Angel Island and Chinese Immigration

Transcription

1 Angel Island and Chinese Immigration Sik-Lam Wong 黄锡林 Berkeley CA October, 2012 For Private Use Only

2 Mr. Chen or Mr. Jiang: My First Exposure to Paper Son For many years I had known an elderly gentleman as Mr. Chen* When he passed away, the obituary in a local Chinese newspaper referred to him as Mr. Jiang* instead It turned out Mr. Chen came to the US as a paper son in the early 1900 s *Names have been changed for privacy

3 Angel Island is Not Ellis Island: Not for Chinese Immigrants Ellis Island in New York was the entry point for new immigrants from Europe in the old days Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay was the entry point for new immigrants from Asia from ~1 million people entered the US through Angel Island Also a place to keep out Chinese immigrants due to discriminatory laws in the past

4 From Gold Mountain to the Sacramento River Delta Chinese laborers came to the Gold Mountain after the discovery of gold in California in 1848 Chinese laborers were main labor force behind the building of the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1860 s Chinese laborers drained the swamps, built the levees and worked the farms in the Sacramento River Delta in the 1870 s Chinese laborers were recruited because they worked hard for low pay Resented by local labor for the same reason Same happened to the Irish and other minority groups also Economic downturn in the 1870 s resulted in protectionism and discrimination against the Chinese Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 to exclude Chinese laborers and their families from entering US

5 From San Francisco to Angel Island Some Chinese immigrants were naturalized prior to 1882 and became US citizens Chinese born in the US or born to US citizens were automatically US citizens The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco and the subsequent fire destroyed a lot of government records including birth records Chinese would-be immigrants would claim to be children of US citizens: paper sons and paper daughters Industry in San Francisco to arrange papers for immigrants from China That was how my elderly friend, Mr. Jiang, came to the US as the son of a Mr. Chen

6 Angel Island as Detention Center Angel Island served as detention center from to process Chinese immigrants Immigrants were asked many detailed and difficult questions about their homes and villages Paper sons and daughters were coached about the facts to match with their paper parents accounts Legitimate immigrants were caught in the middle and also detained at Angel Island

7 Angel Island Detention Center (White Building in Foreground)

8 Time at Immigration Station Was Hard Restored women s barracks 2009 Restored men s barracks 2009 Men and women lived in separate barracks Young boys had to live with the men away from their mothers Confined to barracks most of the time with only a few hours of exercise time A friend s father had such a painful experience at Angel Island that he vowed that he would never go back there again

9 Immigration Station Restored barracks 2009 Barracks: another view, before restoration

10 Chinese Scholars At Angel Island Many Chinese poems carved onto the wooden panels in barracks; discovered by park ranger, Alexander Weiss, in 1970 Angel Island Immigrant Station wassaved from demolition and became national historical landmark

11 Christian Worker(s) At Angel Island Deaconess Katherine Maurer, shown in photo, was appointed by Women s Home Mission Society to serve as social worker to help Chinese immigrants at Angel Island Christians were instrumental in helping Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, including freeing many women from prostitution

12 Angel Island Shows Both Good and Bad Side of America Discrimination against minorities in the past: Blacks, Chinese, Irish, Native Americans, etc. Will always exist to some degree in an imperfect or sinful world In group versus out group Competition for jobs and survival Discrimination is still a worldwide phenomenon Not limited to US But America has the strength to acknowledge and struggle against the problem Instead of hiding from the problem Christian influence in Chinese community in the early 1900s including Angel Island Memorial for Chinese immigrants at Angel Island

13 Many Japanese and Koreans Came Through Angel Island Probably about 90 racial groups came through Angel Island, based on graffiti carved on the wooden panels on the walls,

14 Many Artifacts Donated by Families of People Who Had Stayed at Angel Island Display of Chinese coming through Angel Island Photo and artifacts donated by daughter, shown in photo as baby

15 Angel Island State Park Tour Docent leading tour at Angel Island Immigration Station

16 This presentation is for private use only and not for public distribution

17 This presentation is based on material available from the Internet