were doing.  There was a demand for the Chinese immigrants to work on the railroads and they worked by the thousands.  However, they were not paid on an equal basis as the white railroad workers were.  Eventually the workers grew tired of the unfair treatment, and demanded higher wages and a shorter working day.  Although the company was willing to slightly increase wages, they refused to meet the demands of the workers and threatened to bring in blacks to complete the workforce.  The situation was resolved after the company cut off food supply to the striking workers and they quickly gave in to the people in charge.  I thought it was interesting that they threatened to replace the Chinese with Black workers because of how the two groups are perceived in society.  The Chinese were once welcomed, but later when the population grew; they became discriminated against and received poor treatment from others.  The Chinese still had a better quality of life than the blacks at this time because the Chinese were still able to live freely.  They could at least fight for fair wages and work hours, where the blacks still didn’t have much say.  This part of the chapter intrigued me because I had never really learned about the influence and immigration that the Chinese had on early America. 

 

 

Author’s Introduction of De Tocqueville

After reading the introduction I thought the author needed a new political science to support a totally new way of government.  Democracy existed but not in the way it exists in America.  On page 18, this perfectly describes what is different about America.  He talks about the differences in class and education between America and Europe at the time.  Political science is the study of goverment structure and function.  The author describes needing a new political science because the existing information about governments doesn’t really cover all the bases, with what’s going on in America.  It is necessary because it allows an understanding of how other systems work, and allow for prediction of the future of the government.  At the end of the introduction, the author says that this was the exact point of writing this book was to speculate about the future.  He wanted to show what he saw in America, and their system of government.  He has not set out to say that this way is better, or worse, just to show how it is to better understand other communities. 

East Africa Questions

1. From what you can tell from the account, what were the purposes of Zheng He’s voyages?  

 I think the purpose of Zheng He’s voyages were mainly for military purposes. At the very beginning of the text he wrote that he was one of a few who headed many ships.  They also described that they traveled to lands further away to teach and convert barbarian peoples into being led under imperialism by the emperor at the time. 

2. What is tribute and how did it function in the Chinese world order?

            Tribute I understood to be gifts, and also maybe honor.  Because every time tributes was mentioned previously, it is accompanied by a listing of the material things that they were given based on where they were.  For example in they describe the ruler bringing ‘articles of tribute’, which could be anything from gold to animals.

3. Where is the account of the voyage written down?

            The account of the voyage was carved into something called a stele at a temple.  At the very end of Zheng He’s account of the travels, he says that this has been inscripted into stone. 

4. From what sorts of records do we find accounts of East Africa from other perspectives?

            You find accounts of East Africa from other perspectives come from oral accounts originally in Swahili, but these had been written down in other languages before they were written down in their native tongue.  Antoher kind of record is the first one which was carved into stone at a temple.   

5. If you follow all the links, you will discover that two of them mention the city of Mecca. Which two, and is it just a coincidence?

             The two accounts that mention the city of Mecca are in

6. What information about political authority can you glean from each of the four different perspectives on East Africa (15th-century Chinese, 14th-century North African, 16th-century Portuguese and Swahili oral traditions)?

             As far as political authority in East Africa, I have gathered that the towns and cities are goverened by a group of elders.  These elders of the towns are to be treated with respect and brought gifts.  While in Barbosas account they are referred to as elders, in the other accounts they are reffered to as Kings or as rulers.  I think that these names mean the same thing, just in different words.  They aren’t absolute leaders but take the advice of the elders of the community.  

   7. What can you infer from Fei Xin, Duarte Barbosa, Ibn Battuta and the Swahili oral histories about what goods were traded to and from the East Coast of Africa?

            The goods that were being traded to and from the East Coast of Africa are cloth and beads from Persia and were given as gifts.  Fei Xin describes the Chinese trade gold, silver, satins, rice, beans and china-ware.  Also vermillion, light silks, pepper rice, colored satin, sandal-wood, leopards, and frankincense.  There are not many crops grown in Africa, at least not detailed by this account.  It is described that they have garlic and onions but nothing else.  Ibn Battutah describes that the Africans slaughter camels for food, and mentions that they also have sheep and woven fabric.  Finally, Barbosa only mentions the trade of precious metals like gold and silver.   

 

De Tocqueville 895-907

The author goes into the wilderness, Saginaw, to see this country in a different way.  It is described that Saginaw is the furthest place away from their civilization and that the people they spoke with saw no reason for them to travel there into the wild.  I think they went to the furthest place among society in order to view all angles of this country, so they could see the perspective from both city life and from life in the wilderness.  He thinks the white Americans are greedy and selfish.  On page 904 he explains how the pioneers not only take advantage of the Indian Americans who do not understand the concept of money, but they also take advantage of travelers and charge them outrageously.  They need the white Americans for help with translation with the Indian Americans, and for shelter, but I don’t get the impression that they trusted nor thought very highly of them.  On the other hands I thought that they were more impressed with the Indian Americans.  They always describe how the Indians move around the forest like animals, in a good way, in the sense that they are nimble and strong.  They also comment that at first glance they are frightening with blank but angry faces, but when you show kindness to them they have very friendly smiles.  On page 898 there was an Indian who followed them while they were on their horses relentlessly and they became frightened of this man.  They finally stopped to find out what he was doing and when the Indian saw them put their hands on their guns he smiled to show he was friendly and their opinion immediately changed.  They see these Indians as affable residents of the forest.  Initially they are fearful but when they realize their good intentions, the mood lightens.  The Indian Americans are solely independent and only use the white Americans to get the trinkets and “extras” they desire.  On the other hand the white Americans need the Indian Americans for guidance among the wilderness, and for other purposes like food.  The Indians don’t really need the white Americans, but help them for small gifts.  The white Americans on the other hand depend on the Indians for many necessities.  The author is very impressed with the wilderness.  He explains that the wilderness is where life and death meets face to face.  He means that while there are many fallen trees, there are also new beginnings of life among the forests.  He relates this experience in the forest to being in the country in Europe.  In Europe, even when you’re in the forest you can hear distant sounds of city life, like bells, but in America there is often nothing to be heard.  You can yell and no one would hear you.  I think that as outsiders they are intrigued by how independent the people who live among the wilderness are  in comparison to the people in the cities act.  The people that they encounter on this part of their travel seem to all be accommodating and friendly, but also note that the white Americans are quick to make a quick profit from you when you are traveling. 

Ibn Battutah 183-200, 273-296

The first section of the reading was about Battutah’s stay in Dilhi.  Upon entering Dilhi, they first went to the court of the sultan.  While in Dilhi Battutah learns that his baby daughter had dies, so he responds by sending one of his slave girls to her for her burial.  I didn’t understand why he did this or what it even meant.  Also he explains that they have particular items that people are to be buried with.  I thought this was interesting because you see this behavior in many different cultures.  In Dilhi, giving gifts seems to have an importance.  I think this because they bring gifts to give to the sultan, and also to the person they first stay with which I think was the sultan’s mother.  Another interesting thing about the sultan is that they call him the “master of the world”.  While this is a major and important city, they know that there are also many other cities around the world and they obviously see themselves as above the other sultans.  On page 190 there is kind of a funny scenario about how Battutah owed merchants in Dilhi money and he didn’t have the money to repay them.  So Battutah wrote a poem in arabic and delivered it to the Sultan.  The sultan enjoyed this poem very much so when he heard about Battutah’s debts, he went to the merchants and demanded them to drop the amount he owed.  This is funny because Battutah knew at this point how to get what he wants, and how to get away with things simply by befriending those above him.  At the end of this story the sultan of Dilhi ordered Battutah to travel to China as his ambassador.  He sent along with him whatever Battutah would need for his journey and sent him on his way.

The next section I read about was from China to Morroco, and then onto Spain.  The first encounter I read about was Battutah and his company being advised to return to China to avoid danger.  They got into a boat and got lost and spent 40 days without knowing which body of water they were in.  Then Battutah eventually arrives at the city of Damascus of Syria.  He stayed here for quite a long time.  Through his travels he learns that his father had died, but that his mother is still alive.  He has been away for so long, but he still keeps his memories of home.  He travels to his homeland and he is overwhelmed by the kindness of his families master.  He learns of his mothers death and goes to visit her grave.  He decides that he would have liked to have spent his life here serving his master.  I don’t think that Battutah regrets traveling around the world but I do think that he wished that he could have spent time here as well.  After these events he decides to join the military and fight “the holy war”. 

Ibn Battutah 101-160

In this part of the book Battutah travels through Asia minor, the Steppe, and Constantinople.  He stops at many great cities during this part of his travels and seems to be impressed with this area of the world.  His first major experience is when he gets onto a Christian boat called the Genoese, and sailed with them for ten days to al-Alaya.  From al-Alaya he traveled to the great city of Bilad al-Rum.  here he notes that they have very good food, the best dressed people, and the women there don’t wear veils!  I also found on page 102 that there is a notion of the division of sects among muslims, he talks about the “sunnah”.  After al-Rum the next major city he encounters is Antaliyah. He remarks that this town is organized very well, and is the most populated town he’s seen.  I thought it was strange that in this town lived people who belonged to different religions but they all separated themselves.  For example the Jews who lived there all lived together in a circle bounded by a wall, the Christians and so on did the same thing that separated them from the Muslims.  Then he traveled to Akridur, he didn’t say much about this place other than it housed fine bazaars, fresh sweet water, and many fruits.  Ladhig is home to seven mosques, beautiful gardens and fine fabrics.  He notes that there are many Greeks who live there and pay money to the Sultan because they are not Muslims.  He also says that Greek women are bought and sold as prostitutes and that as long as they did their business in the bath houses no one said anything about it.  I noticed as I was reading that there was a funny anecdote about when they entered the city.  A group of men came from their booths and took hold of their horses and began arguing.  They spoke a different language so Battutah and his fellow travelers didn’t understand what was going on and thought they were being attacked.  Then finally someone who understood Arabic told them that they were simply arguing over who would take them in to give shelter and food for the night.  I though that was funny because their kind actions had been mistaken for hostility. Next in Quniya Battutah says that they have very fine buildings and many streams and gardens.  From here, the next major city he travels to is called Birgi.  He ends up spending a great deal of time in this city.  The first person they stayed with had them sleep on the roof because it was the hot season and this was the coolest place at night.  The next night they stayed at a knowledgeable professor’s house who lectured to them and treated them very well.  The professor then wrote a letter to the Sultan of this city to inform them of these travelers he encountered.  The Sultan sent a request for the travelers to visit him so they took off into the mountain where he stayed during the hot season.  Battutahs first experience on the mountain was that one of his horses died becuase of the cold temperatures.  Also the Sultan wanted to hear about his travels and write down to tell others about far away cities.  Battutah grew tired of being in the mountain with the Sultan but didn’t want to disrespect him at the same time.  Finally after many days the Sultan gave him and his company alot of clothes, money, gold, a horse, and even a slave girl and sent them on their way.  From the mountain they traveled to Aya Suluq, which was an ancient city built by the Greeks.  It housed one of the most beautiful mosques in the world, and before leaving he bought another Greek slave girl.  In the town of Barghamah, they picked up a man to guide them through the mountains.  The they travel to Bursa, whish as an important city.  Here they had many fine bazaars and two bath-houses for men and for women. Here he met another traveler but Battutah said that he had outdone this other man because he’d been to China and other islands.  From here he traveled to many much smaller towns and began to be escorted by “mounted men” which I think is like a soldier for protection and guidance.  He finally arrives at another great city called Qastamuniyah which was one of the largest cities.  Here there are alot of goods to buy and at low prices.  They stayed in this city for forty days and bought food for very cheap.  When they initially arrived at Constantinople they weren’t permitted in because they were Muslims and needed special permission, but soon after they were permitted to enter.  As before the Sultan here also questioned him about his travels but wanted to know of the places that were religiously important to them.  After Constantinople they journeyed into Turkestan and Afghanistan, which is the desert.  So they sold their horses for a good price, and hired camels to pull the wagons with the provisions and slaves.  They reached the city of Khwarizm which is the most important city to the Turks and has broad streets and fine things, and is very crowded with people.