Thank you for joining us. Yesterday there were taxicab issues, subway issues, who knows what well have. I am a visiting professor at the university of saskatchewan where it was about 25 degrees warmer when i left than it is in washington, d. C. Saskatoon is 300 miles north of the montana border. It is way up there and on the great plains of canada, spectacularly beautiful place, of course since it is 25 degrees warmer than washington, and which we know has always been in the south part of the United States, it just shows there is absolutely no Global Climate change going on whatsoever, that is just so it is going to be. [laughter] it is a delight to be here and a delight to be interviewing people on this symposium. When we had our last conference, chuck and i sat down with Jillian Berkowitz who is also here from Ohio University press because she publishes the books that come out of the series, we sat down and talked about what we should do next year and we thought, well, lets go a little bit off of the chronology because we had been doing civil war and reconstruction into the lead up to the war for about a decade and we needed a break. I said, immigration is always an interesting issue. Little did we know how interesting emigration would he best immigration how interesting immigration would be in the next 12 months. So i want to thank all of the current political candidates and for making this conference into a handmade even more relevant and important conference than we had thought it would be. But as one of our participants told us yesterday, immigration as always an important topic. That is the same. From the beginning of the United States, indeed, from the very first settlement of the colonies until this morning or tomorrow morning, immigration is always on the agenda of america as a number of historians have said in various ways, the history of immigration is the history of the United States and i think that is especially true for today and it is also, of course, essentially important to congressional policy because immigration, since the adoption of the constitution, has been an issue that is an entirely in the that is entirely in the hands of the federal government. Before 1808, some dispute will , congress has been active. Hundreds of immigration statutes passed by congress in various ways although most of them are long forgotten and obscure and even hard to find in the statute books. Our first speaker today is andrew gyory, he has had an interesting career. He has a phd in American History and will be talking about his book, his work on the chinese exclusion act. But andrew has also been a press editor and that is a sign of University Presses and academic presses. If your editor calls, you get the persons name because they rotate in and out. I am going to turn the podium over to our first speaker and let andrew come up and talk about the chinese exclusion act. Andrew hello. By way of introduction, i am not sure people are aware, may 6 is the exact anniversary of the chinese exclusion act act. It was signed by president Chester Arthur 134 years ago today. When i was writing my dissertation book, i looked at the 10 worst flaws in American History. The slave act, alien act, sedition act, chinese exclusion act is up there in the top 10. It was, as people do know, the first law of the United States passed banning any group of people from the United States based on race or ethnicity or nationality and it served as the precedent for every antiimmigration law then passed in the early 1900s and 1920s specifically and it set the precedent for that. What i want to talk about is the cultural issues on chinese immigration. Chinese immigration began coming to American Cities largely because of the gold rush in california. Most living in the west coast in the late 19th century. Chinese immigrants, Chinese Culture was all over the press. You could see chinese images and in magazines, in books, in songs. I want to talk today about how what americans saw of chinese immigrants. ,eep in mind that at this time in the late 1800s, very few of the americans, white americans or anglo americansver came into contact with chinese immigrants. The vast majority, 9598 , lived in california. If you are east of the rockies, with the exception of very small chinatowns in new york and washington, most americans never encounter Chinese People or chinese immigrants. So it makes the image they received in Popular Culture that much more significant, because they had no other information to balance it against. A chief appeared in a single this was the forerunner of many to follow. I say, boys, who imported him here . We do not want that breed in these states. Of course we do not, get rid of those poison cusses. Dont you know you chinamen are invading the paradise never for you have got to bounce. No bouncy, the son of confucius declared. Go where he please. I will because, it you flats new they cried savagely. He sprang forward and seized the offending chief mercilessly. Bring a rope, boys, and we will have a big. It was down in the rough code that a china men was not it for anything else but to hang. At once, wyoming, a gun cattle driver into the dime novel hero, approach. What are you going to do it that there chinaman, old man . Hang him. Maybe you have something to chip in. Maybe i have, they hero hero declared. What was he doing . Nothing. Positively nothing. What are you going to do about it my young gobbler . I am going to persuade you to drop all notion. He quickly whipped out a pair of revolvers. Take your hands off that china man and let him go or i will put a semicolon between your eyes. A murmur of disapproval came from the crowd. A pretty mistress approached with a pair of silver mounted revolvers in her hands. By the way, everyone in dime novels carries weapons. Approaching with a pair of silver mounted revolvers, the young hero whene says she will blow the head off whoever shoots. You dont run this here town and aint got no say in this matter. Well i do say it and i mean it. The young stranger is right. You citizens have no more right to lay hands on the celeste deal celestial than solid sam has to rock the stagecoach. Let the pigtail go, boy, and you will sleep better for not hanging him tonight. These words seem to have an immediate effect for the men who restored their weapons to their belts and the chief was permitted to go on his way. The chinese immigrant exits the the novel and is never heard from again. In incidental character, he helped introduce a major care caricature and established conflict between the others. What is remarkable about this scene is not that the chief speaks in demeaning dialect or as portrayed in stereotyped that he was used to separate the good and bad characters. That was par for the course in gilded age Popular Culture. What is striking is that the chinese immigrant was used as a plot device to separate the good characters, wyoming and knobby nails from the bad characters, black f and his fellow minors. Fellow miners. The good care errors defend the miners, the bad ones want to kill them and kick them out of the country. When this dime novel was published in 1880, the United States was on the verge of passing the chinese exclusion act, the first law ever in a immigrants from race or nationality from entering the United States and becoming citizens. The rhetoric echoed in the Nations Capital in the year of exclusion stands out. The chinese immigrant, declared one congressman in washington, is a love some, revolting when stress of the who sleeps like tax of dogs in kennels. They spread mildew and route through the community remarked at another. These filthy aliens are unfitted by religious superstition and inborn prejudices from assuming any of the duties of american citizenship. Senator john jones concluded, we oppose the chinese coming here because our sturdy, area entry will wither in route, trunk, and branch, if this be permitted to wend its way around it. This vitriol spewed from both republicans and democrats in the u. S. Capital and americans and countered it different and more complicated, even contradict ory image in Popular Culture. Certain aspects of the chinese character or could be negative, other aspects were consistent and uniform, particularly his visual appearance. Diminutive, slender, flat features. His yellow skin varied from all to gold to the color of milk. Copper colored, pumpkin colored, discolored. More distinctive than skin color are facial features. No cliche appeared more often in physically describing the almond immigrant than eyes. The hairstyle also received attention. Every chinese immigrant has long black hair, often gaily ornamented with ribbons. Like almond eyes and skin color, these distinguished chinese from all other immigrants. Unless shut off by hoodlums or in a gunfire, no chinese character ever appears without it. His pigtail stands erect through fright. A book cartoon pictured a misshapen young china men chinaman wearing a cue ornamented with firecrackers and in place of ribbons. John and John Chinaman were ubiquitous terms in the 19th century, pervading Popular Culture like sambo for a black man. John was shorthand for an immigrant, suggesting an anonymous, faceless chinese man, each interchangeable with another. What was the john like . Above all else, greedy for gold and money and would do any ink do anything for a net goal or quarter. One man said, wherever there is a quarter to make, you can bet your butts the chinese immigrant is on hand to make it. Avarice and greed are by no means unusual or negative qualities in Chinese Culture. The dime novels, what distinguished the chinese or was character was his singleminded lust for money to the exclusion of all else bound by neither conscience nor christ, the chinese would murder, steel, and lie in the would murder, steal, and lie in the quest for gain. I would not trust one on an oath, these yellow dogs lie in their sleep said one. I do trust my old goat, hambone, said another. These were notorious and dangerous gamblers. Scene after scene depicted them playing cards and cheating. That is just the way with one of those almondeyes galoots. He would steal a buzzards eyes lashes and sell them for toothpicks. Speed enabled the chinese to evade detection. Hocuspocus, silently as a ghost. This theory, supernatural quality makes the reader or suspicious, uncertain, never sure when a chinese character will appear or when is lurking about. As one observes, these chinese thieves would steal the lashes off a dogs eyes while he sleeps and the cover would never know he was there. Inscrutable, shrewd, cunning. Cunning and craftiness, like avarice and deceit are portrayed as inborn chinese characteristics. Call back the history of the intercourse of the western nations with the socalled barbarians of the east, a fortuneteller remarks in Rocky Mountain rod. The east has always beaten the west and wielded to the strong right arm of power. The story of the past will be repeated. Chinese cunning as portrayed through one predominant facial expression. The grin. Nearly every chinese character is presented grinning. Sometimes he displays a sickly grin. Sometimes a benevolent grin. Some are goodnatured, others crafty. Characters are introduced as the grinning men go in, the grinning little china men, like the cheshire cat, the grin is almost a fixed feature of the chinese face. Whatever happened, the chinaman grinned as usual. More than 30 dime novels made sure to note it. The most stage direction for chinese characters in place. Authors use the grin to in fanta infantalize the chinese. He smiled at the table, written in a poem, a smile that was childlike and bland. This phrase entered common usage in the 1870s and frequently was the initial description of any chinese care are. Chinese character. Not only were they described as but also feminine with faces smooth and soft. Wretched parodies of men. The infantilism asian and in emasculation of the chinese contributed to their image is as physically truncated, not as quite male, not quite adult. Such irresponsible, childlike people would deserve neither citizenship nor the vote. But the attack went deeper. Not only were they denied it and had, but also humanity. He chinese are frequently compared to animals. They are called piggish, wolfish, eellike. Most insidious are the connections to insects. Insects and rodents. In this illustration from mcgees illustrated weekly in 1881, the chinese are coming across as insects. They are in the shape of the United States coming across. One t [indiscernible] the chinese are being portrayed as grasshoppers. One character is compared to a lively flea. The others are coming out of their huts like ants on a hill. The most peculiar transmogrified ,f all, they are what they eat cats, rats, and mice. Typically pictured eating rodents or felines, playwrights delighted showing them consuming these creatures or having characters attempt to them with attempt to fricasee rats. The image of rateater and mouseeater also pervaded the world of advertisement. A chinese man with mouth open wide, poised to consume a rat appeared on a poison label for rats. Another, for an exterminator. Products were named after them. A company had a product called the chinese rat destroyer. They devour it eagerly, the advertisement boasted, confusing and combining rateater and rats. One chinese character was even named rats. In one astonishing cartoon, a chinese immigrant ship approaches america, the chinese jump off, the boat is rats on the far right. They arrive in america as men. They are pictured simultaneously as rodent and human, metamorphosing seemingly at will. Etween the two these graphic images of the chinese as quasihuman reflect the appetite of politicians in washington, perhaps again, in this room, who no doubt lend support to those seeking to exclude them from american shores and deny them citizenship. The picture presented is far from complete will stop. Americans received other images the grinning and cunning chinese archetype from becoming allconsuming. Mixed in with a negative imagery were humans, nobles, and admirable chinese characters and the common stereotype. Dime novelists revealed a split personality. In description, they feared in action, chinese individuals appeared positive and strong. They possessed enviable qualities. They could even emerge as he roes and champions. Focusing on the negative images and shocking or trails would distort the total picture, the total portrait americans encountered. The few historians who have examined the chinese immigrant a in Popular Culture have overlooked them in the dime novel. Claiming they rarely appeared as characters, they remained hidden and the archives for over a century. But a careful reading of dime novels reveals a rich trove of chinese figures. Playing a key role in the nations unfolding history. Sometimes they are genuine saviors. In the 1880 novel, the curse of blood, the chinese immigrant is the center protagonist, appearing on the front cover brandishing a pistol. The novel opens in colorado where a young white woman is traveling to the Rocky Mountains to live with relatives. Accompanying her is her helper and escort, ah sin. On their journey through the rockies, and outlaw holt at the stagecoach and attempt to kidnap you. Sin buyers into the air and foils plot. They continue onward to their new home in the rockies where they settle in with ediths uncle and aunt, both of whom the reader soon learns are fanatic christian religious nuts. Ah sin befriends their daughter and in one of the most lurid scenes involving a Chinese Culture in all of Popular Culture, he leads her to a cave and teaches her to pray to an idol. When her father discovers this, he emits a yell of insane fury and seizes ah sin with his wife urging him to kill him. He beats him and the whipping continues edith interpose as her body between them and orders her uncle to stop. He puts the lash down but remains unsatisfied. A few days later, he concocts a plot to frame the chinese immigrant of murder. The chinese immigrant is arrested and tried and due to the strong prejudice against him, is convicted and sentenced to death. As the novelist explains, a heathen chinese accused was a heathen chinese in guilt it. While he languishes in jail, he convinces some friends to rescue them which is easy to do because they believe they are going to lynch him. The next scene finds edith alone in the woods. Suddenly the outlaw leaps out, seizes her, and threatens to rape her. Edith stands petrified in the moonlight. Then at that very moment, coming she knew not whence, little ah sin appeared at her with a cocked revolver leveled at his heart. Remembering his words, the jack jumps back. He had had one taste of little ah sins metal, and the other was a scare but he believed this one was business. He runs away. A sobbing edith throws her arms around her protector. He without fear called all of the hands of the ranch about him, firing off his revolver and as the novel ends, ah sin proudly tells everyone out twice by himself he had fought off off the rockys mountains most notorious outlaw. Ah sin is an unlikely hero. He possesses many of the common chinese stereotypes. He wears a pay tail pigtail, demeaning accent, diminutive, almondeyed, sickly yellow, forever smiling, with the blandness for which his countrymen are noted. Yet, he is bold, brave, regularly armed, and handles weapons deftly. Despite being quote, a heathen chinese who prays not to a god but a wooden image, he had human feelings as keen as any of us. To whom his god was as deer and reverend as was the uncles to him. Contrasted with the rigid fanaticism of the uncle stands the tolerance of ah sin, who seem to to have none of this edithous prejudice. Says, i would pit his paganism against the christianity any day. The novelist clearly wants the audience to commiserate with ah sin. The worked in evil characters loathe him, while the good and decent love him. Like the chiefy chingo, he helps to right wrongs. With the immigrant on the side of justice. Amid the background of antichinese racism, ah sin emerges as a hero. A veritable heathe