AHC/WI: Mass Migration of Asian Laborers to the American South

After slavery was abolished throughout European colonies in the Caribbean during the 1800’s, many poorly-paid laborers various parts of Asia were brought in as a new source of labor. As a result, many Caribbean countries have significant South and East Asian populations today, with Indians composing a plurality of the population of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

Nothing like this really happened in the United States, though. That said, such proposals were discussed at various times. @David T once noted that Wendell Phillips feared that Southern slaveholders would start pushing for the importation of “apprentices” as a euphemism for effectively restarting the international slave trade, though in that case he assumed that the “apprentices” would be brought in from Africa, not Asia. Though I do not have the source right now, I think I read once that, in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War and the end of slavery in the United States, some Southerners considered bringing in large numbers of Chinese laborers to fill the former economic role of African-American slaves. Remember, this was around the same time that many poorly-treated Chinese workers came to American to work on railroad construction.

Ultimately, nothing like this ever really came to pass. Indeed, the United States government and legal system actively worked to bar immigration from East and South Asia during much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

So, with any point of divergence in the 19th century (so, no scenarios where the American colonies remain part of the British Empire), either before or after the abolition of slavery, what scenario could ultimately lead to Southern planters bringing in a significant number of Asian workers to their region? What country or countries in Asia would most of these workers likely come from? Depending on the answer to the preceding question, what would be the likely long-term economic, political, and social impact on the United States generally and the South specifically?
 
Not sure if you could voluntarily convince thousands of South Asian workers to come over to the Southern United States, given they'd have to live under Jim Crow laws. But then again, racism didn't do much to deter East Asian laborers from migrating to the Western United States.
 
Not sure if you could voluntarily convince thousands of South Asian workers to come over to the Southern United States, given they'd have to live under Jim Crow laws. But then again, racism didn't do much to deter East Asian laborers from migrating to the Western United States.

That's not necessarily true, OTL there were some American blacks who pretended to be South Asian (usually by wearing turbans and faking accents) in order to be allowed to sit in "Whites Only" sections and be exempt from other aspects of Jim Crow. Jim Crow would probably grow to include South Asians if a more substantial population arrived but the OTL example shows that the Southern US wasn't very hostile to South Asians at that time.
 
Not sure if you could voluntarily convince thousands of South Asian workers to come over to the Southern United States, given they'd have to live under Jim Crow laws. But then again, racism didn't do much to deter East Asian laborers from migrating to the Western United States.

Firstly, this assumes that many prospective workers in Asia would have detailed knowledge of American race relations, which seems rather doubtful, and in any case the folks sent over to recruit them would likely not emphasize the negative aspects of American life (and indeed, such individuals would likely make false promises in order to make the prospect more enticing to the workers, or even actively coerce them). Furthermore, many of the South Asians who went to the British Caribbean colonies were Dalits, or those in the untouchable castes, so their social position in America does not seem like it would be much worse than it was in India. Indeed, they may actually be treated at least somewhat better than African-Americans.
 
I'd bet that Asians (whether they be East Asian or South Asian) would form a middle caste in the Jim Crow system, between the Whites on top and Blacks at the bottom.
 
The influx of a large group of immigrants would lead to economic growth which OTL South lacked and as such we would likely see social change. There’s little reason for the Southern elite to upkeep Jim Crow Laws, if they have access to another impoverished labor group.
 

Big Smoke

Banned
What do you think, guys, would there be a greater amount of popular racism against Oriental Asians than OTL against sub-Saharan Africans? I think Sub-Saharan Africa is a lot closer to Western Europe culturally than East Asia is, but then theres also the economic factor that sub-Saharan Africans were pretty much the epitome of the word 'savages' or 'uncivilised', as close as a group can get, whereas East Asians are 'civilised' but very foreign and odd culturally in the view of West Europeans.
 
Dunno how useful this is, but the thing is, there was Chinese immigration to the American south, from the end of the Civil War to the early 20th century. The Mississippi Delta saw an influx of Chinese immigration, whom occupied a liminal space between white and black communities. To this day, there are still Chinese households there that trace their origins back 100 years. Plus, they added their own cooking to regional cuisine.


Another immigrant community down there was the Syrian community from the Ottoman Empire, though most of them came from all over the Middle East and Anatolia. The end of the 19th century saw an influx of Arabs, Turks, Armenians, and other nationalities immigrating to the U.S., with the southern states holding a substantial minority. Despite hailing from all over what we now call the Middle East, most of them were called 'Syrians' by the U.S government back then.

hitti map 1924.jpg


Distribution map of 'Syrians' living in the U.S. by 1924. Source here.

The problem was, in the interwar period there was huge rise in anti-immigrant sentiment which led to tens of thousands of foreigners being deported, no matter their class or creed. There was also huge pressure for 'white-looking' immigrants to conform to American society which broke many families' ties with their former homelands, but that's another issue.

So given that Asian immigration was a thing in the American south in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the more correct question would be "which of them would be most willing to do the jobs once worked by former slaves?" Indian Dalit laborers is an option, but perhaps the most destitute of the Ottoman Empire could also work, particularly considering some of them are considered "passably white" and therefore approachable.
 
Firstly, this assumes that many prospective workers in Asia would have detailed knowledge of American race relations, which seems rather doubtful, and in any case the folks sent over to recruit them would likely not emphasize the negative aspects of American life (and indeed, such individuals would likely make false promises in order to make the prospect more enticing to the workers, or even actively coerce them). Furthermore, many of the South Asians who went to the British Caribbean colonies were Dalits, or those in the untouchable castes, so their social position in America does not seem like it would be much worse than it was in India. Indeed, they may actually be treated at least somewhat better than African-Americans.

And race relations frankly were not much better in the Caribbean or Mascarene islands either - the white minorities retained de facto control for a long time.
 
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