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In her new book, "Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era," Esther Kim Lee traces the history of yellowface from 1862 to 1940 a time when Asians faced legal and cultural exclusion from immigration and citizenship in the United States.
The term "yellowface" is widely understood in pop culture, but it's not a searchable term in the archive catalogs the concept doesn't exist. What is the first known instance of yellowface? How do theater historians write about live productions that happened in the past? And why is the history of yellowface in theater relevant today? This week, we interview Esther Kim Lee,