Research Catalog

The white devil's daughters : the women who fought slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown

Title

The white devil's daughters : the women who fought slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown / Julia Flynn Siler.

Author

Siler, Julia Flynn, 1960-

Publication

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2019.
©2019

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Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JFE 19-9082	Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description

xii, 423 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

"A revelatory history of the trafficking of young Asian girls that flourished in San Francisco during the first century of Chinese immigration (1848-1943) and the "safe house" on the edge of Chinatown that became a refuge for those seeking their freedom. From 1874, a house on the edge of San Francisco's Chinatown served as a gateway to freedom for thousands of enslaved and vulnerable young Chinese women and girls. Known as the Occidental Mission Home, it survived earthquakes, fire, bubonic plague, and violence directed against its occupants and supporters--a courageous group of female abolitionists who fought the slave trade in Chinese women. With compassion and an investigative historian's sharp eyes, Siler tells the story of both the abolitionists, who challenged the corrosive, anti-Chinese prejudices of the time, and the young women who dared to flee their fate. She relates how the women who ran the house defied contemporary convention, even occasionally broke the law, by physically rescuing children from the brothels where they worked, or snatching them off the ships smuggling them in, and helped bring the exploiters to justice. She has also uncovered the stories of many of the girls and young women who came to the Mission and the lives they later led, sometimes becoming part of the home's staff themselves. A remarkable story of an overlooked part of our history, told with sympathy and vigor"--

Subject

Genre/Form

History.

Note

"This is a Borzoi Book."

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages [359]-406) and index.

Contents

Queen's room -- "The cussedest place for women" -- Reveille cry -- "No ordinary person" -- Victorian compromise -- Inked thumbprints -- The celestial quarter -- "To have a little Chinaman" -- Baiting the hook -- Life as a mui tsai -- "A worse slavery than ever uncle tom knew of " -- Dynamite -- Devil's playground -- Chinatown in tears -- Year of the rat -- Instant fame -- Municipal storm -- "Forcing me into the life" -- "I may go to sleep tonight and then find myself in hell!" -- A deathbed promise -- Taking public stands -- Pink curtain -- Courage to fight evil -- The Chinese Mark Twain -- "'Ell of a place!" -- The Lord is my shepherd -- "The stress of circumstances" -- Homecomings -- Municipal crib -- Paper son -- Dragon stories -- Tiny -- Missionaries of the home -- Matchmaking -- The "joy zone" -- Fruit tramps -- "Are you wearing a mask and taking precautions?" -- Quiet defiance -- "Sargy" -- Bessie -- Heavens for courage -- The thwack of bouncing balls -- Little general -- Shangri-la -- Broken blossoms -- Epilogue: "Blessed Tien."

Call Number

JFE 19-9082

ISBN

9781101875261
1101875267

LCCN

2018039985

OCLC

1048936296

Author

Siler, Julia Flynn, 1960- author.

Title

The white devil's daughters : the women who fought slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown / Julia Flynn Siler.

Publisher

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2019.

Copyright Date

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [359]-406) and index.

Other Form:

Online version: Siler, Julia Flynn, author. White devil's daughters First edition. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2019 9781101875278 (DLC) 2018054367

Research Call Number

JFE 19-9082

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