A Fluid Frontier: Minority and Ethnic Groups and Opportunity in Oklahoma
Asians on the Frontier
During the days of the frontier, Oklahoma was home to a small Asian population. According to census records, it appears that there were fewer than one hundred Asian residents before statehood. The number of Asian residents did not increase dramatically until the 1970s. However, in the nineteenth century, Asians established a presence that continues to today.
Asians found their way to the land that is now Oklahoma in a variety of ways. The major Asian countries of China, Korea, and Japan opened their previously closed ports to US merchant ships, allowing emigration. China opened ports in 1787, Japan in 1853, and Korea in 1882.
Many Asians originally settled on the West Coast, near California, during the years of the Gold Rush. Over time the Midwest saw development in mining and agriculture, which brought more people to the area including Asian immigrants from the West Coast.
Mining towns proved to be very racially diverse areas in the territory because of immigrant communities constituting much of their population.
A mine in Peoria, Oklahoma (2012.201.B1013.0098, Oklahoma Publishing Company Photography Collection, OHS).16
Group of men building a railroad (2012.201.B1017.0115, Oklahoma Publishing Company Photography Collection, OHS). 17
Additionally, one of the primary causes of Asian dispersal on the frontier was the transcontinental railroad. A number of Asians maintained jobs as railway workers, which brought them through the Unassigned Lands. Some of these workers remained in the territory.
Immigration Control
Various laws passed by the federal government created immigration restrictions limiting Asian presence on the frontier, including Oklahoma, for a number of years. Fear grew in the United States among some white workers that Asian immigrants created too much competition for jobs.
As a result, Congress enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese workers from entering the United States and kept the Chinese already present from obtaining citizenship. Similarly, racist legislation was developed against Japanese immigrants in the US. The United States and Japan made The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907. This informal agreement resulted in the United States agreeing to stop the segregation restrictions on Japanese immigrants in the United States if Japan agreed to stop allowing emigration to the United States except for agreed upon cases. Other similar acts passed that restricted Asian immigrants.
Due to these laws promoting discrimination, many years passed before Oklahoma saw a large Asian population.
Naturalization documents for Chinese immigrants, 189318,19
