9781422277416

13

Getting Here

stated a racist newspaper column in 1853. After slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, some Chinese workers took over jobs that had once primarily belonged to African slaves. For example, Chinese men often worked as domestic servants.

Often, the only jobs Chinese workers could find involved difficult,

WhereWere theWomen?

Almost all early Chinese emigrants were young men. In 1850, approximately 4,000 Chinese men lived in San Francisco, but just seven Chinese women lived there. In the male- dominated Chinese society of the time, men ruled the household and provided income. Women did

not travel far from the home. In fact, many could not even walk very far due to the practice of foot binding, which has since ended. At the time, tiny feet were seen as a mark of great beauty, but a bound foot could not grow or carry weight properly. However, some Chinese women did make it to America. In fact, the very first Chinese person known to have come to the United States was a woman named Afong Moy. But she wasn’t here freely. Two businessmen brought her over in 1834 to put her on display. Shockingly, people paid 50 cents to see her bound feet, watch her use chopsticks, and listen to her speak Chinese. Decades later, Chinese women living in the United States still aroused curiosity. In rural areas of the Wild West, white neighbors used to call any Chinese woman “China Mary.” One “China Mary” worked as a fisher, hunter, prospector, cook, laundry operator, and more in Canada. Another owned a restaurant in Arizo- na. And a third outlived three husbands and died at the age of 100 in Wyoming.