Nicolette W. Perrault
Minority Women in the Spotlight
This section of the unit will be based on an ongoing activity. Each student in the class will on a rotating basis, research and share information on a minority female who has gained recognition in some field be it education, literature, science, government, medicine, history, law, music or entertainment. The segments should not exceed one minute and should be accompanied by a picture of the outstanding person. After each student completes his or her presentation, the student will place the candidate for the day on the bulletin board. By the time the unit has been completed, the bulletin board should also have been completed.
* During the course of the unit each student is responsible for introducing three outstanding females: One must be African American, one Latino, and one Asian.
* All biographical sketches should be typed.
Where Are You From?
In this part of the discussion I would ask students where they were originally born and ask them what it is like to live there. I would ask them to describe the city and tell us about great landmarks or places of interest. I would ask them to tell us about the people, their livelihoods, and what they engage in as pasttimes. Next, I would ask students to share some traditions with us that are representative of their culture. I would ask them to tell us how their lives have changed since their arrival in the U. S. I would ask them to compare and contrast their homelands and the U. S. Lastly, I would ask them how they have been received by the people in this country.
The Changing Role of African American Women
To introduce the students to this segment of the unit I would first read Langston Hughes’ poem which begins:
“Well son I’ll tell you.
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.”
This poem
typifies the life of African-American women throughout history from a period in time when we first meet Phillis Wheatley to sit-ins on the trials of Anita Hill. Strong African-American women have played a major role in history throughout the course of time.
If we go back to the very beginning of the first settlement in the colonial period we find in 1611 records from the secretary of the colony which show that a pirate ship manned by an English crew carried 20 African Americans to the new country. Of this number quite a few were women. Immediately, some important questions come to mind. Who came to the colony? What happened to them? Who were some of the African-American women? One woman was Isabell. Isabell married Anthony who was also on board ship. Their union produced Baby Williams, the first African-American child produced in America in 1624.
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Would you believe they were free? Another African-American woman, Mary Johnson married an Anthony, arrived from England, moved to North Hampton County in 1651, paid for 5 servants, some of which were white, and established America, second African-American community. I guess you can see why we have so many Johnsons. They started raising little Johnsons a long time ago. Also the first African-American settlement in Greenwich Village was established when a group of African Americans staged their first legal protest after serving 17 years with the council of New Netherlands.
During the 1660’s African-American slavery, instituted as a form of mass labor, was most prominent in Virginia where there were large plantations. In 1662 legislation was passed which, in essence, stated that a child born of an African-American woman and an Englishman would be classified as the same status as the mother. It also stated that if caught in the act of committing with an African American, the person would pay double the existing fine. So you see this law further perpetuated the slavery system. As you can plainly see, African-American women had no social status whatsoever. In 1691, if an Englishman married an African American, or a Native American his punishment was banishment from the colony. If a white woman had a child by an African-American male, she would be fined or handed over to the church for servitude for five years.
Around the mid 1700’s, 1739 to be exact, the most famous conspiracy, the Cato conspiracy, took place outside of Charleston. It resulted in the deaths of 44 African Americans and 30 Whites. During this time not many white voices were speaking out against slavery. They were more concerned with establishing their own independence. There was however, one citizen who did recognize the irony of the situation, and this was Abigail Adams. She wrote to her husband: “It always appears a most iniquitous scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.”
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Also during this period another significant event took place which set a precedence in the history of African Americans. “This was the case of Jenny Slew of Ipewich, Mass. who sued her master for keeping her as a slave for three years. The master based his defense on the premise that no such person existed, and he won in a lower court. On appeal, in a higher court, the decision was reversed and the plaintiff was awarded four pounds in damages plus expenses.”
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One giant step for African-American women. This was only the beginning of a long hard struggle.
By December of 1775 the Continental Congress had consented to not import any more slaves. Good move on their part, but slavery was not yet abolished. Also in December of ’75 Washington, George that is, decided to accept African Americans into his forces because the British were going to attract African Americans into their forces with the promise of freedom in exchange for military service. It was right about this time that Washington wrote a letter to Phillis Wheatley, an African American who had written a poem in his honor. [Here I would tell students about Phillis’ life.]
“In 1776 there were about 120,156 African Americans compared to 173,316 Whites.”
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Strict and harsh measures were taken to insure control held by the ruling class. Slaves couldn’t leave the plantations without permission from their masters. Murder and rape were punishable by execution. Major offenses resulted in lashes and amputations of body parts. Lesser offenses resulted in branding, maiming, and whipping.
During the revolution approximately 5,000 African Americans fought for Independence. “In fact, an African-American woman enlisted in the company under a Captain Wells and registered in the name of Robert Shurliffe. Her real name was Deborah Gannet. At the end of her service she was awarded 34 pounds in the form of a pension. Even though African Americans fought for independence, they did not gain it at the conclusion of the war, for the Declaration of Independence did not include an end to slavery. Thomas Jefferson’s proposal which included anti-slavery articles was firmly rejected by the Continental Congress. So now it was up to the courts to recognize “inalienable rights” to freedom, liberty, and equality as guaranteed by the Constitution.
A case in point was that of Elizabeth Freeman also known as Mum Bett of Stockbridge, Mass. After being struck by her mistress, she left the house never to return. When her master appealed to the courts, Freeman asked her lawyer to defend her on the basis that she had the right under law to claim her liberty. When asked where she had gotten such an idea, Freeman responded that she had heard some men talking about the Bill of Rights and the Massachusetts Constitution. The document said that all men were born free and equal under the law and since she was not a dumb beast, but a person, the bill applied to her too.
“Her case was heard in Great Barrington in 1781. Freeman, the widow of a man who had died in the Revolutionary War, was set free from her master who was also ordered to pay 30 shillings in damages. With her victory, the legal fact was established, the Bill of Rights in Massachusetts at least, had indeed abolished slavery.”
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By the 1800’s, though slavery had somewhat diminished in the North, it was still alive and well in the South. In fact, in South Carolina and Georgia 20,000 slaves arrived in 1803. Of those slaves who were free, this was a difficult period for them. What kinds of jobs could they now acquire . . . especially those who were gifted artistically? What would happen to these great talents? I’m sure quite a few of them ended up like the tragic figure of Phillis Wheatley who was forced to take a job as a maid in a boarding house. She died in abject poverty, living in squalor, at the tender age of 31. Even when factories opened up, the unskilled African Americans, especially the women, couldn’t get jobs because of race discrimination. So we went from slavery directly to race discrimination. African Americans were excluded from the “Industrial Revolution.” In addition to this, they were often on the receiving end of physical assaults. “In Philadelphia, in 1819, three white women stoned an African-American woman to death.”
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Forms of resistance were initiated by African-American women. They set fires to plantations, buildings, and warehouses. In 1708 an African-American woman was burned for participating in a revolt which resulted in the killing of 7 whites. Another was hanged in Louisiana in 1732 for participating in slave conspiracy.
Another form of resistance, though not as popular thank God, was infanticide. This was practiced by women who held the belief that death was better than being subjected to a lifetime of slavery. Perhaps the most outstanding case which serves as an unforgettable example would be the one of Margaret Garner. Garner, in an attempt to escape with her four children, was caught. Before her capture she slit the throat of one daughter and tried to kill the others. Then, when placed on board a ship en route to return to Kentucky, she jumped overboard with one of her infants. She was saved, but the child was never recovered. African-American women also faked sickness, worked slow downs, and employed devious tactics to alter measures of productivity.
The most successful means of undermining the institution of slavery was achieved through carefully planned and executed methods of escape. We finally get to meet great African-American women such as Ellen Craft, the renowned Harriet Tubman, and courageous Sojourner Truth. Ellen Craft, a woman of fair skin, posed as a master accompanied by her husband, disguised as her devoted servant, and escaped to freedom. Harriet Tubman, at age 6 was sent from home to learn weaving. Later, she was sent to work in a swamp trapping muskrats. At times she was beaten mercilessly. She experienced the horrors of slavery from an early age. Also while a slave, she suffered a severe blow to the head from an overseer which resulted in a sleeping sickness. This, however, did not deter her from achieving countless successes in her life’s work. With a bounty of $40,000 at one point hanging over her head, she never lost a passenger on the Underground Railroad. She was heralded as “the Moses of her people.”
It would take a special kind of African-American woman to further the movement. This came in the form of a 6 ft., big-boned, uneducated, imposing figure of a woman with the name Isabella Baumfree who came to be known as the great emancipator, Sojourner Truth. Though she could neither read or write, she was the most outstanding orator of her time. At this point I think I would share that great speech made by Sojourner when she uninvitedly attended a convention in 1852 in Akron, Ohio. It begins like this: “Well, I think twixt de [Negroes] of the South and de women’s of the North all a talkn’ ’bout rights, de white mens’ll be in a fix pretty soon.”
Around the 1860’s the struggle continued. In 1866 Charlotte Brown Pleasant staged a sit-in in San Francisco which was front page news. Around this same time Sojourner Truth forced her way onto a Washington streetcar when she noticed that the transit system refused to carry African Americans. One conductor shoved her so hard, he dislocated her shoulder. Later he was arrested after she filed suit against the company.
Also the 1860’s was a period which evidenced the rise in power of the Ku Klux Klan. This brought an onslaught of riots. One which comes to mind is the Memphis riot of 1866 where 46 African Americans were killed and 80 wounded. These numbers included women and children. Churches, schools, and countless homes were destroyed.
Ida B. Wells {Barnett} born in Mississippi, was a great civil activist of the 60’s. While on a train bound for Memphis from Woodstock, she was asked to leave the “white section” of the train. She refused and it took three conductors to escort her from the train. She did, however, sink her teeth into one of them before she was overtaken. When her case was tried, under the Bill of Rights of 1875, the judge ruled in her favor and awarded her $500 in damages. Later the decision was reversed. Something good did come out of this. When she wrote about her plight in a church publication, an editor read it and was impressed with her writing. She was asked to write a weekly column, and she became known as the “princess of the press.” Wells was also instrumental in waging a war against lynchings of African Americans.
During the latter part of the 1800’s organizations founded by African-American women rose up to address the needs of the people and the social ills which existed and still exist in society. The National Association of Colored Women held a conference in 1895. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was founded in 1874. The National Federation of Afro-American Women headed by Margaret Murray Washington, wife of Booker T., was founded in 1895. Melnea Cass started the Mother’s Club, which became the model for day cares. Girl Friend Inc. was formed in New York in 1927. It focused primarily on civic, cultural, and social issues. African-American women formed sororities to address social and educational needs of their race. [Delta Sigma Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Iota Pi Lambda.]
The 1900’s are characterized by movers and shakers. African-American women began to take a more active role in politics. Courageous women like Modjeska Monteith Simkins was a civil rights activist who played a major role in forming the South Carolina branch of the NAACP in 1917. She was active in voter registration, integration of schools, and public accommodations. She fought until the ripe, young age of 81. Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator and activist during the early 1900’s. Under Roosevelt’s administration, she was appointed a member of the Advisory Board of the National Youth Administration. Less known heroines of this period were Lillie Mae Jackson who organized a “Buy Where You Can Work” campaign in 1935 and Charlotte Bass who staged a similar campaign.
By mid 1900’s, around the 50,’s and 60’s, the African-American movement began to peak. In 1947 a young student, Ada Sipuel, sued the state of Oklahoma for refusing her admittance into the state’s university. A year later in the case of Sweatt vs. Painter, a young African-American woman helped to prepare the briefs that would allow an African-American student to be admitted to the University of Texas. Her name was Constance Baker. She later became the first African-American woman to be elected to the New York State Legislature, the first woman to be Manhattan Borough President, and the first African-American woman judge. Pauli Murray also gained prominence in the movement. She fought for admittance to each university which she attended. She earned three law degrees: one each from Howard, the University of California, and Yale.
Let us not forget Rosa Parks. She said no to the bus driver who wanted her to relinquish her seat to a white man. This was December 1st, 1955. This marked the beginning of sit-ins, and protests, and non-violent marches. Many of these marches were led by none other than the great Martin Luther King himself.
The 1960's was a period in the lives of African Americans which marked the turning point not just in the lives of the African Americans of that decade but also in the lives of generations to come. During this decade we learned about great women who were bold and willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of equality. One of these outstanding figures is Angela Davis. Today she lives on the west coast where she is a college professor. During the 60’s she was an activist and a militant. Another outstanding figure, Daisy Bates, was instrumental in Little Rock, Arkansas where the national guard had to be called in by President Eisenhower to ensure the safety of the nine African-American children who integrated Central High. By the way, six of these children were girls. Charlayne Hunter stood her ground at the University of Georgia at Athens and became the first African American to receive a degree from that university. Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist, is another mover and shaker. Find out what she did. Find out about Septima Poinsett Clark, and Marion Wright Edelman. These women laid the groundwork for our present day heroines.
Our present day heroines include women such as Shirley Chisolm, Barbara Jordan, Marva Collins, Ethel D. Allen, M.D., Vivian Pinn. All of these women are outstanding role models and shining examples not just for African-American youth but for all young people around the world.
This year, 1992, Essence magazine paid tribute to seven remarkable African-American women for their years of hard work and dedication not to mention their monumental accomplishments. These women were Debbie Allen, [director, dancer, and actor] Dr. Betty Shabazz, [widow of Malcolm X] Nancy Wilson, [singer and stylist] Maya Angelou, [poet and novelist] Bertha Gilkey, [innovator and community activist] Marion Wright Edelman, [founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund] Dr. Georgia L. McMurray [activist and educator].
The African-American woman is still climbing and spiraling upward, and as Mari Evans would say . . .
-
“beyond all definition she is still
-
defying place and time
-
and circumstance
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assailed
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impervious
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indestructible . . .
The Changing Pole of Latino Women
To examine the role of the Latino female in the United States, three separate cultures need to be discussed. One of these cultures has its original homeland established in Puerto Rico while the others have their roots planted in Mexico and Cuba. Though there are similarities with respect to tradition, beliefs, and language, their histories are quite different. For all practical purposes let’s first examine the historical background of each ethnic group. *[Focus will be confined to these three groups because they comprise the larger segment of the population]
Going back in history, we see that Columbus discovered Puerto Rico during his second voyage on November 1493. By 1508 a colony had been established by Ponce de Leon. Did you know that Puerto Rico was originally named the Island of San Juan? During this time the island was located at the eastern end of the Spanish colonial empire, and it was a heavily fortified military outpost. It remained a Spanish colony for 400, years.
On December 10, 1898, as a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States gained possession of Puerto Rico. By 1900 the first civil government was established in Puerto Rico under United States sovereignty. By 1917 under the Jones Act the island’s status was modified and U. S. citizenship was guaranteed to Puerto Ricans. In 1947, this act was amended, and it granted Puerto Ricans the right to elect their own governor. This governor was allowed to appoint all officials except the auditor and members of the Supreme Court. In 1949 Luis Munoz Marin became the first governor elected by popular vote.
In the Southwest the Latino population is mainly composed of people of Mexican ancestry. In examining the history of Mexican Americans, it becomes clearly evident that they became a minority not by migrating or being brought into this country as a subordinate people but by conquest. The process was different in each of the border states (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California) but nonetheless, it was conquest that set the stage for large-scale immigration.
“In the early 19th century, there were perhaps 5,000 Mexicans in Texas, 60,000 in New Mexico, not more than 1,000 in Arizona, and 7,500 along the length of California.
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Imperial Spain and later the Nation of Mexico gave these isolated areas little or no protection. They were constantly at war with the Native Americans. Anglo-American settlers began to appear on the scene. Mexican Americans were impressed with the American troops and began to feel secure. They were successful in driving out the Apache tribe from the state of Arizona.
In the 1820’s friction developed between the Mexicans and the Anglo settlers thus culminating in a war. By 1836 the Anglo settlers declared a Republic in Texas which caused resentment in the Mexicans which culminated in a second war. Next, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was drawn up to settle the ongoing dispute. Unfortunately, the line of demarcation, the Rio Grande was not clear enough, and this caused another war. James Gadsden was sent to Mexico city to negotiate new terms which established the Gadsden Purchase which took place in 1853.
After the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, a treaty which guaranteed the rights of Mexicans in Texas and all other ceded territories, there was a rapid loss of Mexican property interest. In fact, between 1840-1860 all Mexican owned land in one particular county, Nueces county, except one ranch was passed into the hands of the Anglo settlers.
In New Mexico, where the mainstay were agriculture and livestock, the relationship between Anglo Americans and Mexicans was not as yet characterized by violence and warfare. By 1900 the area was beginning to undergo some change. Overgrazing, the arrival of the railroad, the consolidation of small holdings into larger ranches, and other exploitative interest began to take its toll. The Mexican traditional village was fighting a losing battle. When the railroad lines broke the isolation that had existed between the east and the remote sections of the Southwest, it spelled economic opportunity for large Anglo enterprises and at the same time forced a large portion of the resident Mexicans into the status of a dependent minority.
The situation which developed in California was a bit complex. In northern California there were rich land owners called rancheros. No one bothered them in fact, Mexico generally ignored them. In 1848 during the Gold Rush quite a few different ethnic groups flooded the country. Anglo miners, about 100,000 a year flooded the area annually. These Anglo miners had no regard for the rancheros and simply regarded them as inferior. When the gold mines became less profitable, the new arrivals turned to agriculture. Within a few years the rancheros lost all economic power in northern California.
In southern California, a generation after the Gold Rush, Mexican rancheros owned the land. The labor force was made up of Native Americans. There were few Anglo settlers, so they were unimportant. About 50 men and their families owned this territory. Meanwhile, racial tension was growing in Los Angeles between Asians, Anglos, Native Americans and Mexicans. The rancheros wanted to split from this segment where tensions were beginning to soar, but questions of sectionalism and slavery arose. Then a flood followed by a two year drought, taxes, and low cattle prices completed the ruin of the area. The final blow however, was the arrival of the railroad. All of these facets contributed to the decline of the Latino-American holdings in the Southwest. By 1900 the Mexican-American majority had become the impoverished minority.
After 1900 it was difficult to ascertain the number of immigrants entering the U. S. because of the great number entering illegally. Because of starvation during the reign of General Diaz, many immigrants were forced to come to the U. S. Immigration continued steadily until about 1929. Basically, this was due to two factors: disruption in Mexico and the expanding demand for agricultural labor in the U.S.
During World War II Mexican Americans were afforded new opportunities. Between 300,000, and 500,000 served in the armed forces. This brought about a renewed sense of political awareness. Labor organizations were active in west coast fields and mines. Consciousness of minority status was exacerbated by the famous “zoot suit” riots of the early 40’s. The struggle for full participation in American life continued throughout the 50’s and 60’s. “Operation Wetback” in the mid 50’s deported hundreds of thousands of Mexican Americans. During this time there were segregated bowling alleys, municipal facilities, and housing for Mexican Americans. The never ending battle continues to this day.
Cuban Americans are the third largest national origin group of Latino descent. Cuba was acquired by the U.S. as a consequence of the Spanish-American War in 1898. Cigar manufacturing brought many Cubans to Key West, Florida and later Tampa. By 1930, there were 18-19,000, Cuban Americans in the U. S. and by 1960, there were approximately 79,000. When Fidel Castro took power in 1959 this number escalated to the point whereby it had reached a total of 273,000 by 1973. The total estimate by now has probably exceeded 800,000.
In the Latino culture there have been women who have overcome adversity and achieved success in all fields. Grace Soto and Virginia Maese, cofounders of the new English-language magazine for Latino women, Latina, established in 1982 are just two of the forerunners. Denise Chavez is also a noted writer, author, and playwright in this contemporary arena.
In the field of entertainment musicians such as Charo, Vicki Carr, and Gloria Estavan are well known and respected artists. In the field of classical music the name Graciela Moreno demands respect.
In the sports arena and in a class by herself, there’s Rosemary Casals.
In Hollywood, home of the silver screen, the name of Rita Moreno is legendary.
The Role of the Asian American Female in the U.S.
When did Asian Americans first arrive in the United States? Well, in the 1770’s the U. S. wanted to strengthen its economic base, so they turned to China following the lead of other European nations. China had silk, tea, furniture, and many other goods. In 1784 the Empress of China set sail en route to China to trade for various commodities. Turning a lucrative profit, other vessels soon followed suit. Between 1794 and 1812 American ships made 400 voyages to China. Asian crewmen were hired for return voyages, so as early as 1785 we see the arrival of Asians in America. These men lived in Maryland and Philadelphia for a year. “There names were Ashing, Achun, and Accun.”
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As time passed, trading ships took Asian Americans to various parts of the Pacific coast of North America. Carpenters and smiths settled on Vancouver Island as early as 1788. Trading ran smoothly for a number of years because all parties were satisfied with their new found increased wealth. At times the Emperor of China insisted that trading countries pay tribute to him. All countries involved in the lucrative trading acquiesced and the Manchu Emperor was happy.
In the mid 19th century however, a series of events culminated in China’s defeat in the Opium War. Britain tried to use opium to offset a trade imbalance which had developed to their disadvantage. Therefore, to gain the silver Britain was transferring into the Chinese economy, it increased Chinese import of the habit-forming drug by only accepting silver as payment. In 1839 shots were fired and the war began.
The Manchu rulers who had controlled China since 1644 were losing power over the empire. The Qing (Ch’ing) Dynasty Manchu ruler was disgraced and humiliated with the loss of the Opium War. “This early negative image would later affect American attitudes toward Asian-American immigrants.”
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During the 1840’s China suffered a number of crises. Crops were ruined by drought and floods, and the people suffered massive starvation and poverty. The Manchu leader sent in militia to squeeze money out of land owners. Because the peasants were hungry and in dire need, they revolted. The most famous of these revolts was the Taiping Rebellion. The leader of the rebellion was Hung Hsiuch’uan, and he felt inspired to lead a fight for what translates as the Heavenly Kingdom. Hung gathered an army of half a million and for 13 years he raised havoc throughout the country. Between 1851 and 1864 20 million Chinese were killed. Because of all the strife which existed in the country, thousands enlisted for work as unskilled laborers and were sent abroad. Some mortgaged farms while others borrowed money from relatives to secure passage to places such as Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, and California. These immigrants accepted one of two labor agreements. The first one was an indentured laborer where the immigrant was placed under contract in a nation which was in need of cheap labor. Some of them were tricked and sold by brokers and fell victim to a system called “pig-selling.” The second agreement was based on the credit-ticket system whereby an immigrant’s ticket was paid by the merchant or company in need of mass labor.
News of the California Gold Rush increased the flow of Asian immigrants into the United States. All of them after arriving in San Francisco, the point of disembarkment, were anxious to see Gam San or the Mountain of Gold. These Asian Americans worked the mines until they were exhausted. Then the immigrants moved to the cities and began to pursue other lines of work.
By the mid 1860’s Asian laborers began to construct the Continental Railroad. Irish crews of the Union Pacific built westward. The Central Pacific which had only a limited number of workers was to build towards the east. With the onslaught of the Civil War there was a major shortage of workers, so the company decided to hire Asians. By the time the railroad was completed 12,000 Asian workers had played a major part in its construction.
Throughout the 1870’s and 1880’s Asian Americans worked diligently and completed projects such as a 6 ft. Ievee around Shuman Island. They excelled in the fields of agriculture and farming. They increased productivity in factories. Asian Americans boosted the cigar industry thereby making California the fourth largest state in productivity. On the down side, the Anti-Chinese movement also began to spread throughout the U. S. during this time.
An anti-Chinese convention was held in California and all kinds of ordinances directed at this particular group were drawn up. Violence broke out and many Asians were attacked and murdered. “The most violent of these clashes was the Snake River Massacre of 1877. Ten miners who were working on a claim in the Snake River in Wallowa County were attacked and murdered by 7 white men, who then took flight with a reported $5,000 to $10,000 in gold dust. The three bandits who were brought to trial were acquitted.”
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In the end the unions won with the passing of the “Chinese Exclusion Act.” Basically, this act suspended immigration.
Between the years 1910-1940 the American government continued to enforce the anti-Chinese policies by detaining them on Angel Island, a small island in the San Francisco Bay. Here they were given lengthy medical exams and then denied admission for some reason or another while other minorities were permitted to enter the country. Because fire destroyed records during the great earthquake of 1906, some Asians were able to get into the country by claiming American citizenship. Once admitted, most immigrants had but one place to live . . . Chinatown. Asian culture began to flourish. Asian Americans formed their own secret societies, district associations, and merchant guilds.
In Confucian China, a well ordered government was sustained by a rigid social order in which everyone had an established role. The masculine (yin) and feminine (yang) roles at first evenly divided in time placed the woman in a position subservient to the man. She was to serve her father when young, serve her husband when married, and serve her son when widowed.
Different treatment of the two sexes began at birth. The Chinese adage, “A boy is born facing in, a girl is born facing out,” meant that sons preserved the sacred family lineage while daughters would be chief benefit to the family into which they married.”
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By the way marriages were arranged by parents, and the bride met the groom for the first time on the wedding day.
During the years when the Asian men worked in the mining camps prostitution and the use of slave girls was at an all time high. One woman known as “Lo Mo” or Cameron fought tirelessly to liberate these young women. She was the Harriet Tubman of her people.
During the 1920’s Asian American men were able to send for their wives. Once here, the wives ventured into the work force and helped to supplement the family income. They worked in laundries, factories, hotels, and fish markets. They worked long hours and usually 6 days a week. Sometimes even the children were put to work.
In examining the role of contemporary Asian American women we find quite a few outstanding role models. During the silent movie era as far back as 1920 and up to 1960 Anna May Wong, born in Los Angeles Chinatown, was a successful box office star who appeared in over 100 films. Her first role was “The Thief of Baghdad” in 1924. Another actress of great prominence was Pilar Seurat. She was cast in numerous polynesian roles during the early 60’s. Another popular actress was and still is Nancy Kwan. She is most noted for her role opposite William Holden in “The World of Suzie Wong.”
In the field of literature Sui Sin Fah was the first writer to express the true voices of early Asian pioneers. In her Exclusion Era writing, she wrote short stories with realistic characters. Her work was published by the California magazine
Land of Sunshine
. Other noted authors are Jade Snow Wong, author of
Fifth Chinese Daughter
(1945), and Virginia Lee, author of
The House That Tai Minq Built
(1963). Diana Chang, a New York novelist and poet, teaches at Barnard College and is one of the most widely published Asian writers. She is the author of
The Frontier of Love
(1956)
A Woman of Thirty
,
A Passion for Life
,
The Only Game in Town
, and
Eye to.Eye
. Nellie Wong, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Fay Chiang, Laureen Mar, and Kitty Tsui can be added to the ranks of Asian poets which continues to grow.
In the field of art Dora Fugh Lee began to display her talent at the tender age of 11. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her family and has received over 30 awards for watercolors and sculpture.
In the field of dance Yen Lu Wong presented her Golden Mountain in Jolla, California.
Chien-Shiun Wu won the nobel prize for proving the Yang-Lee theory. She was also the first woman to receive the Cyrus B. Comstock Award of the National Academy of Sciences.
In mass media Suzanne Joe and Connie Chung have gained recognition and prominence. Chung was the first Asian to anchor regional network news.
Seattle tennis pro, Amy Yee, earned a large number of titles including number one rankings in women’s singles in 1951 and 1954.
Introducing Toni, Denise, and Maxine
Let’s now focus on the lives of the three women authors. The first author is Toni Morrison. She was born in 1931 in Lorain, Ohio and was named Chloe Anthony Wofford. She was married to Harold Morrison in 1958 and divorced in 1964. She has two sons.
Ms. Morrison received a B.A. from Howard University in 1953 and a M.A. from Cornell University in 1955. She has taught at a number of universities including Texas Southern, Howard, State University of New York at Purchase, at Albany, and Princeton.
Morrison has received numerous awards and honors. In 1975 for
Sula
she received the National Book Award nomination and the Ohioana Book Award. For
Song of Solomon
she received the National Book Critics Circle Award and American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award. For
Beloved
she received the National Book Award nomination, the National Book Critics Circle Award nomination, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and the Robert F. Kennedy Award.
Her works include
The Bluest Eye
,
Sula
,
The Black Book
,
Song of Solomon
,
Tar Baby
,
Beloved
, and a play “Dreaming Emmett.”
Denise Chavez was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico on August 15, 1948. Her father, E.E., was an attorney, and her mother, Delfina, was a teacher. She married Daniel Zolinsky, a photographer and sculptor in 1984.
Chavez received a B.A. from New Mexico State University 1971. In 1974 she received a M.F.A. from Trinity University in San Antonio Texas. She also received a M A. in Politics in 1984 from the University of New Mexico.
Chavez has taught at Northern New Mexico Community College, the University of Houston, and has been an instructor at the American School of Paris. She has also been involved in a number of theatre projects and workshops.
Denise Chavez has received numerous awards for her contributions. She received the New Mexican State University Best Play Award in 1970 for “The Wait.” She received the Steele Jones Fiction Award in 1986 for
The Last of the Menu Girls
In 1979-80, 1981, and 1988 she received grants from New Mexico Art Division. In 1981 she received an award from Donna Ana Human Services Consortium. In 1981 & 82 she received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1984 she was given a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Chavez ’s writings include
The Last of the Menu Girls
,
Face of an Angel
,
Dear Juanita
,
Rio Grande
,
Family
,
The Red Dress
, and
Life is a Two-Way Street
, a poetry anthology. In addition to these words she has written about 20 plays.
Maxine Hong Kingston was born in Stockton, California in 1940. Maxine was the first of six children born to Tom and Ying Lan {Chew} Hong. Maxine’s namesake was a lucky blond who frequented a gambling establishment where her father worked.
Maxine experienced difficulty in school in her earlier years, but she soon triumphed and began to earn straight A’s. As a result of her resilience she received 11 scholarships. She attended the University of California at Berkeley. She graduated with a B.A. in 1962 in English literature.
One of Maxine’s classmates at the university was Earl Kingston who was an actor. They both shared an enjoyment for the theatre. They married in 1962. They taught at various high schools throughout the 60’s and 70’s. With the success of
The Woman Warrior
however, Maxine was finally able to give up her teaching career.
Maxine’s tributes include the Mademoiselle Magazine Award for
The Woman Warrior
(1977), the National Education Association Award (1977), the Anisfield-Wolf Race Relations Award (1978), the American Book Award for general nonfiction for
China Men
(1981), the Stockton Arts Commission Award (1981), the Asian/Pacific Women’s Network Woman of the Year Award (1981), and the Hawaii Writers Award (1983).
Maxine’s works include
Tripmaster Monkey
,
Woman Warrior
, and
China Men
.