H. M.
Lai
Island
Native
Chinese
Immigrants
and
Angel
the
Island
American
is now Marin
living in what
own
for the
County
probably had their
designation
in San Francisco
island
but
when
the
largest
Bay,
San Carlos
in
anchor
Spanish ship
dropped
nearby
officer
de
1769, commanding
August,
Juan Manuel
it
Isla
de
named
Nuestra
Senora
de
los
Ayala
Angeles.
to
fell under
Anglicized
"Angel Island" after California
American
as "Island"
rule in 1846, itwas known
simply
to an entire
of Chinese who
generation
immigrated
to California
in the first half of the twentieth
century.
For them this scenic spot with
the cherubic name held
no romantic memories,
for between
1910 and 1940 it
was the location of the
Island Immigration
Sta
Angel
tion. As amajor
of
the
bureaucratic
apparatus
facility
to administer
established
the Chinese
exclusion
laws,
Miwoks
the complex
temporarily
Chinese
immigrants who
housed
tens of thousands
of
were
and then
interrogated
for
into
the
States.1
United
entry
processed
rejected
In the year 1882, a key date in American
immigration
the first Chinese
exclusion
law was passed
history,
anti-Chinese
years of domestic
following
agitation.
a basic
in
U.S.
the
Marking
change
immigration
policy,
no
to
un
law declared
be
and
free
immigration
longer
restricted, and the Chinese were given the dubious honor
or
Immigration
Station
of being the first racial group whose
was thus limited.2
entry
to the country
Initially the 1882 law barred only the entry of Chi
nese laborers for ten years and left
open the question of
admission of other classes of Chinese. By 1888, however,
the pressure of anti-Chinese
groups had shaped its
so as to
to all Chinese
interpretation
deny admission
classes
those
except
exempted
specifically
by treaty:
officials, merchants,
teachers, students, and travelers for
or
act was revised
curiosity
pleasure. The exclusion
Lai is vice
and past
of the Chinese
Historical
president
president
of America
in San Francisco
and an instructor
in Asian
Society
at the
American
Studies
of California,
At
University
Berkeley.
on a translation
he isworking
of the
in
Island poems
present
Angel
Mr.
collaboration with Genny Lim and Judy Yung. Publication is sched
uled
88
for
late 1978.
Immortals
of several more
and becoming
times, closing loopholes
in its provisions,
and by the turn of the century,
and actively
the restriction process was consciously
toward total exclusion.3
moving
stricter
these years, events across the Pacific did not
tradi
for the Chinese
people either. China's
was
the
under
tional society
pressures
falling apart
Western
and life was
nations,
generated by intruding
"In every doubtful case the benefit of the
doubt shall begiven . . . to theUnited
States
During
bode well
in
especially
increasingly difficult. Many Chinese,
southeast China, were virtually forced to seek better
abroad. Thus, despite the known unfriendly
conditions
environment
for the Chinese
in the United
States, they
laws
the exclusion
and improve their eco
to Canada or Mexico,
where
were
to risk
rejection
willing
in order to enter this country
under
lot. Some traveled
across the borders into the United
were
they
smuggled
at one of the American
States. Others
sought admission
nomic
ports of entry, the largest proportion
San Francisco. Many
held credentials
the United
of proof
States
immigration
for entry qualification
the
regulations,
rested
upon Chinese persons claiming the right of admission to, or
the United States, to establish such right
residence within,
. . . and in
and
every doubtful
satisfactorily
affirmatively
case the benefit of the doubt shall be given ... to the United
States
government.
the anti-Chinese
prejudices of the period,
at the Bureau of
was that the
Immigration
a
were
a
sense
in
of the moral
Chinese
people "deficient
an oath," and
of
held
all Chinese
inspectors
obligation
claims for right of admission
until
proven
suspect
Reflecting
the belief
otherwise.
Believing
for the country,
admit and hence
intensive
Over
Chinese
in San Francisco
landed 1628 Chinese
and debarred
for
fiscal
and
the
516,
years 1903 through 1905 they re
one out of every four
jected
applicants from the exempt
classes.6 To the authorities
these statistics served to
prove
the fraudulent
intent of the bulk of the Chinese
for admission.
applying
The Chinese,
viewed
the immigration
however,
authorities'
draconian
of the exclusion
administration
statutes
laws as unfair and
terming the
discriminatory,
numerous
keli or "tyrannical
laws." They addressed
to the United
States government
and to
complaints
in
Chinese
this
stationed
country, objecting
diplomats
to the harsh
validity.4
Under
burden
at
debarking
of questionable
government."
was bad
immigration
to exclude rather than to
that Chinese
they sought
new
routinely
subjected
and detailed cross examinations.5
arrivals
to
during
the fiscal year
1902-1903,
information.
elucidate
They alleged that some officials
even
female applicants on intimate details of
questioned
lives and embarrassed
their marital
them into silence.7
In 1905 these grievances
about immigration
proce
dures resulted in a boycott of American
goods which
started in Shanghai and spread to Canton
and other
cities and many overseas Chinese
Chinese
communities.
Sustained several months,
the boycott forced the U.S.
to relax some of the more
objectionable
regulations.
The basic negative
attitude of the immigration
authori
ties toward Chinese
the years an extremely
of
high percentage
were denied admittance
to the United
States.
For example,
treatment of the Chinese
in
general and pro
in
the suspicious and discourteous
testing
particular
attitude evidenced
of the exempt
toward members
classes. They charged that many questions asked by the
officials were unreasonable,
to
immigration
impossible
answer
to
to
and
intended
than
rather
entrap
correctly,
inspectors
remained
however,
immigration,
was
it
and
of
unchanged,8
against this background
that
was
the
Island
Station
struggle
Angel
Immigration
proposed
and established.
89
In the late nineteenth century as many as 500
Chinese were detained in a dismal two-story
shed at Pacific Mail's wharf.
island location would
i:Jl-ifIh:'H
outside
from
effectively prevent Chinese
with
the detainees
communicating
on the
and
would
isolate immigrants with "the communicable
dis
. . . are
eases which
aliens
peculiarly
prevalent
among
from oriental countries."11 The station would
also be
P|^ siill. PJiilllk^
f| **p ^ij*"M_e;!M___IBBHi_^H___Jj^^^^__MmJ^^^i^_H^K
escape-proof.
the late i88o's
and early 1900's Chinese
at San Francisco were detained
hroughout
arriving
ship passengers
in a two-story
shed at the Pacific Mail
pany wharf
(known to the Cantonese
Steamship Com
immi
Chinese
as muk uk or "wooden
grants
tion inspectors could examine
house") until immigra
them and determine
their
as
or
were
As
400
500
many
admissibility.
people
into the facility, and conditions
crammed
there were
a
in
Ira
described
1900 by Reverend
Condit,
missionary
as follows:
in
Chinese
the
California,
among
working
Merchants,
laborers, are all alike penned up, like a flock of
a wharf-shed,
in
for many days, and often weeks,
sheep,
at their own expense, and are denied all communication with
their own people while the investigation of their cases moves
its slow length along.9
leaders in Chinatown,
Chinese
alarmed
community
at the unsafe and
condition
of
the
structure,
unsanitary
to U.S.
addressed numerous
accordingly
complaints
officials. Immigration
Commissioner
General F. P.
Sargent finally
1902, and was
on November
inspected the facility
forced to declare that
18,
as the Chinese
[so] far
immigrants are concerned, the facilities
... are
detention shed should
entirely inadequate-[The]
be abolished forthwith. Chinese are human beings and are
entitled to humane treatment, and this is something they do
not
receive
under
present
conditions.
. . .10
that funds be
report of 1903 recommended
to erect an
on
station
appropriated
immigration
Angel
Island for accommodation
of aliens, chiefly Chinese
and
to move
other Asians. The forthcoming
decision
the
station to Angel
Island was not solely due to humani
Sargent's
tarian concern,
90
however,
for officials
also felt that the
The Sundry Civil Appropriation Act of March 3,
1905,
Walter
included
$200,000
was
Mathews
J.
for erection
selected
of the station, and
as architect for the
at the North Garrison
facility. Work
begun
(Winslow
area of the island was
Cove)
interrupted by the San
Francisco
in
and an additional
1906,
Earthquake
appro
to
had
be
in
the same year because
priation
requested
cost of labor and materials.
Construc
in 1907, and the
was
in
facility
completed
October
of 1908. The complex
included an adminis
tration
and detention
power house, hospital,
building,
awharf and dock storehouse at the beach
with
building,
of the increased
tion resumed
below.12
in
the
Inquiring into the expense involved
opening
of
Labor
station, Assistant
Wheeler
Secretary
reported
that itwas a modern
and commodious
plant and "de
located, so far as scenic, climatic and health
lightfully
are concerned." He was of the
conditions
opinion, how
ever, that the station's remoteness
from San Francisco
would
entail additional
in the order of $50,000
expense
annum.
also reported that there was no
Wheeler
per
its
for
immediate
necessity
occupancy.13
leaders in San Francisco's Chinatown
Although
op
the
idea
of
the immigration
station
posed
transferring
to the middle
of San Francisco
to
Bay, they neglected
was almost
take action until the
to
be
facility
ready
8, 1909, the Chinese Chamber
occupied. On November
sent a letter
belatedly
signed by eighty
to President William
Chinese merchants
prominent
Howard
Taft and the Department
of Commerce
and
of Commerce
Labor
the move. The group maintained
that
protesting
the insular location and
of
infrequency
ferry service
would make
it difficult for witnesses
to attend
immigra
Island of Immortals
were
tion examinations,
especially for whites who
cases.
in Chinese
somewhat
reluctant to be witnesses
The Chinese
the Chinese
also petitioned Wu
inWashington,
D.C,
channels.14
diplomatic
merchants
minister
pressure
There
through
is a Chinese
practice
Chinese
effective
saying,
Tingfang,
to
apply
"A weak nation cannot
and as the imperial
diplomacy,"
to protect her
had been powerless
government
in America
from
harsh
exclusion
anti-Chinese
subjects
so
was
the
in
troubled
ineffective
laws,
government
move
on
to
new
the
the
facility. Hence,
forestalling
21 the
November
Commerce
of
and Labor
Department
the
Chinese
remonstrations,
rejected
community's
out that
not raised any voice of pro
pointing
they had
the facility was in the design stage and that
it was now too late to
change plans.15
The Angel
Island station officially opened on January
at 9:00 a.m., ioi
21, 1910. The next morning
people
1 Chi
from the S.S. Siberia
(including 84 Chinese men,
test when
!X' '.'""'
__#**"
______|l_tt!S-!!'!''s'r:^!!;>
,._-___
't._SB_|8^
;?Ffe;;ii-s!::"?:'1''
'""'H
nese woman,
3 Japanese, and 4 East Indians) who
not been allowed
to debark in San Francisco were
had
re
moved
from Pacific Mail Company's
wharf
and trans
to the island. The Chinese
on the
immigrants
S.S. China followed,
and by the end of the day, over
to the
had been moved
400 passengers, mostly Chinese,
insular facility without
incident.16
ferred
of the facility moved
The opening
the influential
to
Chinatown
Chinese
World
reflect on past
newspaper
treatment of the
to
and
its future
community
anticipate
reception. On January 22, 1910, it editorialized:
Ever
since the establishment of this wooden
shed at the
the mistreatment
of us Chinese confined there was
than for jailed prisoners. The walls were covered with
poems [expressing feelings about being incarcerated]; traces
of tears soaked the floor. There were even some who could
not endure the cruel abuse and took their own lives. The
ropes they used to hang themselves are still visible. Those
seeing this cannot help but feel aggrieved and gnash their
teeth in anger. Now
the Chinese had been moved from this
wooden
shed. From now on we will be confined on a barren
offshore island.
wharf,
worse
in San Francisco
still had
community
of returning the station to the mainland,
and a few
later the Chinese Consolidated
Benevolent
Asso
The Chinese
hopes
weeks
ciation (CCBA) and the Chinese Chamber of Com
merce
of San Francisco
respectively
appointed
Ng
Poon
Chew (Wu Panzhao) and Look Tin Eli (LuRun
to a
sent to
D.C,
delegation
ging)
being
Washington,
to
and
the
harsh
fight
regu
discriminatory
immigration
lations. However,
when
the men raised the question
of moving
the station back to the mainland
with
the
l_^l__?__H__yfe_|__?^
-
:^v_H_^_iilPft^ii
^ttttK^^^^^ttKSKt/I^K^^'^^^^J^^^^^^^^^^KK
and men were held separately
their
during
confinement. 91
Women
and labor, he refused to entertain
secretary of commerce
the proposal
and
declared
that access to
seriously
Angel
Island was easier than access to Oakland
(across the Bay
from San Francisco).
If the Chinese
didn't consider the
a
Pacific Ocean
and
voyage from Hong
month-long
an obstacle, he concluded,
should they
Kong
why
object
to the short boat
to
Island.17
trip
Angel
The government
did respond to the
re
delegation's
IMMIGRATIONSTATION,
some
to allow
agreed
cases to be exam
in outgoing
and witnesses
principals
and to land all new exempts and
ined on the mainland
return domiciled
exempts whose cases seemed to hold no
quests with
small concessions.
It
J_^_^_^_^_^_W^K_Mi______Pl
Mj________F
#Pf
?f
^l|^^^|_^^||^^^^^^Hjj^^|
the station, Hart North, was sus
supervising
his
from
post. One of the charges leveled against
pended
to
him was that he was
im
partial
Japanese and Hindu
sioner
their witnesses,
to
Island. The
Angel
migration.20
In 1917 a
a
scandal developed when
major
graft ring
was discovered
to be
and
Chinese
stealing
manipulating
records at the station in connection
with
illegal entries.
were
indicted
Eighteen
people
(including eight from the
seven
were found
and
Immigration
Service),
guilty.
ation (CCBA) petitioned him to use his offices to help
As well,
the San Francisco law firm of
Stidger and Ken
numerous
which
handled
Chinese
cases, was banned
nah,
at the Bureau of
from practicing
Sub
Immigration.21
no
scandals
the
reached
station,
large
sequently,
although
from time to time the occasional dismissal of interpreters
reason for further
arrivals and
inquiry.18 Most Chinese
still would
be required to go
however,
returned
disappointed
delegation
results.
with meager
Prince Zai Tao
In
April of that year, when Manchu
to
in
conditions
arrived at San Francisco
study military
Associ
Benevolent
the Chinese Consolidated
the U.S.,
improve
the treatment
of the Chinese
and to move
the
In June,
station back to the mainland.
immigration
was sent
toWash
CCBA
the
Cook
Carroll
attorney
by
concerns
to
discuss
with
offi
immigration
ington, D.C,
was
one
of
cials, and again the status of the island station
the items on his agenda. There was also talk of having
traffic bypass San
the transpacific Chinese
passenger
as
as
of
well
the 1905
Francisco for Seattle,
renewing
if the government
did not accede
anti-American
boycott
to
return the
to the Chinese
All
efforts
these
requests.
station to the mainland
failed, however,
immigration
Island for the next thirty
it
remained on Angel
and
years.19
the first decade of the facility's existence,
During
A
troubled its administration.
internal
problems
major
commis
its
the immigration
after
few months
opening,
92
and other
employees
indicated
that petty
was
by
eradicated.
completely
It also did not take
to
long for the government
tacitly
with
the
that
Chinese
the
insular
of the
location
agree
came to the
station was
unsatisfactory,
although
they
reasons.
for different
A few months
conclusion
after the
graft
no means
Luther Steward
acting commissioner
facility's opening,
submitted
critical
of
the
reports highly
many physical
and sanitary drawbacks
in the facility's
design. As early
as 1913 the
that
secretary of labor observed
visiting
was located too far from San Francisco
to
Island
Angel
as an
be convenient
that
station,
immigration
suggesting
or Alcatraz
Fort Mason
Island might
be better sites. In
1920 Immigration
Commissioner
Edward White
de
a
The proposed
Angel Island
facility (left) included
a
wharf leading to an administration building, detention
to the rear, and a hospital to the left.Other
building
were added to the island complex in the
outbuildings
lgios and ig20s (right).
common,
inflamed
6'The ramshackle buildings are nothing
. . . The
butfiretraps.
laws had
a
ments are
awful. If private individual
had such an establishment, he would be
arrested by the local health authorities."
clared
that the facility's
he proposed
structures were
like tinder, and
to cut
the station to the mainland
removing
expenses. By 1922 both Assistant
Secretary of Labor
and
Commissioner
General of Im
Edward J. Henning
were
in agreement with
this
migration W. W. Husband
that the island facili
idea. The latter declared moreover
ties were
filthy
and unfit
for habitation:
The plant has practically nothing to commend it. It ismade
of ramshackle buildings which are
of a conglomeration
are
but
nothing
firetraps. They
illy arranged and incon
venient.
The
sanitary
arrangements
are
awful.
If a
private
individual had such an establishment he would be arrested by
the local health authorities. The whole place is. .. not worth
any money
spending
on.22
same
questions were raised
subsequent years the
time and again,23 but while bureaucrats debated,
tens of
to
thousands of Chinese
continued
pass
immigrants
In
over the next two decades. Itwas
through these facilities
not until 1940 that the government
the
finally abandoned
was
hastened by a
station, and the exodus
immigration
fire which
the station's
administration
build
destroyed
12 of that year. On November
on
5, Angel
ing
August
Island's last group of about 200 aliens,
125
including
was transferred to
Chinese men and 19 Chinese women,
in San Fran
temporary quarters at 801 Silver Avenue
cisco.24
This final move
though
people's passions
throttled the flow
and the Chinese
in California
had dropped from 8.7 per
cent of the total
in
1880 to less than 0.6
population
in
Most
to
Chinese
had
been relegated
1940.
percent
with white Americans
and
occupations
non-competitive
arrange
sanitary
no
immigration
longer
in the same way. Exclusion
to a small stream,
of Chinese
the issue of Chinese
little opposition,
for al
prompted
discrimination
still
against the Chinese were
in Chinatown
segregated
ghettoes. Thus the Chinese
were
not
In the inter
if
tolerated,
accepted by many.
of
racist
attacks had shifted
vening years, too, the focus
to the
Moreover,
1940
Japanese.
by
people's attentions
were taken
more
the
immediate
and
by
pressing issue of
war.
world
impending
After the closing of the immigration
station, in an
attempt
to meet
the political
demands
of the "war for
acts of
Congress
repealed
democracy,"
an
annual
and
token
1943
quota of
assigned
immigration
105 to the Chinese. Chinese
arrivals, however, were still
the exclusion
detained
to determine
the validity of their
applications
As for their detention quarters, after
being
relocated to Sharp Park in the spring of 1942,
were
they
in 1944 into the Appraiser's
moved
at 630 San
Building
some Street near San Francisco's waterfront.25
The prac
to determine
tice of detaining Chinese
their eligibility
for admission was finally discontinued
in 1952 when
consular officials at the port of embarkation
assumed
that responsibility.
for admission.
Xor
thirty years, however,
it was
the detainees
at
Angel Island Immigration Stationwho sampled the full
and effect of the exclusion
a
laws.26When
ship
at
San Francisco,
arrived
officials climbed
immigration
aboard and inspected the
documents.
Those
passengers'
with
could
go ashore, and the re
satisfactory papers
a
to
mainder were
transferred
small steamer and ferried
to the island
station
to
where
immigration
they were
on their
await
In
for
hearings
applications
prac
entry.
flavor
93
Immigrants passed endless hours anxiously
waiting for their hearings.
Jii_F_f-l
*
V_-_-_B__lK_^^__r^^NPl
^^^^^^0^^''^'
some
tice, most of the detainees were Chinese,
although
also held.
and other Asians were
times a few whites
included Japanese "picture
the 1920's the number
brides."27
Island whites were
When
the ferry docked at Angel
were
and
other
from
Chinese
races,
kept apart
separated
Before
in
and women,
from Japanese and other Asians. Men
not
and wives, were
cluding husbands
separated and
to see or communicate
with each other again
allowed
admitted to the country. Minor
children
or
so
were
to
care
of their
the
under age twelve
assigned
of the Chinese
mothers. Most
however,
immigrants,
were males
in their teens or early twenties.
were
Soon after arrival, the would-be
immigrants
to
examinations.
Because
the hospital for medical
taken
until
they
became major
points
classified
some immi
in rural China,
diseases.
These cases
parasitic
of contention,
because the U.S.
certain of these ailments as loath
government
some and
and sought to use
contagious
dangerously
them as grounds for denial of admission. Arrivals with
in 1903. In 1910 government
trachoma were excluded
added
to the list uncinariasis
or hookworm
and
or liver fluke. Be
filiariasis and in 1917 clonorchiasis
cause these
the Chinese,
affected
regulations
primarily
to be more
to many
artificial
seemed
barriers
they
to
block their entry. Considerable
erected
protests by
Chinatown
allowed
being
Chinese
**
K^w
'J__^__f_^__E^^_^H__*
:"^H__________r______________
KflSk:,,v^:.p:|b^^^^^^^KflBii4_K::'
iiB_|__r
*ii^^KvP^'i^^^^^^^^^^|Hv
"::j-if_i^__B__g
________________i
were
of poor health conditions
grants were afflicted with
officials
.
^WMmBMT^^Wfftmm ^Slk
leaders eventually
resulted in some cases
to stay for medical
treatment.28
ili_iM_3Si _H_i__^_^_Hi
IK
?_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_V -:^__B^:-J__fe '____^^__VH_________h
:!<cp
____!
^_____*
any one time about 200 to 300 males and 30 to 50
females were detained at Angel
Island. Most were new
some
were
but
docu
arrivals,
returning residents whose
ments were considered
Also
the
questionable.
habiting
At
island were
earlier arrivals whose
applications had been
and who were waiting
either decisions on their
or orders for their
among the
appeal
departure. Mixed
detainees were Chinese who had been arrested and sen
tenced to be deported,30 as well as transients en route be
tween China and countries
the U.S.,
espe
neighboring
Mexico
and
Cuba.31
cially
denied
who passed the medical
hurdle were returned
on their
to await
to their dormitories
hearings
applica
tions. Men
lived in separate communal
and women
sat outside the dormitories'
locked doors, and
were
ma
the Chinese
usually left alone. One Chinese
tron, Ah Tai, was available at the women's
dormitory
rows of
provided with
single bunks arranged in
were
two or three tiers.
spartan in nature,
Furnishings
was
were
on the second
Men
minimal.
and privacy
kept
floor of the detention
barracks, which was surrounded
a fence to prevent escapes. Women,
to be
originally
by
to the second
in the same building, were moved
detained
to answer
rooms
story of the administration
94
building
in the 1920's.29
Guards
to their needs.32 To
information
forestall
the passing of
oral ex
to the detainees'
prior
coaching
no inmate could receive visitors from the
amination,
outside before his case had been judged. Authorities
routinely opened
ages to and from
coaching messages.
and scrutinized
detainees,
letters and gift pack
them for possible
inspecting
Island of Immortals
When permitted to visit the station,Miss
Maurer taught women detainees English.
in the dormitories were
conditions
barely
for
the
transient population
thrown-together
adequate
of strangers from all walks of life. Moreover,
janitorial
limited. Ten months
services were
after the station's
was
the acting commissioner
opening,
already criticizing
of the facilities. Fourteen years
the filthy conditions
Sanitary
had not
for in 1924 the
improved,
to
Association
bitterly complained
and Secretary of Labor
President Calvin Coolidge
on the island
conditions
J. J. Davis about the unhealthy
to sicken
which had allegedly
caused several detainees
and die. As late as 1932, the Angel
Island Liberty Asso
ciation, a detainees' organization
(see below), was forced
later, circumstances
Chinese Benevolent
to
the authorities
negotiate with
toilet tissue for the detainees.33
to
provide
cisco and their own books or those left behind
by others.
or
a
late
and
1920's
By the
early 1930's
phonograph
Chinese
opera records were also available for the de
sometimes
tainees' amusement. Women
sewed or
knitted.
recreation yards were
so
provided
they could breathe
a week
were
fresh air and enjoy sunshine. Once
they
escorted to the storehouse at the dock where
they could
small, fenced, outdoor
for the men and women
In addition,
items from their
select needed
baggage.
women
were
to walk
and children
sometimes
allowed
a
a
on the
in
supervised group,
grounds
privilege which
was denied to the men.
Somewhat
from various
infrequently
the detainees
'
-'___k
;'-'
M""
^____PE^^?ir.J_JL,_ri____B__
f_P_'liEL^awP^^w^^
. i::_i;.#>=^ipp*
...
jgjp-
#:A
-^B3H___P*^"'"
-
^:^HH_______^___________i_i
-^:^1b_______^_b_____________I
<__
____r
?
A^PS
5;?
^^yH^^^^HF____L_^__H^^__L':%l
""
^a,
_____ii_________P^,
Jr
soap and
of organized
activities within
the dormi
Deprived
on their
or
lolled
about
laid
tories,34 many
immigrants
most
time
of
the
about
their
future.
bunks,
worrying
were
Some passed the time gambling,
but stakes
usually
small because the inmates had little pocket money.
The
sent from San Fran
literate read Chinese newspapers
Separate
__________^__i_9h__L
____PSP^i_______?^8M__-
received
visits
of Chinatown's
Protestant mis
clergymen
to
few were converted
sions, but, understandably,
the
YMCA
the
Chinese
During
Christianity.
early 1920's
to the island to show movies
also made
regular trips
and teach English.35 The most
regular visitor, however,
was Deaconess
Katherine Maurer
ap
(1881-1962),
in 1912
Home Missionary
So
pointed
by theWoman's
ciety of theMethodist Episcopal Church to do Chinese
at the
station. Her work was
immigration
also supported by funds and gifts from the Daughters
of
the American Revolution.
The deaconess, who became
known as the "Angel of Angel
Island," helped detainees
to write
and performed
other
letters, taught English,
welfare
work
for the women
small services, primarily
and children,
to make detention
somewhat more bearable.36 Neither
she nor other visitors, however,
could change the basic
created by the
conditions
exclusion
laws.
discriminatory
The Chinese held atAngel Island resented their long
because they knew that im
confinements,
particularly
were
from
other
countries
and re
migrants
processed
a
short
leased within
time. Their
disgruntled
feelings
were fueled
the
enforced
idleness and accentuated
by
by
at the station. Unable
conditions
to
unsatisfactory
change
their plight, they frequently petitioned the CCBA, the
Chinese
Chamber
of Commerce,
and the Chinese
consul
95
'
California
The first petition charging mistreat
general for help.
ment was sent only a few days after the station opened
in 1910.37
Sometimes
quences
serious conse
these letters produced
of the senders. For ex
the expectations
beyond
consul general in San Fran
in 1916 the Chinese
ample,
to detainees'
cisco, Xu Shanging,
complaints
responded
of
and enlisted the help of the San Francisco Chamber
at
Island.
to investigate conditions
Commerce
Angel
became irate
The commissioner
general of immigration
channels
at the consul general for bypassing diplomatic
and had him declared persona non grata in the United
States. Xu was
transferred
to another
post
in Panama.38
especially during the
major complaint,
was the
food.39 The conces
quality of their
early years,
sion for providing meals was awarded to private firms
bids. In 1910, the first contractors,
based on competitive
The
detainees'
FongWing
two more
in
occurred
dining hall disturbances
although
with
1925, the one on June 30 again requiring
troops
to be called in from Fort MacDowell.
On
fixed bayonets
the food itself apparently
these two occasions, however,
was not the
cause.43
The
of these
primary
frequency
that
indicates
whatever
their
the resent
cause,
outbreaks,
ment harbored among the detainees could
easily explode
a suitable issue.
sparked by
In later years, the food appeared
when
to be
nutritionally
to home-cooked
comparable
adequate although hardly
at the
meals. Many
later recalled the meals
immigrants
station with distaste, but the unfriendly
attitude toward
at the station and
about
the future were
Chinese
anxiety
probably
also important
factors
inducing
these negative
reactions.
(KuangZhujing) and his white partner,
to have
adequate services.40 However,
provided
appeared
contract in 1911 to awhite firm which bid
the
lost
they
12^ to their 14^ per meal, and shortly afterward com
were heard about poor food. In 1913 a protest by
plaints
consul general forced the island officials to
the Chinese
but evidently no effective action was
promise changes,
in 1916 the average cost per meal had
undertaken:
to
only 8j_.41
dropped
the station, impatient and hot-headed
Within
young
matters
into their own hands and
took
often
immigrants
in the dining hall (located in the ad
staged disturbances
to protest the poor food and
ministration
building)
were
disorders
Such
mistreatment.
only rarely reported
to
but enough of them evidently occurred
the
press,
by
cause the immigration
officials to post a sign in Chinese
not to make
trouble nor to spill food on
diners
warning
a
riot
broke out, and troops had
In
the floor.
1919,
large
restore
to be called in to
order. A year later authorities
D.C. finally decided to improve the
inWashington,
menus were
instituted.42
fuller
and
situation,
about
the food subsided,
After this move,
complaints
96
History
aid and to maintain
A or their mutual
order, male de
called the Zi
tainees formed in 1922 an organization
whose
zhihui (Self-governing
Association),
Angli
Island Liberty Associ
cized name, ironically, was Angel
ation. The concept appeared to have evolved from the
a collective
custom in the
early years of speaking with
or
Its
voice when
expressing grievances.
asking for help
was
de
progressive
promoted
by politically
a
not
women
have
did
tainees, and the
corresponding
were
from the
Officers
elected
usually
organization.
formation
people who
those whose
had been detained
the longest, particularly
cases were on
at times
respected
appeal, and
were
also selected.44
intellectuals
activities during any
scope of the association's
on the nature of the current
particular period depended
aswell as the
and leader
detainee population
organizing
ar
new
When
of
the
abilities
officers.
immigrants
ship
a
mass
often hold
rived, the association would
meeting
to
to enroll them as members,
of con
the
rules
explain
to
collect
duct at the immigration
and
station,
perhaps
The
Island of Immortals
Coaching messages such as this confiscated
document outlined pertinent details about
home andfamily upon which Chinese
applicants would be cross-examined.
some money
itsmeager
for its treasury. With
funds
association bought records, books, and recreational
amusement.
for the detainees'
If talented
equipment
dividuals
were
the
in
and willing,
the association
concerts
would
schedule weekly
skits, operas, or musical
for diversion
in the evenings. At times classes were or
available
officers
ganized for the children,45 and occasionally
in the
succeeded in curtailing gambling
dormitory.
Letters to and from the detainees were often handled
by the officers of the group. If immigrants had com
or
requests, the association's
plaints
spokesman, who
some
usually knew
English, negotiated with the authori
ties. The
tween
The
officers
association's
also acted as liaison be
the government
officials and the inmates.46
association also served as a link in a communica
tion system between
Chinese
community.
the detainees
Most
and the San Francisco
of these activities
concerned
to individual detainees,47
in the reverse direction were
addressed
coaching messages
and communications
sometimes
The
accomplished.
communications
of Chinese
system depended
upon the co
at the station. The
employees
operation
visit San Francisco's
largely Chinese kitchen help would
on their
Chinatown
off.
There they picked up
days
at certain stores, which
messages
coaching
they smuggled
into the station for small fees. Various methods were
then used to deliver
the messages
from the kitchen to the
were
Most
often
recipient.
they
passed at meal
to
times
the table closest to the kitchen where
the
officers sat. A waiter,
association's
for example, would
serve an added dish of food and
say ga choi (Cantonese
for "added dish") or some similar
be
phrase. This would
a
a hidden
which
another
signal to look for
message
could later deliver to the addressee. The association's
officers also had a mutual
that if a guard
understanding
were to detect the presence of a
message,
they would
so that it could not be used as
its confiscation
prevent
intended
material
country.
evidence
to
jeopardize
someone's
entry
to the
In 1928 one such incident made
headlines.
newspaper
A matron
the Chinese women
into the
escorting
dining
room saw a
a folded
girl pick up
piece of paper which
had been dropped by one of themen filing out of the
room.
it to be a
dining
Suspecting
coaching message,
she snatched the paper from the
men
girl, but the
seized
the
and
the
turned,
matron,
quickly
destroyed
evidence.48
physical
The Chinese
association
the support of the
enjoyed
detainees because it filled a need and fostered a sense of
one
individuals
unity among the disparate
sharing only
common
the
United
were
States?who
goal?entering
thrown together
thousands of miles from their native
China. This explains
traffic
why,
despite the one-way
the
station
(most Chinese went
through
only once) and
transient
in
the
the associ
highly
population
dormitory,
ation was able to maintain
itself for three decades until
arrivals were
1952 or so when Chinese
en
masse
tained
for hearings.
no
longer de
97
California
History
as other aliens. The
resulting board of spe
footing
was
two
one of whom
made
cial inquiry
up of
inspectors,
was the chairman who asked most of the
questions, plus
was not bound
a
stenographer. This board
by technical
rules of procedure or evidence as applied by courts. The
if the applicant
purpose of the hearing was to determine
was entitled to enter the United
States under the ex
same
Regardless of the validity of their claims
to
for entry, Chinese arrivals expected
be interrogated intensively.
acts and
laws.50
general immigration
asmembers
entered
Chinese
the
of the
country
Many
exempt classes, but by far the greater number
applied
clusion
The
mission
on his
for ad
application
hearing
immigrant's
at the
was the main reason for his detainment
Island barracks, and sometime after he arrived, he
Angel
to appear for this session. During
received a summons
the early years at the center this waiting
period could
cause
of many
the
became
which
stretch into months,
however,
complaints.49 By the mid-1920's,
two or three weeks. The
about
averaged
the delay
immigrant's
the hearing barrier determined
be admitted to the U.S. or
the applicant would
whether
back to China, and thus itwas an im
face deportation
could shape the direction of one's
portant event which
success
entire
in hurdling
life.
arrival's
of the validity of the Chinese
Regardless
to
inten
be interrogated
claim for entry, he expected
studied
in
the
and
anticipation,
coaching
applicant
sively,
and months
information
preceding his
during the weeks
so as to commit
to memory
facts
voyage
to his
and
native
life,
family, home
village.
pertinent
The required information was often extremely
detailed,
be a booklet with several
and the coaching papers might
true in cases where
dozen pages. This was particularly
transpacific
claimed relationships
the applicant and his witnesses
were fictitious. Coaching
papers were frequently
or
taken aboard ship for review and thrown overboard
which
as the
the American
harbor.
destroyed
ship approached
the early years, the conduct and procedure
During
nu
for examining
produced
applicants and witnesses
merous
but
of unfairness from the Chinese,
complaints
in 1919 the procedure was changed, and the new boards
cases put them on the
of special inquiry for Chinese
98
or
for entry by claiming
citizenship by birth
by deriva
cases involved
tion.51 Because
the majority
of Chinese
or American
issues of relationship
birth and because
not
and documents
evidence
independent
usually did
or
exist to corroborate
the
the
claims,
scope
disprove
cases were dif
and method
of examination
for Chinese
that applied to other nationalities
of immi
was
to
Evidence
often
confined
the
grants.
testimony
offered by the applicant and his witnesses,
and the ob
was to ascertain the
jective of the board
validity of this
and comparison
evidence by cross-examination
of testi
ferent
from
on every matter which
tend to
mony
might
reasonably
or not the claim was valid.52 Under
show whether
these
the board of inquiry had great latitude in
its
interrogation.
pursuing
strict but fair; others
Some inspectors were
delighted
in matching
wits with
the interrogee;
still others were
and meticulous.
The type of question
asked
thorough
often depended on the case and the chairman's
individual
the years, one of the persistent complaints
style. Over
of the Chinese were questions of minute
details which
no relevance
to the
had
of the
apparently
objectives
guidelines
Some questions would
have been difficult for
answer
even
to
under normal circumstances:
anyone
How many
times a year were
letters received from a
a
How
did
father?
person's
person's father send the
to
to
U.S.?
travel
the
How many
money
steps were
there at the front door of a person's house? Who
lived
in the third house in the second row of houses in the
board.53
"
(yj -^^^^SS_i_?^^^_Si^iii3^L'^-^'^
=-?'-i-^ *^ ^
_T^___L^'__&.^y^M_*___SE;
lb
^^^m^ ^E^J^G^^E^^^^^^^^E^BBm
' m*
f
^WBL*
JKt^.
If-^bfc
proi;e his acceptability to immigration
<3^______________________^___-______f_B
^^bhmhmHss/?*!
iiX'*--^
^3___________________fl____^
jf.
"
.?
^^^____U^_____________flti
__<???^^^^^ ^^^______B^HB?_r
___________II9
l___________tf
'_wC_!_-_____________-_____-H-0'''
;**5*^^^^^H^^B^^^ ^^^^ MflUflP
r_2B__p__iP^^9lll_____________
was
village? Of what material
room of a
house?
What
person's
kitchen rice bin?
Because
Chinese
immigrants
in the bed
the flooring
was the location of the
usually
did not under
was needed at the
interpreter
hearing pro
to forestall collusion between
In
the ap
order
ceedings.
a
was
different
used for
interpreter
plicant and witnesses,
each session. At the end of each session the board chair
to
usually ask the interpreter
identify the
in order
in which
the answers were being made
to ascertain whether
and
witnesses
the applicant
alleged
to be members
of the same family were
speaking the
same dialect.
were recalled and
Sometimes
applicants and witnesses
about questionable
points. A typical pro
reinterrogated
or
two
these
three days. During
ceeding usually lasted
answers
memories
fail,
wrong
might
interrogations,
be
be given, and unforeseen
questions might
might
was
to
it
Hence
often
asked.
necessary
smuggle coaching
into the detention
information
quarters to eliminate
man would
dialect
in answers.
If the testimony of the applicant largely corroborated
admitted him into
the authorities
that of the witnesses,
an
unfavorable
decision was handed
If
the country.
down,
the applicant's
family
?____k:l_l
him to be deported to China or of appealing to higher
or to the courts to
inWashington,
D.C
the judgment.54 As a result some immigrants
on
Island for as long
languished under detention
Angel
as two years before their cases were
finally decided.
Most of the debarred swallowed
their disappointment
authorities
reverse
an
inconsistencies
ii___________P^
___ ______^^i^_________________f
standEnglish and the inspectors did not speak fluent
Chinese,
sessions.
officialsingrueling interrogation
^^3|VMH_k_^ |P ^x^jrfPl^f^^P^^^H^HH
~* 3fc_i*
jH___
!"^5Tf
-^-^^ ?_
*_%( *i,____U*^*
1K____h___m___op? _rtr i?l^____(s_,'%
t
wasrequired
to
^acnChinese
applicant
had
the choice
of allowing
and stolidly awaited their fate. Some, itwas said, com
to be
mitted
such occurrences
suicide, although
appeared
in
the
rare, and little information
newspapers
appeared
and public documents.55
Some disappointed
applicants
and mental
their frustrations
vented
anguish by writing
or
on the detention
center's walls
carving Chinese poems
as
or orders for
waited
for
the
of
results
they
appeals
their deportation.
literally covered
of the carvings which
Today, many
the quarters' walls are still legible under
applied in the intervening years.56
layers of paint
undated
Usually
was written
before
are in the classical
most
and anonymous,
the 1930's. Practically
style made
famous
(618-907 a.d.). Recurrent
Tang dynasty
are
of the works
feelings of disillusion,
bitterness about the treatment received
of this poetry
all the poems
during China's
through many
and
resentment,
at
Island.
Angel
This place is called an island of immortals
But as amatter of fact the mountain wilderness
is a prison.
The bird plunges in even though it sees the open net.
Because of poverty, one can do naught else.
99
"
This place is called
an island immortals
of
the mountain
but...
is a
Others
expressed
wilderness
prison."
anger:
The small building with three beams is just sufficient to
shelter the body.
It is unbearable to tell accumulated stories on these island
slopes.
till the day I become successful and fulfill my wish!
Wait
Iwill not be sparing and will level the customs station.57
Still other poems worried about families left behind in
China
and of the uncertain
future:
do I have to sit in jail?
Why
It is only because my country
isweak
to facilitate administration
ex
of the Chinese
primarily
clusion laws. To Chinese arrivals itwas a half-open
door
a racist
at best, a prominent
symbol of
immigration
policy.
and my
family
is
news.
My parents wait at the door in vain for
My wife and child wrap themselves in their quilt, sighing
with loneliness.
Even should I be allowed to enter this country,
to return to China with wealth?
can Imake
When
enough
Since the ancient days, most of those who leave home
become worthless.
Heretofore how many had ever returned from wars?
Island Immigra
from the Angel
more
and intensely the
tion Station express
eloquently
of
sentiments
of
the
Chinese
and
immigrants
feelings
Few other documents
era.
xJLngel
100
anti-Chinese
Sustained
resistance
and their
by the Chinese community
in the
however,
sympathizers
larger society,
eventually
resulted in many harsh regulations
and practices
being
or rescinded, and Chinese
modified
arrivals gradually
were
treated with greater regard to due process of law.
the late 1930's the number of Chinese
rejections for
had
below
the
5
entry
percent,58 although
dropped
By
ordeal
of detentions
Although
the U.S. with
Islandhad been called the Ellis Island of the
For thousands
of
immigrants
from
countries
a
period of
during
attitudes reflected in
established
prejudices,
the official stance of the immigration
service that Chi
nese
were undesirable.
authori
immigrants
Immigration
to carry out this
to its fullest
ties attempted
policy
measure
execution
of the exclusion
laws.
by draconian
violated
West.
Island station was
Angel
virulent
poor.
that
the Pacific Basin, itwas the portal to the "land
rimming
its famed sister station on the
of opportunity."
Unlike
Atlantic
Island did not extend
coast, however,
Angel
to all who
hands
for itwas built
came,
welcoming
and hearings continued.
it is undeniable
that many Chinese
fraudulent
entered
credentials
and thus technically
this practice was made
the immigration
laws,
laws. It is also
necessary by unjust and discriminatory
true that
were
denied entry
applicants with valid claims
because they could not properly convince hostile boards
on
of inquiry. Their experiences
Island and under
Angel
on the
Anonymous detainees carvedpoems
detention center's walls while awaiting
decisions on their cases.
for
laws laid the groundwork
an
of
entire generation
and attitudes of
the behavior
as well as
memories
Chinese Americans.
Unpleasant
to
status led many Chinese
regard immigra
shaky legal
as
to
and
The insensitive
fear.
avoid
tion officers
objects
the American
attitude
exclusion
of the authorities
these sentiments.
hulk of theAngel Island detention building, with its
the hopes and
carvings expressing
stands as a
of
nameless Chinese
heartbreaks
immigrants,
so
stark reminder that not
very long ago the nation's
some
was based on the
premise that
immigration
policy
to others in the United
racial groups were preferred
covered with
walls
A History
the Chinese
H. M. Lai, P. P. Choy,
of
1969), p. 26.
(San Francisco,
Versus
the Open Door Policy,
Chinese Exclusion
1882 act was
amended
The
igoo-igo6
1977), p. 29.
(Detroit,
in 1888
of
in 1884. Two
laws were
reentry
restricting
passed
in 1902.
1882 act was extended
in 1892 and
laborers. The
again
Ex
In 1904 exclusion
of laborers was
extended
indefinitely.
to U.S.
also extended
clusion was
possessions.
States.59
California
3. D. L. McKee:
4. U.S.
L. Kroeber,
"Native
by A.
and Dialects
of California
See map
Families
Tribes,
Groups,
in R.
in 1770,"
Language,
F. Heizer
The California Indians,A SourceBook
(Berkeley, 1971). Angel Island is part ofMarin County, which
the home
of
the Miwoks.
M.
B. Hoover,
H.
E.
In their
writings
2ldirect translation
of various
or
Eng-ji
Chinese
often
of
Island.
Angel
Cantonese
Ai-lun.
dialects
the name Tianshi Dao,
In other instances
translitera
were
used, such as Yin-jou
used
the
from
of Immigration,
igo2Jigo3,
of Immigration,
igo4Jigo$,
to
Zai Tao, who was
in the U.S.
study military
8. McKee,
Chinese Exclusion,
192.
9. U.S.
Senate, Report No.
jj6, Chinese
Congress,
1 Session,
1904, p. 313; IraM. Condit,
Congress,
asWe SeeHim and
Fifty Years ofWork for Him
conditions.
57
Exclusion,
The Chinaman
(New York,
86-7.
10.
Report
igogjigio,
of the Commissioner-General
of Immigration,
November
18, 1902.
p. 132; San Francisco Chronicle,
11.
Report
of the Commissioner-General
igo2Jigo3,
of Immigration,
p. 63.
12. Section
in Recom
American
III, "Historical
Survey,"
Building
1900),
pp.
mendationsfor theHistorical RecreationalDevelopment ofAngel
Island, prepared by Marshall McDonald and Associates for the
Division of Beaches and Parks, State of California (1966);
U.S.
House,
Congress,
Report
59 Congress,
Island, Cal.,
Angel
Chronicle,
18, 1907.
August
13. Report
of the Commissioner-General
No.
4640,
1 Session,
Station on
Immigration
1906; San Francisco
of Immigration,
igo8jigog,
p. 144.
14. File No.
17. Chinese World, April 5, 1910. The CCBA,
18.
19.
20.
21.
also known as the
Six
Resolution
22.
23,
was
at the time considered
the
Companies,
spokes
man
for the Chinese
in America.
community
Report
of the Commissioner-General
lgog/igio,
of Immigration,
p. 133.
Chinese World, May
2, June 9, March
1, 1910.
San Francisco Chronicle,
Oct.
28, 1910.
on House
U.S.
Document
No.
House,
2og, Report
Congress,
Chinese
and E. G.
Rensch (revised byW. N. Abeloe), Historic Spots inCalifornia,
3rdEdition (Stanford, 1966), p. 348.
AiAan
847, Compilations
p. 81; Chinese World, May 2, 1910. CCBA Petition to Prince
andM. A. Whipple,
tions
No.
Record
Set 85, National
52961-26B,
Archives,
Sai Yat Po, Nov.
12, 1909.
D.C;
Washington,
Chung
Sai Yat Po, Nov.
15. Chung
30, 1909.
16. Chinese World,
Jan. 22, 1910; San Francisco Chronicle,
Jan.
1910.
Notes
was
Document
House,
5. Ibid., pp. 28, 6.
6. Report
of the Commissioner-General
p. 107; igo4Jigos,
p. 98.
Commissioner-General
7. Report
of the
on
i.
Congress,
Records of theBureau of Immigration of Facts Concerning the
Enforcement of theChinese Exclusion Laws (1906), pp. 13, 9.
The photographs onpages g4 andgg arefrom theNational Archives;
and on page gi, the
page g$, courtesy Mrs. Everett C. Schneider;
on
CHS
The photograph
page go is reproduced from Chinese
Library.
of the
those on page g2, from Report
22, lgio;
World,
January
Commissioner
of Immigration/or
The coaching message
igoj andigi2.
1 Session,
is
57 Congress,
776, "Chinese Exclusion,"
from Senate, Report
is courtesy Mak
Takahashi.
igo4, and the poems
Chinn,
in
toward Chinese
immigrants
the feeling
Moreover,
only
were allowed
in
this
that
Chinese
country
among
they
on sufferance of the dominant white majority
only
in the
to foster alienation and non-involvement
helped
a
had
exacted
Racism
indeed
high price.
larger society.
laws no longer blatantly dis
immigration
Today,
criminate against specific racial groups. But the lonely
reinforced
2. T. W.
Luther
225.
C.
commissioner
Steward,
Acting
Dec.
general,
Commissioner,
Record
19,1910,
to
San Francisco,
Set 85, National
101
California
Chinese World, Nov.
Archives;
14,1922,
8,1920, March
Aug.
see San Francisco
23. For example,
Oct.
Nov.
27,1924;
10,1927;
1937.
Sai Yat Po,
12, Nov.
Aug.
Chung
on
25. Handwritten
manuscript
Angel
n.d., anonymous.
stationery,
on the life of Chinese
26. Information
was
quarters
people
two
who
from
together
pieced
on the island,
were
inspectors,
detainees
whose
and a kitchen
7, 1940.
Island
in the detention
enemy
28.
alien
seamen,
The
including
as well
with
immigration
prisoners.
some
off the island when
prisoners
Chinese World,
December
15,1910.
period
the
of Immigration,
lgigj
station was not used
I to
to escape.
attempted
of
Chinese
community
of them
San Francisco sentDr. King H. Kwan
(GuanQiangting)
of
to
suc
D.C. He
representative
Washington,
of Commerce
the Department
and Labor
a
and that
disease
dangerous
contagious
to stay in the U.S.'
should be allowed
for medical
patients
commu
treatment.
Chinese World,
Jan. 30, 1922. The Chinese
China
as their
in
ceeded
convincing
that filiariasis was not
nity fought the liver fluke regulation all through the 1920*8.
In 1927,Dr. Fred Lam (LinRonggui) of Honolulu, delegated
of Commerce
Chambers
of Honolulu
and San
by the Chinese
to go to
Francisco
D.C,
Washington,
successfully
proved
or liver fluke was not
to
officials
that clonorchiasis
health
public
was
in the U.S.,
and the
amended
contagious
regulation
accordingly.
29. Dorene Askin, Historical Report, Angel Island ImmigrationStation
(draft), June 3, 1977, p- 5
were
or for
arrested
for fraudulent
the deportees
entry
A few were
reasons.
crimes.
for
committing
political
deported
30. Most
of
Xavier Dea (Xie Cang), a radical leader of theChinese Unem
ployed Council in San Francisco, was deported during the early
to the USSR.
Chinese World, May
16,1931.
as
Laws and
Chinese Exclusion
Evey,
Immigration Laws
to Chinese,
Second
series, Lecture No.
32, Pt. 1, Jan. 21,
Applied
in the detention
barracks were written
1935- Some poems
by
or Cuba.
to Mexico
Chinese
going
in transit were
laborers
if they
Chinese
admitted
posted
if they transferred
from one vessel
bonds. This was not required
to another
in a U.S.
vessel
port, and some of these evidently
on
were
who
Island. One
interviewee
detained
arrived
Angel
at
in 1929 met his uncle who was on
from China
Island
Angel
i93o's
31. H. D.
102
deportees
countries
neighboring
were
also de
to U.S.
and were
authorities
maintained
32. Ah Tai was hired from Cameron
House,
by
as a home
Mission
in San Francisco
Chinese
Presbyterian
the
for
orphaned girls and girls from broken families and in trouble, in
33.
Feb.
1910. Chinese World,
to commissioner
Steward
Mar.
1925, it also used to hold
all
commissioner
ordered
The
from
Chinese
surrendered
many
via San Francisco.
deported
thirty-five
interpreters,
as male
and female
the entire
and until
arrival.
ship's
tained on Angel Islandwhile waiting for a ship to China. Dur
ing the period of anti-Chinese agitation inMexico in the early
two
solely for immigrants. Itwas used duringWorld War
intern
Many
Station
Immigrant
helper
experience
spanned
station was
active.
the
awaiting
i93o's,
immigrants
interviews
immigration
27. Annual
Report
of the Commissioner-General
that the
ig20, p. 370. It should be noted
federal
his way to China from Cuba. He was detained on the island
San Francisco Chronicle,
17,1913;
Nov.
1, 1922.
Dec.
12, 1923; Feb.
Chronicle,
Feb. 24, 1937; Mar.
23,1934;
29,
24.
History
34. Report
p. 30.
35. For example,
1910.
Dec.
Sai Yat Po
Chung
nese YMCA
in the following
1, Oct.
4, Oct.
visits
appeared
Aug.
The
22,
general,
17, 1924, Dec.
3, 1932.
of the Commissioner-General
Chinese
19,1910;
ig22Jig23,
of Immigration,
on visits
reported
issues:May
15, Oct.
17, Oct.
to have ceased
by
29,
the
World,
by
the Chi
13, June 24, July 21,
1925; Aug.
26,
1926.
i93o's.
36. Kuan Yin, Goddess ofMercy onAngel Island (Cincinnati, 1939?);
of the American
Revolution,
Daughters
37. Chung Sai YatPo,]2M.
27, 1910.
Feb. 17, Mar.
1, Sept.
38. Chinese World,
Angel
26,
Island
(1929).
1916.
39. The responsibility for feeding the detainees was borne by the
steamship company until island officials ruled on eligibility
for
admission.
of
shoulders
25,
to that date,
the cost fell on
or his
sponsor. Chinese World,
Subsequent
the applicant
the
Jan.
1911.
was
to the Chinese World,
Feb. 28, 1910, the menu
BREAKFAST?Tea,
rice, pork with white
greens,
dried
melon,
lily flowers, Chinese
cabbage, mustard
one small dish. LUNCH?
or dried bean sticks,
plus
with
and dried
beef and
congee with
shrimps,
pork
40. According
as follows:
winter
greens,
Congee
dried white
gee with
shoot,
coffee
congee with
and bread,
sweet con
green beans,
or sweet
soup.
tapioca
rice, beef cooked with cabbage, dried bam
DINNER?Tea,
boo
sweet
greens,
red beans,
potatoes,
or
turnips.
Fresh
fish
or bean
vermicelli
with dried shrimp on Friday; plus one small dish. The small
dish
could
salt fish,
be
sweet
pickles
41. Chinese World,
Mar.
1,1916.
fermented
olive,
preserved
sauce.
plum
Feb. 26,1911;
13, 1911; Sept.
May
bean
6, 1913;
42. Mary Bamford, Angel Island, The Ellis Island of theWest
cago,
1917), p.
The new menu
with
greens
following
(Mom);
curd,
or
15; Chinese World,
Jan. 15, 1919; Mar.
was
as follows:
BREAKFAST?Tea
dishes:
pork
Pork
with
and mustard
(Chi
19, 1920.
and rice
stem
cabbage,
preserved
greens
soup, fermented
bean
curd (Tues.); pork with greens, salt fish (Wed.); pork with
dried
bean
soup,
bean
sauce
sticks, plum
(Thurs.);
curd with
soy sauce (Fri.);
and winter
melon
pork
sweet
beef steamed with
Island of Immortals
pickles, greens (Sat.); bean vermicelli with pork, fermented
bean
(Sun.). LUNCH?Biscuits,
Pork
congee
(Mon.);
paste
following:
sweet
tea with
and
bread,
soup
tapioca
the
(Tues.,
Thurs., Sat.); pork and fish congee (Wed.); pork congee (Fri.);
ricewith following:
pork noodles (Sun.). DINNER?Tea,
Bean vermicelli with pork, salt fish (Mon.); fish with dried lily
flowers,
olive with
preserved
potatoes,
olives
preserved
(Wed.);
to
for admission.
of natives
Report
grandsons
of
began
apply
the Commissioner-General
p. 15.
ig2j\ig2$,
of Immigration
Boards
52. Haff,
of Special Inquiry.
committee
of the San Francisco
Chamber
53. A joint
investigating
it "an im
of Commerce
and the Merchant's
found
Exchange
to answer
for any
the
possibility"
questions
applicant
inspector's
Oct.
Chinese
Chamber
10, 1910. Another
correctly.
Defender,
beef with bean sprouts, salt fish (Thurs.); codfish with dried
lily flowers, preserved olives (Fri.); pork with white beans,
preserved olives (Sat.); beef with turnips or cloud fungus, beef
with onions, salt fish (Sun.).
43.
1925 Chinese accused awhite waiter at the dining hall of being
and
44.
they
On
30 he
June
the waiter
attacked
settings.
Chinese World,
J. P.Wong,
Aug.
24,
the detainees
served
and guard
1923.
with
In an interview
an old Kuomintang
stale bread,
and table
utensils
on
evidence
had
the early part
been
found.
member,
corroborating
however,
during
and the
group,
Kuomintang,
was amilitant
idea of the Zizhihui was a concept which would fit into the
of that
Kuomintang
ideology
period.
in 1932 the Chinese
association
45. For example,
Chinese World,
Jan. 9, 1932.
Nov.
46. San Francisco Chronicle,
6, 1940.
47. GilbertWoo
49.
ti
shang
Daixinren)"
1974.
San Francisco Examiner,
Mar.
Chinese
28,
May
At
the San Francisco
Chamber
on
Island found
the
conditions
gating
Angel
Chinese World, Mar.
1, 1916.
Service Bulletin,
Vol.
50. U.S.
I, No.
Immigration
of
same
situation.
12, Mar.
to
the applicant's
village;
in the
the applicant's
house
the
family;
by
applicant's
of the
the
father;
applicant's
applicant's
applicant;
village;
attended
was
by the press
a woman
jumped
an unsuccessful
from
the
18, 1926.
least two
one successful
and the other unsuccess
suicides,
in 1948.
ful, were
quarters
reported
By this time, the detention
was
in the
in San Francisco.
San Francisco
Appraisers'
Building
Chronicle,
27, 1948.
Sept. 24, Oct.
are more
so far on the walls
than 60 poems
of
identified
56. There
two collections
the detention
In addition
of poems
building.
copied by detainees Smiley Jann and Tet Yee in 1931 and 1932
had come forth. The Jann and Yee
collections
respectively
included
each. In all there are more
than
92 and 93 poems
different
known
poems
today.
57. The Chinese
custom
and
of
long delays
In 1916 a com
of Commerce
investi
asked
inspectors
in
1, 1916. One
to
for infor
probe
building and injured her head and left leg. Chinese World,
58. Annual
20, 1928.
In 1913 the Chinese
consul general
complained
cases. Chinese World,
in Chinese
Nov.
8, 1913.
mittee
Nov.
Pacific Weekly,
related
applicant's
market
of the rare incidents
noted
55. One
in 1926, when
suicide attempt
(Hujingnan); "Messengers on Angel Island (Tian
shi Dao
that
54. Haff, Boards of Special Inquiry.
a school.
started
generations
in the
the
village;
village
the homeward
journey
to
Hong
Kong.
trip
(ChineseNationalist Party)
The
of the century,
older
neighbors
16, 1977,
July
a
that Lin Qushen,
claimed
member,
Kuomintang
was
So far no other
of the Zizhihui.
the founder
48.
spector
also concluded
Chinese World, Mar.
questions.
from
the 1930's recalled
that he used
mation about: the applicant himself; the applicant's family;
to let new arrivals dine first
In March,
decided
1925, officials
had been on
of crowded
conditions.
Detainees
who
because
to this arrangement
time took exception
the island for a longer
and caused a disturbance.
Chinese World, Mar.
27, 1925. In
an informer.
committee
investigating
nit-picking
59.
immigrants
immigration
Reports,
Secretary
often
did not
distinguish
130
the
between
stations.
of Labor
(Washington,
D.C).
In 1976, the California
state
for the
$250,000
preservation
for
1937,
1938,
1939,
1940
a bill
legislature
allocating
passed
and historical
of
interpretation
the immigration detention building on Angel Island.
1, 1919.
Edward L. Haff: Boards of Special Inquiry, 2nd Series, Lecture
No.
24, Nov.
26, 1934.
51. From July 1, 1920, until
as U.S.
entered
the U.S.
the
same
period
June 30, 1940,
citizens, while
numbered
66,039, with
some
aliens
a
71,040 Chinese
admitted
during
large
percentage
being merchants and their families. Timothy J.Molloy,
of Chinese
Century
tion and Naturalization
A Brief
Immigration:
Service Monthly
"A
Review,"
Immigra
Review,
1947,
Dec,
in the earlier years were
of the citizens
"native
pp. 69-75. Most
sons and even
more
sons" but
and more
by the late i92o's,
103