James Wong Howe, the Silent Film Era

James Wong Howe, born August 28, 1899 in Canton, China, would become revered as one of the greatest cinematographers in cinema history. His father worked in America on the Northern Pacific Railway and in 1904 brought over his family. The Howes lived in Pasco, Washington, where they owned and worked at a general store. During his teenage years Howe moved to Oregon following his father's death and took in a brief stint as a flyweight boxer before settling in Los Angeles, California. Howe began his career as a commercial photographer's delivery boy as well as a busboy in the Beverly Hills Hotel. Howe later found low-level work at Lasky Studios which allowed him to meet silent film director Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille hired Howe as a clap boy and was discovered during this time for these skills in photography. Howe was a strong utilize of shadowing, and one of the first to use deep-focus cinematography: photography where both foreground and distant planes remain in focus. Prior to his success in the 1930s and 1940 Howe was creating innovations during the Silent Film era that would revolutionize cinema. One technique he used for shadowing consisted of making eyes look darker by photographing a person while they were looking at a dark surface. As Mary Miles Minter was his test subject for this photograph Howe became her preferred photographer and in 1923 was given a position as head cameraman for his first film, capturing Minter's close-ups in the film Drums of Fate. For these close ups he mounted black velvet around the camera frame. Howe became known as the man who could make actresses look their best without using tricks. In 1928, Howe was shooting backgrounds for a film in China that he wanted to direct, parts of the film were used in Shanghai Express. On his return to Hollywood, he was dumbstruck to find that Sound film or "talkies" had largely replaced silent films. His lack of experience in sound film left him out of work until William K. Howard hired him as the cinematographer on Transatlantic in 1930. Howes success in Transatlantic carried on into the 1930’s and 1940’s. His affect on Pop Culture can be seen in any film, which utilizes his cinematic techniques and photography. His success in Hollywood opened windows for future careers of Asian Americans in media. He has over 130 films to his credit and a legacy for Asian America.
http://www.cinematographers.nl/GreatDoPh/howe.htm
http://www.famouschinese.com/virtual/James_Wong_Howe
Ty Tran Nguyen

The Chinese Slave Girl

In 1912 Leong Moon, interpreter on the Japanese liner Nippon Maru, and four Chinese girls, captured by immigration. Based on testimonies from the Chinese girls Federal investigators concluded the possibility that they stumbled upon a smuggling ring with the cargo of Chinese woman and coolies, promising them rich husbands and an easier life. The Chinese girls, disguised as men once ashore, and were caught after a failed attempt to bribe a customs guard. The girls reported that they were drugged in Hong Kong and lured aboard the ship. Isolated in a coal bunker compartment and during the ocean trip occasionally small portions of rice were lowered to them like they were caged animals.
This particular incident was incredibly detrimental to Chinatown society during the time. Not only did Leong Moons break several immigration laws, he was an American born Chinese. The treatment of the women in this smuggling ring commented on cultural values of Chinese Americans as well as the value of their women. Outside of this specific incident the Chinese Slave girls or “Celestial Slaves” took back breaking jobs to make ends meet such as that of field hands on vineyards and orchards, those who were fortunate found occupations as nannies and house servants. Since Chinese people weren’t allowed to own land Chinese women would commonly have miniature farms in their living quarters such as chicken coops in backyards bean sprouts growing in bathtubs. This standard of living as well as the occupation of these women reinforced the idea of the stereotypical coolie and pollutants of the yellow peril archetype. Films like Walk Like a Dragon (1960) featured this type of slave girl with a White male hero protagonist trying to save them from their cultural prisons. The main character Linc Bartlett falls in love with a nineteen year old Kim Sung who is being sold at a slave market, in the end of the film she if forced to choose between the American Linc of the traditionalist Cheng. She ends up with Cheng only under the circumstance that he finally adopted American values towards women. The idea of the Chinese slave girl would create a legacy of Orientalist and servile representation of women in Hollywood media. Films like The World of Suzie Wong and plays like Madame Butterfly where prostitutes and women of servile situations would fall victim to either American rejection or Asian cultural barriers.
http://www.nwhm.org/chinese/27.html
http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/photo_collection/genthe/FN-02333-GentheCT-044.jpg
http://www.tcmuk.tv/movie_database_results.php?action=title&id=94995
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/chingirls.html
http://katmeyer.serverpro2.com/_Lords_Early_Career/walk_like_a_dragon_2.jpg
Ty Tran Nguyen

The First Asian American Studies Professor

Yamato Ichihashi was an Issei born in Magoya, an island of Honshu, Japan on April 15, 1878. Ichihashi attended public schools in America during his youth in order to further his education. In 1907 he graduated from Stanford University with a A.B. degree, and later an A.M. of Economics in 1908. He worked as an assistant in the Economics Department, also serving as a special agent of the United States Immigration Commission for two years. In 1910 he successfully entered Harvard, winning a fellowship in Sociology the next year, and then in 1914 he was given his doctorate in Economics with a dissertation on Japanese immigration, making him a progenitor of Asian American studies. In 1912, he was given a position of an instructor in Japanese History at Stanford University. One reason for offering his position revolved around the hope that a group of public-spirited Japanese, seeking to promote cultural acceptance and understanding, would more likely to provide the money for a program chair. In 1920 appropriate funds were saved up to appoint Dr. Ichihashi's as assistant professor of Japanese History and Civilization. He is thought of as the first person of Japanese descent to occupy such a position at an American educational institution. He was well known among multiple generations of Students for his enthusiasm for Japanese history and cultural subject matter, his stimulating and thought provoking lectures, as well as his social skills and charm with Asian and Non-Asian alike. During 1919, Ichihashi acted as an adviser to Japan's official delegation at the First International Labor Conference in Washington, D. C. After attending a Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armaments (1921-1922), as an interpreter and confidential secretary to senior Japanese delegate Baron Kato, Dr. Ichihashi's published a book, The Washington Conference and After, in 1928 by the Stanford Press. The book documented the relations without nationalist prejudice from U.S. or Japan. In 1932, Ichihashi published yet another book Japanese in theUnited States: A Critical Study of the Problems of the Japanese Immigrants and their Children based on several years of research and observation. It received acclaim as the "best scientific study" on the Asians in America, due to the objective nature of a personal topic. In 1933 Ichihashi served a term as a lecturer in the College of Law of the Tokyo Imperial University. In his position he attempted to advocate an understanding between Japanese-American relations. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Pearl Harbor forced Japanese American into internment camps, on his return to the West Coast he was sent to Palp Alto and Tule Lake relocation and internment camps serving as a liaison between them and the American officials. During his life he dedicated his work to strengthening the bond of Asian Americans and Non-Asian Americans. When we see Asian American’s working, going to school, socializing outside of their ethnic group in the California one thinks nothing of it. But like many Japanese American during the time Ichihashi didn’t have that luxury and in order to prove his American loyalty he needed to go through extra measures of peacekeeping and diplomacy prior to the camps and while in the camps. His work can be regarded as Asian American Studies in its earliest forms and Asian America Studies as a subject embodies with it subculture, ethnic culture, as well as pop culture. When Japanese Americans in the camps are represented in film, texts, nearly all mediums they are represented as loyal, hardworking frontiersmen and women; as was Ichihashi.
http://histsoc.stanford.edu/pdfmem/IchihashiY.pdf
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/data/13030/k7/tf7z09n9k7/files/tf7z09n9k7.pdf
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/humsci/external/img/about/03ichihashi_216-216.jpg
http://www.lib.utah.edu/static-content/marriottlibrary/files/images/p144n192.jpg

Ty Tran Nguyen

(1911) Sikhs in CA establish Khalsa Diwan

By establishing the Khalsa Diwan in California in 1911, Sikhs in America were taking the first step towards gaining an independent identity. The Khalsa Diwan was a gurudwara, or place of religious observation for Sikhs. The temple also served as a community center for Sikhs as well. With growing numbers of Sikhs (and other immigrants) flooding into California, the Sikh community was fractured, unable to congregate. The need for a communal place of worship revealed not just the practical intentions behind constructing a temple, but the social and spiritual as well.

























To negotiate a new identity in a new country that is acceptable to the natives, foreigners often have to sacrifice their customs and beliefs. With the establishment of a meeting place just for Sikhs, however, minorities began to spread the word that they too deserved a piece of the pie. Indeed, they were leading by example for all immigrants who felt oppressed in the U.S. Because of such high racial tensions at the time, and the degree to which whites were much more dominant, many immigrants were simply afraid to express any part of their foreign culture for fear of being marked or excluded. Not unlike Asian immigrants, who faced a choice of assimilation or ostricization, Indians were undoubtedly afforded little opportunity unless they were to assimilate and become "whitewashed." One aspect of culture which is crucial to any region of people is religion and spirituality. Yet, when these immigrants made it to the U.S. they found that their religious beliefs, which differed from the prevailing Protestant view at the time, caused them to be looked at differently and treated differently. Some anxiety is justifiable, perhaps, as it is indeed strange to see someone practicing religious customs you know nothing about. Difference can be frightening at first; what led to problems, however, was the commonly held misconception that those who practice something other than the good Lord's word were heathens and sinners instead of products of different cultural backgrounds. There was little to no tolerance for difference, especially if it was a flagrant foreign body that made no attempt to assimilate or "whitewash" itself. In establishing a temple to worship at and practice Sikhism in the U.S., Sikh's began to rouse the collective courage, spurred by social unrest, that was brewing within the immigrant communities. A successful establishment of such a foreign place on U.S. ground certainly lent hope to other minorities that they too could assimilate their beliefs into American society without compromising them. The implications of this are obvious: these early slants toward cultural diversity set the stage for the groundbreaking social phenomena that would follow in decades to come, which saw the fight for equality brought to its very peak.

-Jeremy Steinberg

1910-Picture Brides

In the early 20^th century, Sara Choe was the first picture bride to come from Korea.  She came to Hawaii and married someone named Yi Nae-su.  The way picture brides worked out was that a matchmaker would receive photographs and pair couples together solely based on these photographs and family advice.  While this is just an extension from the traditional matchmaking that was the standard in Korea, it was completely different.  The majority of picture brides that came to the United States were from Japan and Korea.  Sara Choe was only the first of 950 picture brides that will eventually arrive in America during the early 20^th century.  This was a way for immigrant workers to marry.  The concept also closely links to the origins of the mail-order bride. 

 

Japanese labor workers and Korean picture brides arrived in Hawaii as early as 1910 on the SS Gaelic.  Their arrival caused a bit of controversy.  All of these labor workers were men and they came with very few women of their race.  With such a disproportionate gender ratio, the demand for Asian wives was extremely high in Hawaii.  The influx of “wives” that made their way to America to keep agricultural workers company were matched up based on a photograph.  Immigrant laborers would send in a picture to a matchmaker and a matchmaker in Japan would put two photos together and decide who would be a couple.  The families and matchmakers would both work together to figure out the best match.  The bride to be would leave Japan or Korea on a ship and once she arrives on Hawaii soil she is legally bound to her awaiting husband.  Sometimes the husband to be will be deceiving and send in a false or old picture to the matchmaker making them seem younger.  The sad thing is that when the picture bride comes to Hawaii she has no way of getting out of the pre arranged marriage.  These picture brides could be as young as 14, and when they are tricked into a marriage it can be extremely terrifying for them.   This gave Asian women a sense of daring bravery.  Their willingness to leave their home and come to a new world to be with someone they’ve never met makes them pioneers. 

 

The Picture Brides arrival in Hawaii and the United States made an impact on immigration and family life for Asian Americans.  Their presence led to more agricultural workers coming and even starting families.  They helped add to the development of Asian American existence in America, and even built communities. 

 

Andi Long

1913-Alien Land Law

This law was enacted in California at a time where the Anti-Japanese movement was going strong.  The Alien Land Law made it illegal for immigrants to be citizens and own land or property.  However, this law permits three-year leases which creates limitations for Asian Americans.  Asian Americans worked hard to work around this racially constructed law.

 

At first, the Asian workers were welcomed into California as they provided agricultural labor for cheap.   But some Japanese workers had the idea to buy their own land and start farming, taking profit and business from white farmers in California.  And as they continued to be successful and displayed a different entrepreneurial plan, Californians acted out.  This California Alien Land Law was in response to the voter’s strong Anti-Asian sentiments, especially toward Japanese laborers and Chinese agricultural workers.  Anti-Asian Protestors were unhappy with the success of Japanese farmers in the 1900’s and they were jealous of their economic gains.  So they took a political stand to try and get this initiative approved in order to eliminate this supplementary competitive force.  This law was another way to put Asians down and make them feel inferior or remind them that they are the minority. 

 

The result of the law was a decrease in Japanese acerage and farming.  Soon after California passed this law, other states were impacted by it and decided to adopt similar laws.  Arizona enacted an Alien Land Law 4 years later, and Washington Louisiana, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Kansas followed suit.  This law relied on the racial prerequisite to naturalization.  A person had to be free and white in order to own land.  Later down the road, a case was brought up about the constitutionality of these laws and the issue of racism and discrimination.  In Terrace vs. Thompson, a Supreme Court case in 1923, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Alien Land Law and did not think it was racist.   There are other cases similar to this one such as Oyama v. California.  This law made Asian Americans even more foreign and alienated from others.  It wasn’t until 1952 when Asians could own land.  The Supreme Court finally ruled this restriction to be unconstitutional forty years later, which displays how long racism has existed for immigrants. 

Despite the Land Laws that placed heavy limitations on Japanese farmers, Asian Americans still played a large part in agriculture in California.  Asian farmers made verbal agreements to those willing to sell land, and the law was difficult to fully enforce so Asian workers found ways to work around the Alien Land Laws.  

Andi Long

1929-Watsonville Riots

In 1930, the Watsonville Riots served as a turning point for Asian Americans.  Towns all across California experienced extreme violence and riots for a period of five days.  There were many causes for these riots, the intrusion of Asian laborers into California’s fields was a main reason.  However it was a combined mixture of horror and shock of the mixed racial relations between men and women.  Filipino’s were faced with terror as well as revulsion when they realized Filipino laborers showed interest in American women and the women reciprocated these feelings.  Californians were overwhelmed with fear, jealousy, and rage, and this was a big factor in the cause of the Watsonville Riots.  These riots instilled a new kind of fear for Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino agricultural workers.  White men viewed these little brown Filipino men as a threat to their reign of power and supremacy.  These Watsonville riots started in a pool hall in 1926 and this is what seemed to have brought on the “race war” that plagued Asian Americans for several years to come. It comes down to the white men being possessive and jealous.  The Filipino’s, in defense, said that they did not have too many female companions of their own race and were just wishing to escort some females for companionship with no thought to what race they were.  The first of these riots took place in a pool hall on New Years Eve when a couple of Filipinos boldly escorted white girls to a dance.  The men were beaten down and stoned.  Later on, the riots got more intense and more violent.  Shots were fired, men were killed, and buildings were burned down.  The real trouble started on January 20, 1930 when 200 enraged citizens came to the Filipino Club to disrupt the dance and take nine white women who were inside.  They came with clubs and weapons intending to burn the place down.    The owners retaliated by threatening to shoot if the rioters persisted.  Shots were fired, and cops showed up with gas bombs to break up the riot.  Two men were hit and severely injured.  The sad thing is that the violence didn’t stop.  Three days later a Filipino worker was shot and killed in his sleep.  Five days later, another camp of Filipnio workers was attacked while they slept.  This sort of terrorism on Filipino’s continued and did lasting damage to Filipino heritage and culture.  

Andi Long