Subj: JRNL: Chinese American family history
Fellow H-Ethnic members:
A while back I subscribed to H-ethnic, but chose not to
submit a short bio. Now is a better time for that, and to
request help, advice, sources, and other suggestions for the
dissertation research that I am embarking on here at the
University of Minnesota. This research concerns the history of
the Chinese American family from the 1890s through to the 1950s
or 60s. During this period of time, the population of Chinese in
America and Chinese Americans changed from being predominantly
male in the 1890s to more normalized sex ratios and family
demographics in the late 50s and early 60s.
The history of the Chinese American family was deeply
impacted by Exclusion laws restricting immigration, by a wide
assortment of state laws impacting the social and economic growth
of the Chinese community in America, by American concepts of a
national identity, racial and miscegenation laws, illegal
immigration, WWI and WWII, the Communist Revolution in China, the
Black Freedom Movement, and the protestant missionary movement in
this country and abroad - among other factors. At this point in
time, useful sources for this project will be INS immigration
nterviews, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series developed
by Dr. Ruggles at the University of Minnesota, the Asian American
Oral Archives developed at UCLA's Asian American center, the
Chinese Historical Society, and of course the pioneering work
done in Asian and Chinese immigration history by Paul Siu,
Sucheng Chan, Him Mark Lai, Judy Yung, Bill Ong Hing, Charles and
Laurene Wu MCClain, Timothy Tseng, John Tchen, Roger Daniels, and
many others.
I will draw on concepts of the family developed not only
within the sub-field of family history, but also from within
mmigration history, labor history, and Chinese history. I
anticipate finding the Chinese American family, despite its
strained beginnings in this country, to be a source of tremendous
community strength, cultural persistence, and social and
individual identity, though not necessarily a place for political
or cultural conservatism within the ethnic community. I read and
speak Chinese, and will bring Chinese community newspapers and
other Chinese language resources into the investigation.
As mentioned at the beginning, I would appreciate
whatever help or advice might be offered in terms of potential
primary resources, or critical bibliography, or anything else you
might have to say. Thanks, -=Rick=-
Rick McKinney
Department of History 1321 Montclaire Ct.
niversity of Minnesota and Appleton, WI 54915
mcki0023@gold.tc.umn.edu mcki0023@dataex.com
Tel: 414-830-2226