Works Cited
"A Chinese Slave." San Francisco Bulletin. 64.24 (May 1887): 2. America's Historical Newspapers. EBSCOhost. Web. 13 April 2010.
"Bondage of Chinese Women." San Francisco Bulletin. 37.95 (Jan. 1874): 3. America's Historical Newspapers. EBSCOhost. Web. 13 April 2010.
Gentry, Curtis. The Madams of San Francisco. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc, 1964. Print
"Law Intelligence." Daily Placer Times and Transcript. 5.1495 (Dec. 1854): 2. America's Historical Newspapers. EBSCOhost. Web. 13 April 2010.
Martin, Mildred Crowl. Chinatown's Angry Angel. Palo Alto, California: Pacific Book's Publishers, 1977. Print
McClain, Laurence Wu. "Donaldina Cameron." Chinese America: History and Perspectives (2001): 76. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2010
Peiss, Kathy and Thomas G. Paterson. Major Problems in the History of American Sexuality: Documents and Essays (Major Problems in American History Series). Houghton Mifflin Company, March 2001.
Sridharan, Mohini. "Prostitution in the Early Chinese Community." Dartmouth College. N.D. Web. 13 April 2010.
"The Chinese Conspiracy Case." San Francisco Bulletin. 36.106 (Aug. 1873): 4. America's Historical Newspapers. EBSCOhost. Web. 13 April 2010
Summary of Prostitution in the Early Chinese Community, 1850-1900
This article begins by describing one of the maine reasons that Chinese prostitution was so prevelent in San Francisco. According to Sridharan, this reason is the extremely lop-lobsided ratio of Chinese men to women in the cite. He states "In 1850, there were only 7 Chinese women versus 4010 Chinese men in San Francico and in 1855, women constituted only two percent of the total Chinese population in America." These circumstances, caused by strict cultural rules that prevent women from traveling alone and the large amount of raciscm that Chinese people faced in America, resulted in many men turing to prostitution and most of the women into the profession because there were not many other jobs. The article also describes the sufferings of these women which included beatings, contracting venereal disease, and becoming addicted to drugs.
Sridharan goes on to describe how Americans reacted to the prostitution that was running rampant in their city. The first way people reacted was to become even more prejudice against the chinese. One quote makes the claim that "not on virtuous Chinawoman has been brought into this country." The second way people reaced was to take charge of the situation themselves and try to help. The Presbyterian Mission home was one of the most successful institutions in rescueing Chinese prostitutes. Overall, this article gives insight into the reasons behind Chinese prostition, the effects on the girls, and the reactions of the Americans to the situation.
Summary of Bondage of Chinese women
This article is was a piece that appeared in the San Francisco Bulletin in 1874 and explains one case that was going on in the city in regards to the owner of a brothel named Kim Lin. The article talks about several of the girls who worked in the brothel, one in particular who was named Ah Loy. This woman was abducted from Shanghai, brought to America, and forced into the sex slave industry. After working for one madam for several months, she met a man named Ah Yin, a man who became determined to free her from the brothel and marry her. Kim Lin agreed to free Ah Loy, but only on the condition that Ah Yin pay for her as according to Lin, he actually owned the body of Ah Loy. The article describes when the two men went to court and Lin produced an actual document of sale, on which a contract between the woman and owner is drawn up. The contract states that there is an assumed indebtedness to her owner, and when bought, she will receive the payment and then automatically hand it over to her previous owner. The end of the article explains how Ah Loy stated that if her previous owner were to murder her lover, she too would want to die.
Throughout the article, the author refers to all the Chinese people as mongrels or heathens. This shows the overall racist attitude that was prominent in the American community towards the Chinese immigrants.
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ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
ReplyDeleteBaldassare, Mark. The Los Angeles Riots: Lessons for the Urban Future. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. Print.
Cannon, Lou. Official Negligence. New York: Random House, 1997. Print.
Gray, Madison. “The L.A. Riots: 15 years after Rodney King.” Time Online. 12 Feb, 2010. Web. 18 April 2010.
Myers, Matthew. “The Siege of L.A.” Newsweek. 5 Nov. 1992. Academic Search Complete. EBSCOhost. Web. 18 April 2010.
“Rare Rodney King Interview.”Youtube. 7 March. 2009. Web. 18 April 2010.
The book, Official Negligence, will serve as one of my research papers predominate secondary sources. The book takes a comprehensive and thorough look into the events surrounding the Rodney King beating and the ensuing chaos that plagued the city of Los Angeles. It does an excellent job illuminating the havoc that all demographics experienced during the traumatic 1992 event. What I will most likely take away from this source is not merely the background for my primary source, but a look into how other people were affected by the Rodney King event. For example, the unwarranted brutality against Rodney King spurred a jarringly similar event involving Reginald Denny. Denny, a 33-year-old concrete truck driver had inadvertently taken a short cut through a region of Los Angeles that harbored some of the most vengeful rioters. It was not long before he was forcefully removed from his vehicle and beaten to within inches of his life. The beatings culminated with a massive blow to the head, which nearly killed the innocent bystander. These types of corollary incidents are immensely important as they symbolize a struggle towards equality by any means necessary. These actions are indicative of a people who felt as though all democratic pleas had been exhausted, and had now turned to inimitable violence to satiate their desire for equality. This source perfectly assesses the severe repercussions of the Rodney King beating and evaluates it’s effects in regards to the societal revolution it incited.
Another secondary source, composed of valuable information pertaining to the Rodney King video is entitled “The L.A. Rio ts: 15 Years after Rodney King.” This Time article is focused primarily on assessing the long-term effects the events of 1992 have had on its chief constituents. The article spotlights specific individuals who had noteworthy roles in both the King beating and the infamous LA riots. Some of these figures include: Rodney King, Reginald Denny, Darryl Gates (Los Angeles’ former Police Chief) and Stacey Koon (one of the arresting officers of King). The article will assist in elevating my paper’s credibility when attempting to assess the effects these incidents had on individual members of society. Its advantages lie in the ability to explicitly determine, years after, how key figures have adapted to life in the post-riot era. My hopes are that by interviewing these people 15 years later, any remnants of the incident’s effect will be highlighted and will establish how truly life-altering these occurrences were. In addition, the article is composed of interviews from people who witnessed and regrettably partook in the devastating events of ’92. Inherently, utilizing information extracted from these articles will generate a level of reliability with my readers that would be unmatched by simply utilizing historical renderings of the incident.