Through ellis island with a name tag on that said vus, so all the desce descendants were called theis. Thats how he got his new name in the new country. Yes. Thank you all very much. [ applause ] everyone who can will join us tomorrow morning. Its going to be in the Russell Senate office building, and the instructions are on the piece of yellow flyer outside. Look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Things in cleveland are getting back to normal now that the Republican National convention has come to an end. Donald trump and his campaign were still in the city as early as friday for an event where we heard the president ial nominee talk about what occurred over the last four days. Including the decision by texas senator ted cruz not to endorse him at the convention. Honestly, he may have ruined his political career. I feel so badly. I feel so badly. You know, hell come and endorse in the next little while. Because he has no choice, but i dont want his endorsement. What difference does it make . I dont want his endorsement. I dont want his endorsement. Ted, stay home. Relax, enjoy yourself. Just a couple of things. I knew his speech. They gave me his speech. I saw exactly what his speech was because when you go up to speak, you have to give your speech. You know, we dont want surprises. So they gave it. They came to me. They said, its a boring speech, mr. Trump. Nothing good. He congratulates you on the victory, and heres the speech. Well, he got up and in the first two sentences, he added a sentence. In other words, he got up and he added a sentence. Which could have been viewed as a nasty thing in terms of what he said. Because he was implying something which is wrong, but thats okay. So he took his speech, and youre bound by that speech. Just like youre bound by the pledge. Right . Youre bound by the pledge. So ted cruz took his speech that was done, was on the teleprompter, said hello, then made a statement that wasnt on the speech, and then went back to his speech. See, to me, thats dishonorable. To me, not signing a pledge is dishonorable. Okay. Its dishonorable. Not a nice thing to do. The president ial race moves forward now with the Democrats Holding their convention in philadelphia next week. Just like the gop convention, well have every minute of the fourday event live on cspan. You can also view video on demand at cspan. Org. Cspan makes it easy for you to keep up with all the latest convention developments with the vcspan radio app, available as a Free Download from the Apple App Store or google play. Get audio as well as Schedule Information about important speeches and events. Get cspan on the go with the cspan radio app. Next, on American History tv, author andrew gyory explores the origins of the chinese exclusion act and how Popular Culture helped shape negative chinese stereotypes throughout the late 19th century. The lecture is part of a twoday symposium on the history of immigration. Its about 50 minutes. Thank you, chuck. Before i go further, i want to acknowledge the codirector emeritus, don canon who this conference would not be same without don. Im glad hes here to give us stability and historical memory. And thank you all for coming. I know some of you had subway issues today and yesterday there were taxicab issues and who knows what we will have. Im visiting professor at the University Saskatchewan in sas cutoon, where it was about 25 degrees warmer when i left than it is in washington, d. C. And this proves obviously in case you dont know, saskatoon is about 300 miles north of the montana border, way up there. And on the great plains of canada, spectacularly beautiful place. Since its 25 degrees warmer than washington, which as we all know has always been in the south part of the United States, it just shows theres absolutely no Global Climate change going on whatsoever. Its just how its going to be. And anyway, its a delight to be here and delight to be introducing people for this symposium. I have to say that about a year ago when we had our last conference, chuck and i sat down and with Jillian Berkowitz here from Ohio University press because she publishes the books that come out of these series, we sat down and talked about what should we do next year. We thought, lets go a little bit off of the chronology because we had been doing civil war and reconstruction and the lead up to the civil war for now more than a decade. And we thought we needed a break. And i said, well, immigration is always an interesting issue. And little did we know how interesting immigration would be in the next 12 months. So i want to thank all of the current political candidates and no longer running political candidates for making this conference into an even more relevant and important conference than we thought it would be. As one of our concert participants told me yesterday, immigration is always an important topic and i think that is indeed the theme of this conference that from the very 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 centrally true for today and it is also of course centrally important to congressional policy because immigration since the adoption of the constitution has been an issue entirely in the hands of the federal government, at least after 1808. Theres some dispute before that and congress has been very active there, have been literally 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 had an interesting year, he has an ph. D. In American History and hell be talking about his book, his work on the chinese exclusion act, but andrew has also been a press editor and indeed was my editor at one point in our careers, and that i think is a sign of University Presses and academic presses. If your editor calls you get the persons name because they rotate in and out. Im going to turn the podium over to our first speaker. And let andrew come up and talk to us about the chinese exclusion act. You are here somewhere, andrew. Yes. Hello, by way of introduction, im not sure if people are aware today, may 6th, is the exact anniversary of the chinese exclusion act. It was signed by president Chester Arthur on may 6th, 1882, 134 years ago today. When i was writing my dissertation in book, i made a list at one point of the ten worst laws in American History. Fugitive slave act, alien act, chinese exclusion act is definitely somewhere up there in the top ten. And it was just so people do know, the first law the United States passed banning any group of people from the United States based on race or ethnicity or nationality. And it kind of served as the precedent for every antiimmigration law that was then passed in the early 1900s and 1920s specifically. And it set the precedent for that. So today what i want to talk about is the cultural issues on chinese immigration. Chinese immigrants began coming to america in large numbers in the 1850s, largely as a result of the gold rush in california, most were living on the west coast in the late 19th century. And chinese immigrants, Chinese Culture was all over the press. You can see chinese images in magazines and in books and in songs. I want to talk about how what americans saw of chinese immigrants and keep in mind that at this time, meaning the late 1800s, very few americans, white americans or angloamericans ever came in contact with chinese immigrants, the vast majority, 95 to 98 lived in california or the western states. If you were east of the rockies with the exception of very small little chinatowns in new york and couple in washington, most americans never encountered Chinese People or chinese immigrants. It makes the image they received in Popular Culture that much more significant because they had no other information to balance it against. So. Chingo appeared in a single scene in the 1880 novel, the boy wrote agent or the branded browse. Evident it was this precise pig tail was the forerunner of more to follow and a murmur of disgust wend around the crowd. A gold earn chinaman, grunted one miner. Who imported him here . We dont want none of that breed here in these parts. Get rid of those poison cusses, thats the talk, see here you chinaman, dont you know youre invading a paradise never intended for pigtails and such. You got to bounce. Chingo, no bouncy, the son of confucious declared, chinaman liky, go where he please. You darned almond eyed flat snooted sucker and sprang forward and seized the chief by the collar and yanked him around. Bring a rope and well have a picnic. A dozen miners hurried away in quest of the desired halter, for it was down in their rough code that a chinaman was not fit for anything else but to hang. At once wyoming walt, a young cattle driver in the novels hero approaches. Hello, his flashing lights took in the scene. What are you going to with that there china man . Hang him by thunder. Maybe you have lip to chip in against it. Maybe i have. The herder declared cooly. Whats the celestial been doing you want to send him up . Nothing, positively nothing he replied. What are you going to do about it my young gobbler . Im going to persuade you to abandon all notion of stringing up the chinaman, the young herder replied, quickly ripping out a pair of revolvers from his belt and clocking them. Take your hands off the chinaman and let him go or ill put a semicolon between your eyes quicker than a kitten can say catechi catechism. The celestial dont deserve to be hung or molested. This is a free country and everybody has a right to go where they please. Murmur of disapproval came from the crowd. As they escalate their dispute over whether to lynch the chinese immigrant, a sudden diversion appears. Knobby nel, the pretty post mistress, approaching with a pair of silver mounted revolvers in her hands. By the way, everyone in dime novels is armed. Everyone carries weapons. Approaching with a pair of silver mounted revolvers, the young heroine shouts, ill blow the head off the pilgrim who offers the harm to pigtail or the herder. She aint got no say in this matter. I do say say and i do mean it. The young stranger is right. You citizens have no more right to lay hands on the celestial than solid sam has to rob the stagecoach. Let the pigtail go, boys, and youll sleep better for not hanging him tonight. These words seem to have an immediate effect for the men mostly restored weapons to their belts and chiefy chingo was permitted to go on his way. The chinese immigrant is never heard from again. In incidental character he helped introduce one major protagonist and establish conflict between the others. What is remarkable not that he speaks in demeaning dialect or portrayed in stereotype fashion, as quote, almond eyed and pigtailed. 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 walt and knobby nell from the bad characters. Black f and his fellow miners. The good characters defend the chinese immigrants and the bad ones want to kill him and kick him 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 enacted barring a group of immigrants based on race or nationality from entering the United States or becoming citizens. The antichinese rhetoric mouthed by politicians in the Nations Capital in the era of exclusion stands out. The chinese immigrant declared one congressman in washington is a loathsome monstrosity who lives and herds and sleeps like packs of dogs in kennel and spread mildew and rot and filthy aliens are unfitted by education, habits, religious superstition, and by their inborn prejudices to assume any of the duties of american citizenship. As senator john jones of nevada concluded, we oppose the chinese coming here because our sturdy arian tree will wither in root, trun trunk, and branch if this noxious vine be permitted to entwine itself around it. Is this onslaught of antichinese vit rheeal spewed forth from democrats and republicans in the u. S. Capital, from all i know, it could be right in this room, americans encountered a different and more complicated, even contradictory image in Popular Culture. While certain aspects of the chinese character could vary in negative to positive. Others were consistent in uniform, particularly his visual appearance. He is diminutive, excellenter, and has flat, homely features. By the way, this is filled with quotati quotations. Ill do one of these so you know. His yellow skin varied from olive to gold to the color of coffee and milk. Hes alternately copper colored or pumpkin colored or simply discolored. More distinctive than skin color are facial features. No cliche appeared more often than almond eyed. In physically describing the chinese immigrant. And the alman eyed chinaman became almost an indivisible phrase. The chinese hair style receives attention. Every chinese immigrant wears a cue of long black hair, often gayly ornamented with ribbons. Like almond eyes and skin color, they distinguish the chinese from all other immigrants. Why are the chinese like good actors, one character jokes . Because they always take their cues. Unless cut off by hoodlums or shot off in gun fight, they never appear without their cue. Theyre open game for ridicule. In the case of the easily terrified wasing, his very pigtail disposition to stand erect through fright. A puck cartoon from 1881, pictures a misshapen John Chinaman wearing a cue ornamented with firecrackers in the place of ribbon. They were ubiquitous terms in the 19th century, pervading Popular Culture, like sambow for a black man or John Chinaman for sho shorthand for any chinese immigrant, although john was not a chinese name, it became a common term, suggesting an anonymous, faceless chinese man. Each interchangeable with another. What was the john like . He was above all else greedy for gold and money and will quote do anything for a nickel or quarter. In fact, one author wrote in 1881, wherever theres a cent to be made, you may bet your boots the chinaman is on hand to make it. The eyes of the heathen glisten as his fingers touch the gold piece. Now avarice and greed are by no means unusual or negative qualities in gilded age america. The slick hustler and man on the make were common enough characters among the white population in dime novels. What distinguished the chinese character however was a single minded lust for money to the exclusion of all else. Bound by neither conscience nor christ, the chinese would murder, steal, and lie in the quest for gain. I wouldnt believe a heathen on a bible oath. Says one desperate character. These yellow dogs lie in their sleep says another. I would soon trust my old goat. In accordance with these traits, the chinese are notorious and dangerous gamblers. Scene after scene depicted them playing cards and invariably cheating. Thats just the way with one of them almond eyes galoots, explains one character. Wouldnt sell the eye winkers out of their eyes and steal them for toothpicks. Nimbleness and speed enabled the chinese to avoid detection. They crept coshcoshishly, snuck suddenly and silently as a ghost. This eerie almost supernatural quality makes the reader suspicious and uncertain and never sure when a chinese character will appear or whether one is lurking about. As one character observes, these chinese thieves would steal the lashes off a dogs eye while he winked and the cur would never see him. In harmony with their fluids sneaking movement, a face as impenetrable as granite. Chinese are cont constantly described as cunning, his cherub has a cunning mischievous look. Cunning and craftiness, like avarice and deceit, are portrayed as inborn chinese characteristics. Call back to your memory of the intercourse of the western nations with the socalled barbarians of the east. A fortune teller remarks in Rocky Mountain rob. In cunning the east has always beaten the west and yielded only to the strong right arm of power. Here amid these mountains the story of the past will be repeated. Chinese cunning is portrayed through one predominant facial expression, the grin. Nearly every chinese character is presented grinning. Sometimes a sickly grin, some its a benevolent grin, some grins are good natured, others are crafted. Characters are introduced as the grinning mongolian, grinning the little chinaman, like Lewis Carrolls cheshire cat, its almost a fixed feature on the chinese face. Whatever happened, the china man grinned as usual. More than 30 dime novels made sure to note it and grinning was the most common stage direction for chinese characters in plays. Authors used the grin to infantalize the chinese, but he smiled as he sat at the table, brett hart wrote, with a smile that is childlike and bland. This phrase childlike and bland entered common usage and frequently provided the basic initial description of any chinese character. Not only were they portrayed as children, but portray as feminine with faces smooth and unbearded and soft. They were in one authors words, wretched parodies of men. The emasculation contributed to the image as physically truncated, not fully developed, not quite male, not quite adult. Such irresponsible childlike people would deserve neither citizenship nor the vote. But the attack went even deeper, not only were they denied their manhood but often denied their humanity. The chinese are frequently compared to animals. They are called piggish, wolfish, eellike. Most insidious are the connection to insects. To insects and rodents, from this 1881 illustration, the chinese are coming across as insects you can see they are in the shape of the United States coming across and if you can take next one, its hard to see here. These are all little chinese hit the next one. The chinese being portrayed here as grasshoppers. Im sorry, back one. One character is compared to a lively flea. Others appear swarming like ant from a hill. In the most peculiar of all the chinese became what they allegedly ate, cats and rats and dogs and mice. Although dime novelists sell seldom depicted the chinese eating rodent or felines, playwrights delighted in showing them consuming these creatures or having characters tempt them with rats. Popular songs played on this theme with equal vigor. For dinner, he gave us our pet cat. Our supper he made from a cussed old rat. One more. The image of rat eater and mouse eater also pervaded the world of advertising. A chinese man if you can hit the next one a chinese man with mouth opened wide, poised to consume a rat appeared on a trademark for a new jersey chemist, while another helped sell the wares of an exterminator. Manufacturers even named products after them. The good luck company manufactured a poison called chinese rat destroyer. They devour it eagerly. Its adver ticement boasted, confusing and combining rat eater and rat. The chinese eat rats and shake like rats. One chinese character is even named rats. Human merge with animal, eater with food source. In one astonishing cartoon, a chinese immigrant ship enters america and the chinese jump off and the boat is rats on the far right and arrive in america as men. They are pictured simultaneously as rodent and human. Seemingly at will back and forth. These graphic images of the chinese as quasihuman reflect the racist epithets mouthed by politicians in washington, perhaps again in this room, and no doubt lent support to those seeking to exclude them from american shores and to deny them citizenship. But the picture presented so far is far from complete. Americans also received other images in Popular Culture that prevented the grinning cunning rat eating china man from becoming an allconsuming ark atype. Mixed in with the negative imagery with the human and noble and admirable chinese characters. In such characters challenge the common stereotype. Dime novelists in fact revealed a split personality when portraying chinese. In descriptions, the chinese often fared poorly but in action, chinese individuals appeared positive and strong. They possessed enviable qualities and even on occasion emerge as heroes and champions. To focus on just the negative image and more shocking portrayals which ive done so far, would distort the total picture, total portrait americans encountered. The few historians who have examined the chinese immigrant in Popular Culture overlooked them in the dime novel. Claiming as one wrote that they rarely appeared as characters, remain hidden in the archives for well over a century. But a careful reading of dime novels reveals a rich trove of chinese figures. People in the west playing a key role in the nations unfolding history. And sometimes they are genuine saviors. In the 1880 novel, or the curse of blood, the chinese immigrant is the central protagonist appearing on the front cover brandishing a pistol. The novel opens in colorado where edith, a young white woman is traveling through the Rocky Mountains to live with relatives. Accompanying her is her helper and escort asin. On their journey through the rockies, outlaw jack swain holds up the stage coach and attempts to kidnap edith and he fires into the air and foils the plot. They continue onward to the new home in the rockies and they settle in with ediths uncle and aunt mercy. Both of whom are fanatic religious christian nuts. He befriends their little daughter, and in one of the most lurid scenes involving a chinese character in all of 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 asin with his wife urging him to kill heathen, ties him to a post and beats him. The whipping continues until edith interposes her body between them and ordered her uncle to stop. He puts the lash down but remains unsatisfied. A few days later, concocts a plot to frame asin of murder. The chinese immigrant is duly arrested and tried and quote do to the strong bias of prejudice against him, is convicted and sentenced to death. As the novelist explains, a heathen chinese guilt accused was a heathen chinese guilty. While he languishes in jail, she convinces her friends to rescue him, which is easy to do because the constable believes theyre going to lynch him. The next scene finds edith outside alone at night in the woods. Suddenly outlaw jack swain leaps out and seizes her and threatens to rape her. Edith stands petrified in the moonlight. At that very moment, little asin suddenly appeared at her side with a revolver leveled at jack swains heart. Remembering asins actions and warding off his attempted hold up, jack jumps back. He had one taste of little asins metal, something told him the other shot had been a scare but this one would mean business. Jack releases edith and runs away. A sobbing edith throws her arms around her protector and confident asin leads her back to the house. Upon reaching it, he without fear called all of the hands of the ranch about him firing off his revolver and as the novel ends, asin probable proudly tells everyone how twice by himself he had fought off the rockies most notorious outlaw. Asin is an unlikely hero. He possesses many of the common chinese stereotypes and wears a pigtail and speaks in the demeaning accent and almond eyed and sickly yellow, forever smiling with a blandness for which his countrymen are noted. And yet, he is bold, brave and regularly armed and handles weapons deftly. Despite being, quote, a heathen chinese who prays not to the true god but to some hideous wooden image, he is nonetheless defended by the novelist. He had human feelings as keen as any of us, he wrote. To whom his god was as dear and as reverent as was abednegos to his. Contrasted with the rigid fanaticism of abednego stands the tolerance of asin, who quote, seemed to have none of this religious prejudice. Edith quotes, i pit his paganism against christianity any day. The novelist wants us to sympathize with asin. The loathe characters all loathe him, while the good ones love him. He helps define right and wrong. With the chinese immigrants squarely on the side of morality and justice. Amid the backdrop of antichinese racism, asin emerges as a hero, a veritable heathen champion. By presenting an devious rat eating chinamen, little asin tempers the assumption that this era was one of strident, unrelenting racism and inevitable racism. The chinese immigrant has redeeming qualities. Asin is not alone. His fellow countrymen play crucial roles in other dime novels, perhaps the most heroic chinese figure in all of 19th century Popular Culture appears in war path will or the boy phantom. Unlike asin, china, as he is named is strong and muscular and intimidating. Everything about him is large with his great broad shoulders and head surmounted by a black sombrero and broad rim, china is caller than t taller than his race by far. He carries on his person numerous weapons and about his waist was a belt of arms, two revolvers and long bladed knife. And at his back, hung a repeating rifle. China carries another weapon in a manner perhaps unique in american literature, quote, his hair was worn according to the style of his country men in one long pigtail behind. Into the end was tied a revolver, which swung to and fro as he moved like a pendulum. China plays a vital role in the novel, from atop a tree he witnesses a holdup, three Gunmen Attack young guy marsden and his mother. Recent pioneers from kentucky. The mother is killed instantly, the boy left for dead. He finds guy still breathing. He extracts the bullet, dresses the wound and applies a soothing ointment. He carries the boy to a cabin and cooks him a meal of venison and rice. Guy slowly recuperates. Suddenly, the three outlaws reappear. There was blood in chinas eye and he meant mischief. China grabbed his weapon and shoots two of the outlaws to death and stabs the third one in the heart. He then constructs a rope hammock and in strong arms carries the boy in search of his family. We certainly have been blessed after all of our sorrow guys father says at the novels conclusion and we owe our preservation to our nobel chinese friend, whom i love as though he were my brother. Huskier and more imposing than asin, china is a fearsome figure and genuine fighter. Placing him in a class with white dime novel heroes of the period. Although he possesses quote, the traditional cunning look and childlike grin for which his countrymen are so noted, the chineseness is not emphasized. He possesses few of the demeaning qualities normally attributed to his breath rinne and adapted to western ways and western rules. Even more than asin, hes a strong and noble individual. China and asin are by no means unique in dime novel literature. In countless stories, the chinese defend themselves and are agents of their own destiny. Sang young carried guns and lee sing brandishes heavy revolvers. Bad lung is like a warrior who arms himself not with a gun but with a massive bowling pin, which he hurls or swings at oncoming assailants. In that crowd, the chinamen had his say and no one molested him as he trotted home with his ten pin under his arm. Numerous chinese display skill at hand to hand combat. Lee sing had given ample truth he could fight as well as a white man. John lee knew a few points about the manly art of boxing and challenging a white man to combat he reigned a perfect shower of stinging blows upon the americans face. In silver plated soul, possesses muscles of iron and fights like a full blown cyclone. The chinese immigrant turned on like a tiger and caught him by the throat with a grip to crush everything between his fingers. In horseshoe hank, the gold brick of idaho, waho throws hank over a cliff into a rushing river. Hank survives as dime novel here rose always do and seeks revenge. They go at it again in a long, tough, drownout fight. With his steellike arms, he pounds hank brutally. And hank pounds him back. Never before the novelist noted had he met such a foe. Hank had always looked with scorn on the children of the orient and considered himself capable of whipping their best man with one hand. But in waho he found a power only equalled by his own skill. Hank always looked with scorn on the children of the orient, and considered himself capable of whipping their best man with one hand. But in roy hoe, he found a power only equaled by his own skill. The struggle continues. Hank gains the upper hand and roy hoe stops fighting only when his bones are finally broken. Oh, you rib cracking heathen, hank exclaims. Roy hoe is a fighter and fights in the language the american respects, braun and muscle. He fights on their terms and their country. With his fists and firearms, the chinese immigrant challenges the white protagonist and participates in the rock em sock em western drama. They are fierce and fearsome. The chinese are often treated with respect in the novel and become confidants and companions if not true equal of whites. In red richard, man from red dog, or the brand of the crimson cross, lee sing attaches himself to dick talbot, dick talbot is on the bottom left there. Who is described as the only christian who had ever done him an act of kindness. Lee is part of talbots inner circle in shasta bar, california. Together, talbot and his four faithful friends gamble, fight and defend one another from outsiders. The novels cover picture presents lee in the top right, a little dark, but you can see lee in the top right, in a confident, determined, even manly pose staring straight forthrightly ahead. In cinnamon chip, the girl sport, or the golden idle of mount rosa, pig tail pete is part of a similar though less abiding gang. Admiration of his fighting abilities, the gang leader refers to him as the roaring equinoxal thunderstorm of china. In banker bill, the bowling pin wielding bad lung develops a close relationship with gentle john, who refers to the chinese immigrant as his pard, western vernacular for partner. He calls him the squarest heathen in nevada. You cant fool him and nobody can fool him. After the two heroes fight the forces of evil together, the novel concludes with them both attending a friends wedding. Reappearing in another story, the two are separated in colorado during the course of their adventures. And at the end, gentle john announces he is heading to nevada to find his darnation chinaman who waits for me. Similarly, pinnacle pete swears he will never desert wow wing, his companion. Novel after novel provide instances of interethnic cooperation and solidarity. Despite the stereotypes, the chinese come across as good and decent individuals, capable of forming alliances and friendships with white characters. Perhaps even more significant was the length to which dime novelists went to sympathize with and defend the chinese. Or let the chinese defend themselves. Although forbidden in most western states from testifying in court, the chinese appear in various trials and fiction. In Rocky Mountain rob, the gang of thieves plots to steal gold from a camp of chinese miners. The heathen ought to be cleaned out says one gangster, they have no business taking the bread out of the mouths of honest white men. The outlaws torched the camp, kill the chinese and the chinese leader. Because this, is quote, too much for decent white men to stand, says one character, a posse forms to track down the outlaws. And the novel climaxes with their trial. The chinese are asked to testify. They are reluctant. One finally comes forward, quote, very unwillingly, his experiences with the man had not been particularly pleasant and led him to look upon the whole white race as foes and oppressors. Nevertheless, the chinese immigrant testifies, so does another, both presenting incriminating evidence. As the outlaws appear increasingly guilty, their attorney rises. I protest against this testimony, he yelled indignantly. Is the life of a white man to be sworn away by a chinaman . The answer, quite simply, was yes. The authors sympathies and by implication the readers are with the chinese. The simple hard working sons of the flowery land. Their testimony stands and the outlaws are convicted. Time and again, dime novels portray the chinese as positive, sympathetic characters. And those who dislike them is mean, rascally creatures. In apollo bill, the trail tornado, rowdy kate from right bower, chin chin is a good person who comforts passengers after a robbery on a stagecoach. He is later vilified, and threatened with death by modest mike, a bull whacker and roughian. Novelists condemn such bullies who abuse the chinese as inhuman hoodlums. In story after story, the chinese hating characters are invariably the bad guys. The chinese and those who defend them, the good guys. Is nora the white heroine after a white mob attacks a group of chinese rivals. This is shameful. Cant those vile ruffians be driven out and these poor fellows be protected in their rights . Protected in their rights. What rights are we talking about here . The right to emigrate to the United States, find work and stake a claim . In the real world of late 19th century america, most Chinese People were barred from ever obtaining citizenship. They were restricted from testifying against whites in court, and widely discriminated against. But in the fictional world of the dime novel, the chinese individual was a human being, a man, and an agent pursuing his own destiny. In examining the image of the chinese in Popular Culture, it is easy to highlight the demeaning and often offensive stock descriptions, how they were portrayed as wretched parodies of men. To fully understand the chinese image, it is essential to look beyond these negative stereotypes and analyze the actual roles that chinese figures played in the story lines and dramas. In most dime novels, these characters are legitimate individuals as developed or undeveloped as their white protagonists. Fully participating in the breathless thrill a minute action that defined the genre. In these cartoonish tales of daring do, they fight, they die, they compete. Like white male characters, they defend women, track down outlaws, drink whiskey and uphold the law. They make friends, work hard, and rely on their wits and muscles to survive. Like white characters, they might not be respectable. They might be gamblers, con men or thieves, but the chinese are seldom evil. As novelist wj hamilton remarks in the gulch miners in 1867, people in the states are apt to form a wrong opinion of these men. Though trampled on and abused by whites, they are for the most part quiet and inoffensive to the last degree. In the vibrant world of the dime novel, the chinese neither threaten nor undermine american society. In fact, they are part of it. In presenting the chinese, the purveyors of Popular Culture drew unpopular stereotypes. Within these parameters dime novelists invented characters, chiefy chingo, asin, china, lee sing and dozens more to both interest and amuse and entertain their readers. They never asked that our noble chinese friend be loved. But in humanizing them and defending them, they did ultimately call for some measure of acceptance. They constantly presented the chinese as victims of problems, not the cause. Nor were the chinese themselves the problem. Rather, the chinese were fellow actors in the epic drama of civilization and violence playing itself out on the vast scale of the american west. More often than not, the chinese were good. In analyzing the image of chinese immigrants and Popular Culture, and especially in dime novels in the late 19th century, one finds a rich and varied constellation of characters, attributes and features. But one does not find a cause for chinese exclusion in second class citizenship. For that, we must examine not culture, but politics. [ applause ] paul, whats the procedure here . Do we go next . Do we have questions . Questions. You call on them. Any questions. Yes. Excuse me. I have laryngitis. What was the primary audience for the dime novels . There is a disputed historians love to dispute that. In fact, i was going to include that, but i didnt have time. It was mostly a working class audience. The images there is the images that appear in upper middle class, upper class magazines have similar the same stereotypes appear everywhere. But the ones that are more middle class oriented and in childrens magazines as well, they usually compare the chinese to irish. And it is often who makes the better servant or the better lower class is kind of how theyre portrayed. In dime novels, that aspect is not included. And the most recent account there is a historian Michael Dannon who wrote in mechanic accents and he emphasizes that this was really for working people, for the mechanic in the factory and the north, or for the honest working girl in the city, that this was sort of the prolatarian literature of the time. It is hard to really know, but they were by far the biggest selling pieces of literature of the time. Yeah. Can you remind me, i forgot when the china exclusion act and when did it come off . It was passed on may 6th, 1882, for ten years. It was repassed in 1892 for ten years, passed again in 1902, made permanent in 1904. And it was repealed finally in 1943, during world war ii, largely because china was our ally and yet when it was repealed, it set a quote of 105 per year. So it really was not repealed, and it is not until the 1960s with the immigration act that immigration opens up again for chinese. 1882. So there were sympathetic views in among the working class, so the people who excluded, wanted them excluded were not the working class or not voters. And was there anyone in china who had any voice, any power at all to respond . China at this point was an extremely weak country. It was also on the verge of being dominated by japan. This is really when japans rise over asias just emerging. And china actually wants u. S. Friendship is a bulwark against the japanese because and also a lot of European Countries are going into china, not to colonize it per se, but to force trade on them. And so chinas looking for u. S. Friendship to keep this open door as it is called, open door policy. So they dont like it. But they sort of are forced to accept it. And there are a couple of chinese ministers to the u. S. That fight against it, but they have virtuallypo