Page Act (1875) and Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) — Federal Exclusion After Federal Labor (Trauma-Informed)

Sovereignty Promise + Truth-and-Resilience Promise. Recall yesterday: 15,000 Chinese laborers built the Central Pacific 1865-1869. Today's lesson asks: what happened to them next?

• Recite Promises
• Make explicit connection to yesterday
• Set tone: 'we name the pattern: federal welcome for labor, federal exclusion when labor was complete'

Direct teach: 1875 Page Act — first federal law restricting immigration based on national origin, specifically targeting Chinese women. 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act — first federal law banning a specific national-origin laboring class from immigration; suspended Chinese laborer immigration; not fully repealed until 1943 (61 years). The sequence: 1865-1869 Chinese labor builds Central Pacific; 1875 federal law excludes Chinese women; 1882 federal law excludes Chinese laborers. Angel Island Immigration Station (San Francisco Bay 1910-1940) detained Chinese immigrants for weeks-to-years for interrogation — 'paper son' practice (using fictitious family ties to enter) emerged in response. 1898 Wong Kim Ark Supreme Court case affirmed BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP for US-born children of Chinese parents (14th Amendment). Read 'Landed' and 'Paper Son' excerpts for Chinese American resilience. Resilience: Chinese American Museum (Los Angeles), Museum of Chinese in America (NYC), 1943 Magnuson Act repealed Chinese Exclusion, 1965 Immigration Act ended national-origin quotas, today Chinese Americans 5+ million in US.

• Naming the pattern matters. Chinese American resilience continued through and beyond exclusion.

  model Chinese laborers were RECRUITED to do dangerous federal-railroad work 1865-1869. Six years after the railroad was complete, the Page Act excluded Chinese women. Seven years after the Page Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act suspended Chinese laborer immigration entirely. The pattern: federal welcome for labor, federal exclusion when labor was no longer needed.

  prompt What is the pattern between 1865-1869 and 1882?

• What was the Page Act and when was it passed?
• What was the Chinese Exclusion Act and when?
• When was Chinese Exclusion fully repealed?

Apply MG-7 to Chinese Exclusion Act excerpt: WHO? Congress + President Chester Arthur; WHEN? 1882; WHY? to ban Chinese laborer immigration; CORROBORATE with Page Act 1875 (pattern); CLOSE READ phrase 'suspending the coming of Chinese laborers'; WHOSE voice silent? Chinese American workers who built the railroad.

M-4-S-HIS-15-B Diagram

MG-7 6-box format with Chinese Exclusion Act age-adapted excerpt. Box 4 corroboration pairs with Page Act 1875. Box 6 whose voice silent (Chinese American railroad workers).

MG-7 Diagram

Federal Archive Card — child-adapted Wineburg 4-question + NMAI fifth-move primary-source analysis tool. 6 boxes: (1) WHO MADE THIS? (sourcing); (2) WHEN and WHERE? (contextualization); (3) WHY did they make it — what did they want the reader to think? (sourcing extended); (4) Does ANOTHER source AGREE or DISAGREE? (corroboration — name the other source); (5) WHAT exact words tell us most? (close reading — quote one phrase); (6) WHOSE VOICE is silent in this source, and what would they say? (NMAI 5th move). Used on every federal-archive lesson (4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18). Style: clean diagram with 6 numbered boxes on cardstock, large enough for child writing in boxes.

• Sequence timeline: place 5 events in order — Pacific Railway Act 1862, Central Pacific completed 1869, Page Act 1875, Exclusion Act 1882, Magnuson Act repeal 1943.

  scaffold Use chronology strip; check with partner.
• Resilience-FIRST entry: write 2 sentences on Chinese American community continuity (e.g., Chinatown San Francisco, Chinatown NYC, present-day Chinese American institutions).

  scaffold Sentence frame: 'Chinese American communities continued through exclusion. Today ___'

M-4-S-HIS-15-A Chart

Horizontal timeline 24 inches wide showing 5 event cards in chronological order: 1862 Pacific Railway Act → 1869 Central Pacific complete → 1875 Page Act → 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act → 1943 Magnuson Act repeal. Each card shows year + 1-sentence summary.

• Name the 2 federal laws (1875 + 1882) that excluded Chinese immigrants.
• When was Chinese Exclusion repealed?

• Compassion Circle briefly
• Preview tomorrow's Manifest Destiny critical-analysis lesson

• No homework. Optional: family discussion on community continuity through difficult laws.