Posted on August 27, 2007

1825: When the USA Was Not a White Country

Robert Lindsay, August 25, 2007

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But Whites have only been here a short while, and we were immigrants, or actually invaders at first, ourselves. Previously, the US was all Amerindian, a race close to Northeast Asians. Before this was even a nation, we imported huge numbers of Black slaves, such that most Black lineages in the US go back farther than most White lineages.

In California and the Southwest, we have even had Hispanics (almost all Mexicans) living here before those states were even a part of the US. A Filipino was part of the party that founded Los Angeles before California was even a state. He got sick in Baja and ended up staying there, but he was still present on the voyage. Clearly, Filipinos have been here from the earliest too.

It is hard to say whether or not there were any Chinese in California before it became a state. But within a year of becoming a state, California was full of East Indians (Hindoos), Samoans/Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (Kanakas) and Chinese. Based on that, all of these ethnic groups are obviously part of our founding heritage.

So are West Africans, as this is where many of the American slaves came from. There was a Filipino settlement in St. Malo, Louisiana, in 1763, before the US was even formed. The first Chinese immigrants came to the US in 1820, but before the Gold Rush, only 1,000 or so had arrived.

Japanese have been present in Hawaii in large numbers since 1890, and Koreans have been present in much smaller numbers from 1896. Hawaii was only made into a state in 1959. Cubans have also been here a very long time. Hundreds of Cubans came to St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, over 200 years before there was a USA.

Similarly, the first Jamaicans (a party of 20) in America were already in Jamestown, the first White British colony in the US, by 1619. Further, many Jamaicans were included in slave shipments to the US since Jamaica was a way station along the way between Africa and the US.

Significant numbers of Chilean and Peruvian miners were in California for the Gold Rush as early as 1848. A couple of thousand Brazilian and Caribbean Blacks also came for the Gold Rush. Note that California did not become a state until 1850.

Pakistanis were in the US since the 1700’s, working in agriculture, logging and mining in California, Oregon and Washington. The first known East Indian Hindu came to the US in 1790, soon after the Declaration of Independence, as a maritime worker.

Mexicans, Samoans, Blacks, Cubans, East Indians, Pakistanis, Chileans, Peruvians, Filipinos, American Indians, Canadians, Japanese, West Africans, Hawaiians, Japanese, Koreans and Chinese have been here from the very start.

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In 1825, the US census recorded that 37% of the US population was Black (almost all slaves), 25% was American Indian, and only 38% was White. Neither the Blacks nor the Indians could vote and they were not even citizens, but so what. Massive White immigration in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s from Europe plus an immigration bill mandating that most US immigrants must come from European stock changed all of that.

We were a White-minority nation as early as 35 years after signing of the Constitution! Take that, “White America” fools!

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