At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943
Erika Lee
(Author)
Description
With the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese laborers became the first group in American history to be excluded from the United States on the basis of their race and class. This landmark law changed the course of U.S. immigration history, but we know little about its consequences for the Chinese in America or for the United States as a nation of immigrants. At America's Gates is the first book devoted entirely to both Chinese immigrants and the American immigration officials who sought to keep them out. Erika Lee explores how Chinese exclusion laws not only transformed Chinese American lives, immigration patterns, identities, and families but also recast the United States into a "gatekeeping nation." Immigrant identification, border enforcement, surveillance, and deportation policies were extended far beyond any controls that had existed in the United States before.
Drawing on a rich trove of historical sources--including recently released immigration records, oral histories, interviews, and letters--Lee brings alive the forgotten journeys, secrets, hardships, and triumphs of Chinese immigrants. Her timely book exposes the legacy of Chinese exclusion in current American immigration control and race relations.
Product Details
Price
$48.88
Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Publish Date
May 19, 2003
Pages
352
Dimensions
6.38 X 9.14 X 0.93 inches | 1.23 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780807854488
BISAC Categories:
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Become an affiliateAbout the Author
Erika Lee is the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants who entered the United States through both Angel Island and Ellis Island. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. She teaches history at the University of Minnesota, where she is also the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History and Director of the Immigration History Research Center. She is the author of The Making of Asian America, Angel Island (with Judy Yung), and At America's Gates.
Reviews
"Lee addresses a multiplicity of issues and deftly weaves together several themes that, in the past, had been treated separately."
"Makes a very significant contribution to both Asian American history and to U.S. immigration history. The amount of research that went into this book is prodigious."
-- Sucheng Chan, University of California, Santa Barbara
Makes a very significant contribution to both Asian American history and to U.S. immigration history. The amount of research that went into this book is prodigious. (Sucheng Chan, University of California, Santa Barbara)
"Lee has authored a masterful book, well written and based on extensive research in both English and Chinese sources."
-- "American Historical Review"
"Makes a very significant contribution to both Asian American history and to U.S. immigration history. The amount of research that went into this book is prodigious."
-- Sucheng Chan, University of California, Santa Barbara
Makes a very significant contribution to both Asian American history and to U.S. immigration history. The amount of research that went into this book is prodigious. (Sucheng Chan, University of California, Santa Barbara)
"Lee has authored a masterful book, well written and based on extensive research in both English and Chinese sources."
-- "American Historical Review"