Chinese Elites and U.S. Gatekeeping: Racial Discrimination and Class Privilege in Boston's 1905 King Incident. Issue 1 (March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Teng, Emma J.
• Is Part Of: Modern American history. Volume 4:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 24
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Subjects: Asian American, -- Social Class, -- Migration, Emigration, and Immigration, -- Race and Ethnicity, -- Social Movements and Protest; United States -- History -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- History -- 20th century -- Periodicals; United States -- History -- 21st century -- Periodicals; 973.9005
• DOI: 10.1017/mah.2021.1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2515-0456

Abstract

Abstract : In 1905, Boston immigration officials detained four Chinese students of the King family, inciting protest from Euro-American elites and sparking an international controversy that gave momentum to the American Boycott movement in Shanghai. A prominent family, the Kings successfully rallied business leaders to take their cause to President Theodore Roosevelt and effectively used the press to articulate Chinese grievances. Bringing to a head the tension between race-based and class-based interpretations of exclusion that troubled the legislation from its inception, the case prompted key reforms in the administration of Chinese exclusion and helped promote a pivot away from the movement for a wholesale "Chinese ban." An examination of this incident and its role in struggles over immigration law illuminates the conflicted position of Chinese elites—disempowered by race yet empowered by class status—under exclusion. It also provides insights into the agency of Chinese elites in mobilizing resources to combat immigration abuses.