Anti-Chinese Sentiment
Dating backing to the early 1900s, shortly after many Chinese immigrants came to America, the Anti-Chinese sentiment manifested. Chinese migrant workers were exposed to prejudice on an everyday basis and referred to as “coolies.” This term describes a low-wage labor worker. Many Americans weren’t happy about Chinese immigrants working in America, and they developed the ideology that Chinese immigrants came to America to steal job opportunities from others. During this period, the phrase “yellow peril” was popularized in U.S. newspapers as it depicted people of East and Southeast Asian descent as a danger or threat to the Western world. Below is an example of the U.S. newspapers published during the Chinese exclusion era.
On February 10, 1902, The Washington Post published an article from one of its journalists, James H. Rea. This derogatory article believed unrestricted Chinese immigration was unpopular. Rea thought that Chinese immigration causes corruption within American society. They were not fond of being introduced to foreign elements like various philosophies, religions, and economics. Chinese immigrants that came to America didn’t want to change or assimilate aspects of their own culture, attending Sunday school. The author also viewed mixed-race children of Chinese immigrants as physically and mentally weak and can’t accomplish anything. This article demonstrates rampant racism against Chinese immigration, the difficulty for these people in America, and how Anti-Chinese views affected those in mixed-race families.
The Transnational Story of Mae Watkins and Tiam H. Franking
Mae Watkins and Tiam H. Franking were an interracial (Chinese and White) couple who married in 1912 that endured racism. The pair were students at the University of Michigan, and as soon as news of their union broke out, it led to a local scandal and tragedy. Following their wedding, many news outlets like the Ann Arbor Times, Grand Rapids Herald, and Detroit Free Press created stories filled with racist undertones surrounding the marriage. The couple withdraws from the university because of the controversy. It took a step further when the Chinese Exclusion laws stripped Watkins of her U.S. citizenship. The Marital Expatriation Act of 1907 mandated that women should only have the same citizenship as their husbands. They moved to Shanghai, and Watkins became a citizen in the Republic of China. The pair went on to have children and managed to come back to the U.S. in 1918, shortly after they both passed away. Professor Emma Teng of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology featured this couple in her book, “Eurasian: Mixed Identities in the United States, China, and Hong Kong, 1842–1943.”
Social Identity & The “one-drop rule”
In both the United States and China, many mixed-race families would try to hide or deny their racial background during this period. Some mixed-race children would try to pass off as only white and others only Chinese. The perceived legal and social notions of citizenship in both countries differed. In the United States, there was the “one-drop rule” that mandated a racial hierarchy for mixed-race people, in which their racial identity was the racial background with the lowest social class status. It was challenging for mixed-race people to self-identify their race. In China, its notion of nationality and citizenship is based solely on patrilineal descent. If an individual’s father is Chinese, then they’re considered Chinese. If vice-versa happens, then the individual is non-Chinese. The story of Mae Watkins and Tiam H. Franking gives a transnational example of a mixed-race family during a time of racial exclusions from both the U.S. and China.