Introduction: Constructing childhood in early Chinatown : image versus reality -- The immigration of Chinese children and the Chinese question -- Recentering the Chinese family in early Chinese American history -- For the family back home : Chinese children at work -- Challenging segregation : Chinese children at school -- Articles of contention : Chinese children in the missions and courts -- Children of the new Chinatown -- Conclusion: Constructing the future
Summary
Jorae challenges long-held notions of early Chinatown as a bachelor community by showing that families--and particularly children--played important roles in its daily life. Facing barriers of immigration exclusion, cultural dislocation, child labor, segregated schooling, crime, and violence, Chinese American children attempted to build a world for themselves on the margins of two cultures. Their story is part of the larger American story of the struggle to overcome racism and realize the ideal of equality
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-283) and index