Title: The U.S. Mainland: Growth and Resistance | Japanese | Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress
Headings: The U.S. Mainland: Growth and Resistance
The U.S. Mainland: Growth and Resistance
The Nisei

Content: By 1900 there were still fewer than 25,000 Japanese nationals in the U.S. These early arrivals scattered up and down the Pacific coast, forming small communities within small towns and larger cities, such as San Francisco's Japan Town. Farm labor was a common choice among the first immigrants, but they also could be found in lumber mills and mining camps, and sometimes established general stores, restaurants, and small hotels. The turn of the century saw the beginning of a great twenty-five-year surge of immigration, in which more than 100,000 Japanese nationals arrived in the U.S., and during which many of the foundational institutions of the Japanese American community were established. These newcomers at first found much of their employment in migratory labor, working the farms, mines, canneries, and railroads of the American West, sometimes becoming active in the labor agitation of the period. Eventually, however, many were able to launch their own businesses, at first serving the needs of their own community with Japanese restaurants, boarding houses, and shops, but soon opening department stores and tailoring chains that catered to the general public. Japanese cooperative societies, such as the Japanese Associations, provided financial support and advice to many such enterprises. Many Japanese farmers, using the labor-intensive growing methods of their homeland, were able to buy their own land and launch successful agricultural businesses, from farms to produce shops. By 1920, Japanese immigrant farmers controlled more than 450,000 acres of land in California, brought to market more than 10 percent of its crop revenue, and had produced at least one American-made millionaire. Newspaper article, 1905
Even at the peak of immigration, Japanese immigrants never made up more than a tiny percentage of the U.S. population. However, by the early years of the century, organized campaigns had already arisen to exclude Japanese immigrants from U.S. life.