Case 9520
Case 5000

Contact me, tony@frederickbee.com. Write "curriculum" on subject line.

Chinese Exclusion curriculum resources
These resources pre-date construction of the Angel Island Immigration Station.




Index to webpage



Testimony

Lim Git Gaow was a 17-year-old female who was detained in 1890 because of Chinese Exclusion laws. Lim was unsuccessful in proving her right to remain in the USA.
Lim's testimony
Lim's entire record
I have a Mandarin translation of Lim's testimony.

Wong Suey Gaow
Wong was a 5-year-old girl detained in 1890.

Harm Kee Chi
Harm Kee Chi gave testimony in 1890.

Tom Ah Fong
Tom Ah Fong gave testimony in 1887.

Ah You
Ah You gave testimony in 1884.

Loui Hung Yin
Loui Hung Yin gave testimony in 1891.

Chun Chi Sir
Chun Chi Sir gave testimony in 1891.

Young Choy Ling
Young Choy Ling gave testimony in 1891.

Lee Ah Foon
Lee Ah Foon gave testimony in 1891.

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Original records

Records of women detained by Chinese Exclusion
Spreadsheet of records of women detained by Chinese Exclusion

Records of detainees under the age of 18

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Spreadsheet and Index

Index to Habeas Corpus Cases of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco
March 22, 1882 - June 16, 1887
Cases 2034 - 3200
Cases 3202 - 3946
Cases 3950 - 4678
June 17, 1887 - August 6, 1888
Cases 4679 - 5268
Cases 5269 - 5888
Cases 5889 - 6508
Cases 6509 - 7129
Cases 7130 - 7812
August 6, 1888 - March, 1892
Cases 7813 - 8398
Cases 8399 - 9019
Cases 9020 - 9639
Cases 9640 - 10321
I copied these records at the National Archives in San Bruno, California.
Transcription of the Index to Habeas Corpus Cases for the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco, March 22, 1882 to June 1, 1892

Index sorted by attorney

Spreadsheet of the Habeas Corpus cases of the Ninth District Court that lists the name of the Detainee and the name of the Detainee's father
For the period from October, 1889 to June, 1892.

NOTE: the transcription may have errors. The original records were written in cursive.

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Graphs

Charts of the three attorneys who handled most of the cases

Consul Bee generally recommended Riordan to Chinese passengers.

Year-by-year breakdown of immigration cases

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Geographical breakdown of Habeas Corpus cases

Examples of US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco detainees allegedly born in San Jose, California

Examples of US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco detainees allegedly born in Los Angeles, California

Examples of US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco detainees allegedly born in Marysville, California

Examples of US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco detainees allegedly born in Red Bluff, California

Examples of US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco detainees allegedly born in Alameda County, California

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Massacres

Frederick A. Bee investigated murders of Chinese residents in the western United States.
SEARCH the Foreign Relations of the United States.
Search for "F.A. Bee", "Frederick Bee", "Rock Springs", etc.

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Personal stories

Ah Yute

Ah Yute was placed in the Presbyterian Occidental Board Mission Home when she arrived in the United States. She died in the home at the age of 19.

Ah Oie

From an entry in Log Book of Presbyterian Occidental Board Mission Home ,"Ah Oie was born in Fat San, China, her parents dying when she was a child her grandmother sold her to a woman named Ah Tai for $130." Ah Oie left the home after she married a Chinese man.
Doreen Der-Mcleoed has access to the original records of the Presbyterian Occidental Board Mission Home (now known as the Cameron House).
Presbyterian Church of Chinatown
Cameron House

Sarah Burke
Sarah was a 17-year-old white female who had a sanity hearing after she announced she wanted to marry a Chinese man.

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Laws and treaties other than Chinese Exclusion Act


Gresham Treaty

Gresham Treaty of 1894 - The English version of the second paragraph reads, "And whereas the Government of China, in view of the antagonism and much deprecated and serious disorders to which the presence of China laborers has given rise in certain parts of the United States, desires to prohibit."
The Chinese version taken from Donghua Record of the Guangxu Reign: the second month of the twentieth year of the Guangxu Reign [March, 1894]; section pg. 38-40 (bookpg.3342-3344) reads more plainly, "And whereas the Government of China, in view of the hardships and maltreatment that many Chinese laborers suffer in the United States, fearing the damage to the diplomatic relationship, desires to prohibit."

Unites States v. Ju Toy
From Wikipedia, "This case marked a shift in the court in respect to habeas corpus petitions and altered the judicial landscape for citizens applying for admission into the United States as well as for those facing deportation."

Article XIX of the California State Constitution adopted in 1879
ARTICLE XIX.
CHINESE.
SECTION 1. The Legislature shall prescribe all necessary regulations for the protection of the State, and the counties, cities, and towns thereof, from the burdens and evils arising from the presence of aliens who are or may become vagrants, paupers, mendicants, criminals, or invalids afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases, and from aliens otherwise dangerous or detrimental to the well-being or peace of the State, and to impose conditions upon which persons may reside in the State, and to provide the means and mode of their removal from the State, upon failure or refusal to comply with such conditions; provided, that nothing contained in this Section shall be construed to impair or limit the power of the Legislature to pass such police laws or other regulations as it may deem necessary.
SEC. 2. No corporation now existing or hereafter formed under the laws of this State, shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, employ directly or indirectly, in any capacity, any Chinese or Mongolian. The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary to enforce this provision.
SEC. 3. No Chinese shall be employed on any State, county, municipal, or other public work, except in punishment for crime.
SEC. 4. The presence of foreigners ineligible to become citizens of the United States is declared to be dangerous to the well-being of the State, and the Legislature shall discourage their immigration by all the means within its power. Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is forever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labor shall be void. All companies or corporations, whether formed in this country or any foreign country, for the importation of such labor, shall be subject to such penalties as the Legislature may prescribe. The Legislature shall delegate all necessary power to the incorporated cities and towns of this State for the removal of Chinese without the limits of such cities and towns, or for their location within prescribed portions of those limits, and it shall also provide the necessary legislation to prohibit the introduction into this State of Chinese after the adoption of this Constitution. This Section shall be enforced by appropriate legislation.

Cubic Air Ordinance

From Wikipedia, "The Sanitary Ordinance, also known as the Cubic Air Ordinance was a law passed in San Francisco, California on July 29, 1870. The ostensible purpose of the law was to prevent unsafe tenement conditions as the city grew. Under the law, boarding houses were required to have 500 cubic feet (14,000 L) of air in a room for each occupant. The penalty for violating the ordinance was a fine of $10 to $500, 5 to 90 days in jail, or both, imposed on both the landlord and the occupants."

Daily Alta California, Volume 38, Number 12740, 1 March 1885
Consul Bee represented violators of Cubic Air Ordinance.

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Individuals

Frederick A. Bee

Frederick A. Bee was a Gold Rush pioneer, miner, merchant, builder of the Sierra telegraph, developer of Sausalito, overseer of railroad construction, lobbyist, and official at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco from 1878 to 1892.
Frederick Bee History Project
Encyclopedia Britannica
Wikipedia
Mr. Bee worked with the Chinese community and government from 1876 to 1892.
F. A. Bee represented the Chinese community at the Joint Special Committee to Investigate Chinese Immigration in 1876. The report of the Committee concluded the Chinese population had few desirable characteristics.
Report of the Joint Special Committee to Investigate Chinese Immigration
Huang Zunxian was appointed as the Consul General to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco in 1882. Huang wrote a poem about Frederick Bee.
Huang's poem
Rock Springs, Wyoming massacre
October, 1884 letter regarding exclusion of Chinese from public schools
Court placed female detainee in custody of Frederick Bee.
Refer to Ah Oie listed above.

Huang Zunxian

Huang was a 33-year-old Chinese poet and diplomat when he met Mr. Bee in 1882.
Wikipedia
Encyclopedia Britannica

Margaret Culbertson

Superintendent of Presbyterian Occidental Board Mission Home
Trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco pursued by police

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November 9, 1878 - Colonel Bee's Hobby Horse
March 15, 1879 - The Golden Calf Retained
August 1879 to July 1880 - How the Chinaman Goes It in San Francisco
January 1881 to June 1881 - The New Treaty and the New Politicians
February 12, 1881 San Francisco Newsletter page 15
January 1882 to June 1882 - Our New Cabinet in Washington
July 1882 to December 1882 - The Chinese want to go
July 1882 to December 1882 - Royal Recollections of San Francisco
August 15, 1885 - Restriction Act Knocked Out
1886 Wasp cartoon- Diplomacy
August 10, 1889 - Easy Work. The way to repeal an act of Congress
September 28, 1889 - A Dangerous Machine to Fool With
July 1889 to December 1889 - The Joker makes his appearance once more

This website has a selection of cartoons about Chinese residents by Thomas Nast.

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