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In the early twentieth century, most Chinese immigrants coming to
the United States were detained at the Angel Island Immigration
Station in San Francisco Bay. There, they were subject to physical
exams, interrogations, and often long detentions aimed at upholding
the exclusion laws that kept Chinese out of the country. Many
detainees recorded their anger and frustrations, hopes and despair
in poetry written and carved on the barrack walls. Island tells
these immigrants' stories while underscoring their relevance to
contemporary immigration issues. First published in 1980, this book
is now offered in an updated, expanded edition including a new
historical introduction, 150 annotated poems in Chinese and English
translation, extensive profiles of immigrants gleaned through oral
histories, and dozens of new photographs from public archives and
family albums. An important historical document as well as a
significant work of literature, Island is a testament to the
hardships Chinese immigrants endured on Angel Island, their
perseverance, and their determination to make a new life in
America. Watch the book trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn7kJscWIaM
The crippling custom of footbinding is the thematic touchstone for
Judy Yung's engrossing study of Chinese American women during the
first half of the twentieth century. Using this symbol of
subjugation to examine social change in the lives of these women,
she shows the stages of 'unbinding' that occurred in the decades
between the turn of the century and the end of World War II. The
setting for this captivating history is San Francisco, which had
the largest Chinese population in the United States. Yung, a
second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San
Francisco, uses an impressive range of sources to tell her story.
Oral history interviews, previously unknown autobiographies, both
English- and Chinese-language newspapers, government census
records, and exceptional photographs from public archives and
private collections combine to make this a richly human document as
well as an illuminating treatise on race, gender, and class
dynamics. While presenting larger social trends Yung highlights the
many individual experiences of Chinese American women, and her
skill as an oral history interviewer gives this work an immediacy
that is poignant and effective. Her analysis of intraethnic class
rifts - a major gap in ethnic history - sheds important light on
the difficulties that Chinese American women faced in their own
communities. Yung provides a more accurate view of their lives than
has existed before, revealing the many ways that these women -
rather than being passive victims of oppression - were active
agents in the making of their own history.
Eddie Fung has the distinction of being the only Chinese American
soldier to be captured by the Japanese during World War II. He was
then put to work on the Burma-Siam railroad, made famous by the
film The Bridge on the River Kwai. In this moving and unforgettable
memoir, Eddie recalls how he, a second-generation Chinese American
born and raised in San Francisco's Chinatown, reinvented himself as
a Texas cowboy before going overseas with the U.S. Army. On the way
to the Philippines, his battalion was captured by the Japanese in
Java and sent to Burma to undertake the impossible task of building
a railroad through 262 miles of tropical jungle. Working under
brutal slave labour conditions, the men completed the railroad in
fourteen months, at the cost of 16,000 POW and 70,000 Asian lives.
Eddie lived to tell how his background helped him endure forty-two
months of humiliation and cruelty and how his experiences as the
sole Chinese American member of the most decorated Texan unit of
any war shaped his later life.
Do historians "write their biographies" with the subjects they
choose to address in their research? In this collection, editors
Alan M. Kraut and David A. Gerber compiled eleven original essays
by historians whose own ethnic backgrounds shaped the choices they
have made about their own research and writing as scholars. These
authors, historians of American immigration and ethnicity,
revisited family and personal experiences and reflect on how their
lives helped shape their later scholarly pursuits, at times
inspiring specific questions they asked of the nation's immigrant
past. They address issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and
assimilation in academia, in the discipline of history, and in
society at large. Most have been pioneers not only in their
respective fields, but also in representing their ethnic group
within American academia. Some of the women in the group were in
the vanguard of gender diversity in the discipline of history as
well as on the faculties of the institutions where they have
taught. The authors in this collection represent a wide array of
backgrounds, spanning Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and
Latin America. What they have in common is their passionate
engagement with the making of social and personal identities and
with finding a voice to explain their personal stories in public
terms. Contributors: Theresa Alfaro-Velcamp, John Bodnar, Maria C.
Garcia, David A. Gerber, Violet M. Showers Johnson, Alan M. Kraut,
Timothy J. Meagher, Deborah Dash Moore, Dominic A. Pacyga, Barbara
M. Posadas, Eileen H. Tamura, Virginia Yans, Judy Yung
"Skillfully selected, translated, and annotated, this compelling
compendium of voices bear witness to the diversity and depth of the
Chinese American experience and, significantly, its indispensable
centrality to American life and history."--Gary Y. Okihiro, author
of "Common Ground: Reimagining American History
"Here at last is a wide-ranging record of Chinese American
experiences from the viewpoints of the players. "Chinese American
Voices is an impressive feat of scholarship, an indispensable
reference, and a compelling read."--Ruthanne Lum McCunn, author of
"Thousand Pieces of Gold and The Moon Pearl
"This anthology offers a virtual "Gam Saan" (Gold Mountain) of
original sources. The stories burst with telling and re-affirm a
vision of men and women as actors in history, who made themselves
as Chinese Americans as they helped to make America
itself."--Ronald Takaki, author of "Strangers from a Different
Shore: A History of Asian Americans
"This volume of sixty-two annotated documents, many translated from
Chinese for the first time, is a boon to faculty and students
interested in Chinese American history, Asian American history,
U.S. immigration history, and race and ethnic relations. The life
stories, in particular, are appealing for students, the reading
public, and scholars alike as they hear the voices of individuals
long misunderstood, denigrated, and silenced. All of us owe a debt
of gratitude to the three editors for their dedicated labor of
love."--Sucheng Chan, author of "Chinese American Transnationalism:
The Flow of People, Resources, and Ideas between China and America
during the Exclusion Era
"This is a superb collection."--Roger Daniels, author of
"Guardingthe Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and
Immigrants since 1882
Do historians "write their biographies" with the subjects they
choose to address in their research? In this collection, editors
Alan M. Kraut and David A. Gerber compiled eleven original essays
by historians whose own ethnic backgrounds shaped the choices they
have made about their own research and writing as scholars. These
authors, historians of American immigration and ethnicity,
revisited family and personal experiences and reflect on how their
lives helped shape their later scholarly pursuits, at times
inspiring specific questions they asked of the nation's immigrant
past. They address issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and
assimilation in academia, in the discipline of history, and in
society at large. Most have been pioneers not only in their
respective fields, but also in representing their ethnic group
within American academia. Some of the women in the group were in
the vanguard of gender diversity in the discipline of history as
well as on the faculties of the institutions where they have
taught. The authors in this collection represent a wide array of
backgrounds, spanning Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and
Latin America. What they have in common is their passionate
engagement with the making of social and personal identities and
with finding a voice to explain their personal stories in public
terms. Contributors: Theresa Alfaro-Velcamp, John Bodnar, Maria C.
Garcia, David A. Gerber, Violet M. Showers Johnson, Alan M. Kraut,
Timothy J. Meagher, Deborah Dash Moore, Dominic A. Pacyga, Barbara
M. Posadas, Eileen H. Tamura, Virginia Yans, Judy Yung
Eddie Fung has the distinction of being the only Chinese American
soldier to be captured by the Japanese during World War II. He was
then put to work on the Burma-Siam railroad, made famous by the
film The Bridge on the River Kwai. In this moving and unforgettable
memoir, Eddie recalls how he, a second-generation Chinese American
born and raised in San Francisco's Chinatown, reinvented himself as
a Texas cowboy before going overseas with the U.S. Army. On the way
to the Philippines, his battalion was captured by the Japanese in
Java and sent to Burma to undertake the impossible task of building
a railroad through 262 miles of tropical jungle. Working under
brutal slave labor conditions, the men completed the railroad in
fourteen months, at the cost of 12,500 POW and 70,000 Asian lives.
Eddie lived to tell how his background helped him endure forty-two
months of humiliation and cruelty and how his experiences as the
sole Chinese American member of the most decorated Texan unit of
any war shaped his later life.
"Unbound Voices" brings together the voices of Chinese American
women in a fascinating, intimate collection of documents--letters,
essays, poems, autobiographies, speeches, testimonials, and oral
histories--detailing half a century of their lives in America.
Together, these sources provide a captivating mosaic of Chinese
women's experiences in their own words, as they tell of making a
home for themselves and their families in San Francisco from the
Gold Rush years through World War II.
The personal nature of these documents makes for compelling
reading. We hear the voices of prostitutes and domestic slavegirls,
immigrant wives of merchants, Christians and pagans, homemakers,
and social activists alike. We read the stories of daughters who
confronted cultural conflicts and racial discrimination; the myriad
ways women coped with the Great Depression; and personal
contributions to the causes of women's emancipation, Chinese
nationalism, workers' rights, and World War II. The symphony of
voices presented here lends immediacy and authenticity to our
understanding of the Chinese American women's lives.
This rich collection of women's stories also serves to demonstrate
collective change over time as well as to highlight individual
struggles for survival and advancement in both private and public
spheres. An educational tool on researching and reclaiming women's
history, "Unbound Voices" offers us a valuable lesson on how one
group of women overcame the legacy of bound feet and bound lives in
America. The selections are accompanied by photographs, with
extensive introductions and annotation by Judy Yung, a noted
authority on primary resources relating to the history of Chinese
American women.
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