Asian America: A Primary Source Reader (Pages 38-61)

Saint Malo: Geography, People, and Daily Life

  • Setting and arrival route: from Spanish Fort northeastward across Lake Pontchartrain; the route through swampy wetlands toward the fishing station of Saint Malo, a Manila settlement in Louisiana. The journey reveals a changing landscape: shorelines sink, rushes and marsh grasses, sap-green water with floating swamp seeds, then blue water and sky, leading to Point-aux-Herbes and its lighthouse perched on wooden piles. The lighthouse keeper is isolated (seven miles from the nearest neighbor) but has comforts: a piano for the girls, a library, a good inventory of rooms, and a cat with one eye lost to a moccasin. Snakes require reconnaissance before descending from the balcony.
  • Environment and landscape:
    • Desolate marsh country with reed lines and marsh grasses; water becomes deep and clear of color variation; the Rigolets leads toward Lake Borgne; Fort Pike is a壁 stronghold with little historical significance against modern artillery, guarded by a solitary sergeant and a dog.
    • The custom-house skeleton and the Rigolets Bridge loom as distant signs of civilization; the eastern horizon at sunset becomes crimson and the marsh glows with greens and browns; the bayou’s edge is painted with vibrant colors as day ends.
  • Saint Malo and its physical settlement:
    • The highest land near the Devil’s Elbow barely rises above the low-water mark; houses are built on piles to avoid quagmires; tallest point is only six inches above mean low water.
    • Homes are in true Manila style (immense hat-shaped eaves and balconies) but built from wood rather than palm, due to climate and the lack of local large trees; wood is imported because palmetto and cane cannot withstand the swamp.
    • Housing is starkly bare: no furniture in any dwelling; mattresses are dry “Spanish beard” stuffed and placed on shelves with barrels, sails, and smoked fish. The village lacks chairs, tables, or beds; clothing is bought in New Orleans or Proctorville and ages unusually in the moist air, turning greenish and grotesque.
  • Daily life and social structure:
    • The community is entirely Malay-speaking and Catholic; there is one white man (shipcarpenter, called Maestro) and only one black man (a Brazilian-descended Portuguese man). The Maestro baptizes some villagers in the Catholic rite.
    • The settlement is self-regulating with primitive justice: there are no magistrates, sheriffs, prisons, or police; disputes are settled by Padre Carpio, the oldest Malay in the colony, whose decisions are usually accepted. Serious quarrels can lead to imprisonment in a fish-car until hunger or tides force terms.
    • The population is in a state of precarious isolation: during the busy season, about a hundred men live there without women; most families keep women and children in New Orleans, Proctorville, or La Chinche, due to danger and lack of protection. Only two known cases of a woman living there are preserved in memory, related to a husband’s death and an attempted murder by the husband, where the wife and child defended him; the aggressor dies from mosquitoes and tappanoes, and a crude cross is placed on the grave.
  • Culture, language, and religion:
    • The Malay colony uses a mix of languages: Spanish, and a Malay dialect; priests are rare due to the cost of summoning a priest to the swamp for Mass.
    • The Maestro, Hilario, Carpio, and other leaders are central figures; Hilario’s house is the cultural hub for evenings of Monte or a Spanish kemo-like game; cantador calls out numbers in a gambling scene with poetry about fisherman life and Catholic faith.
    • Boat names and person naming reflect a linguistic blend: most names are Latin (Marcellino, Francesco, Serafino, Florenzo, Victorio, Paosto, Hilario, Marcetto) and boats bear romantic names; feminine influence is seen in Winnie, Winnie’s boat name, and Valentime (Valentine) the Malay half-breed who is a skilled oarsman.
  • The Maestro and material culture:
    • The village’s art includes a single old circus poster and two photographs in the Maestro’s sea-chest: a young woman with creole eyes and a grim Frenchman—the shipcarpenter’s wife and father. The Maestro’s gesture of affection toward his father is expressed in the phrase “Mon cher vieux père.”
    • Despite its isolation, Saint Malo maintains ties to the broader world, with money and messages traveling to Manila via La Union Philippina in New Orleans.
    • The dead are treated with reverence: flesh rots, bones are carried to New Orleans and stored in niche tombs in the city’s Roman columbaria tradition.
  • Why the settlement remains obscure: reticence of the people and the distance from New Orleans—and a Manila restaurant kept by Chinese and staffed by Chinese spouses—hidden in a quiet court, speaks to why Saint Malo remains largely unknown to the wider public. The Manila restaurant menu is in Spanish and English; the business is now run by Chinese owners, reflecting migration patterns away from the original Malay culture.
  • Valentine, de los Santos, and social hierarchy:
    • Valentine is the best pirogue oarsman; Thomas de los Santos remains the elder patriarch; Winnie, the daughter who died, is memorialized in boats and names. The community’s social structure is fluid, with Latin naming, mixed heritage, and a hierarchy based on ability, age, and reputation rather than formal political institutions.
  • Cross-cutting themes and broader implications:
    • The Saint Malo narrative juxtaposes a “civilized” New Orleans world with a primitive, isolated lake-dwelling society—showing how migration, colonization, and transnational networks adapt to extreme environments.
    • The text underscores the precariousness and beauty of immigrant settlements, their intimate ties to colonial networks, and the disappearance of women from daily life in these frontiers.

People v. Hall (1854): Legal question about testimony and race in California

  • Core case: George Hall was convicted of murder based on the testimony of three Chinese laborers, in a time when California law barred non-whites from testifying against whites.
  • Statutory framework:
    • 394th section, Act Concerning Civil Cases: No Indian or Negro may testify in actions where a White person is a party.
    • 14th section of the Act of April 16, 1850 (Criminal Proceedings): No Black or Mulatto or Indian shall testify for or against a White person.
    • The central question: Do terms like Black, Mulatto, Indian, and White operate as generic race terms or as specific designations of particular groups? Is “White” equivalent to Caucasian, and does “Indian” refer to North American Indians or include Mongolian types?
  • Historical-racial analysis:
    • The court surveys Columbus’s naming of Indians, early ethnology’s three-type model (often cited by scientific writers like Cuvier), and the then-prevailing idea that Indians and Mongolians were variations of the same broad “Indian” or Mongolian type.
    • The majority opinion emphasizes that “White” is a Caucasian reference in statutes, while “Indians” has historically operated as a generic term for Mongolian races in early American law. The court argues the words are to be construed in pari materia with constitutional and statutory contexts.
  • Key legal reasoning and conclusions:
    • The court rejects a broad, color-based interpretation of “white” that would include Mongolians; instead, it holds that the term “white” excludes Mongolian races, including Chinese. However, it reads “Indians” as a generic term that could include Mongolian types, thereby excluding nonwhite testimony in certain contexts.
    • The court emphasizes public policy: allowing nonwhites to testify against whites could lead to broader inclusion of nonwhite groups in juries, on the bench, and in legislative halls, which the court frames as dangerous given the era’s racial hierarchies.
    • The judgment is reversed and remanded: the earlier conviction is overturned due to the inadmissibility of the Chinese witnesses, reflecting the era’s legal codification of racial exclusion in testimony.
  • Broad legal significance:
    • The decision exemplifies how 19th-century U.S. jurisprudence used race-based rules to shape the rights of nonwhite individuals.
    • It foreshadows later debates about citizenship, civil rights, and the tension between racial inclusion and exclusion in American law.

First Transcontinental Railway and Chinese labor

  • Construction and labor context:
    • The Western Pacific Railroad (WPR) built the line starting in Oakland, California, moving eastward, and relied heavily on Chinese workers—the single largest labor force for the time among railroad companies.
    • The text highlights a pattern of neglect and exploitation toward Chinese workers, with little recognition in the celebratory frame of the railroad’s completion.
  • Public commemoration and representation:
    • A celebratory photograph at Promontory Point, Utah (May 10, 1869) omits Chinese workers, presenting a narrative of achievement that excludes the Chinese contribution (Figure 1.1, National Archives and Records Administration). The photo includes managers and non-Chinese workers, creating an ideological erasure of the Chinese workforce.
  • Significance:
    • The excerpt underscores the essential but often invisible labor of Chinese workers in major American infrastructure projects and the marginalization of their role in historical memory.

Anti-Chinese Immigration and Naturalization Laws: From Page Act to Exclusion

  • Context: Chinese laborers were a vital workforce in mining, agriculture, and railroad construction, but faced demonization and legal restrictions targeting their migration and naturalization.
  • Key statutes and legal trajectory:
    • Page Act (1875): Aimed at restricting Chinese immigration by targeting contracted laborers and women suspected of prostitution; it laid the groundwork for broader exclusionary policies.
    • Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): A landmark act suspending the entry of Chinese laborers for ten years, with ongoing enforcement and expansions via later acts.
    • Scott Act (1888): Prohibited return migration of Chinese nationals who had left the United States and wished to re-enter.
    • Geary Act (1892): Expanded surveillance and restrictions on Chinese residents, extending the exclusion regime.
  • Interaction with naturalization and citizenship:
    • As these immigration restrictions played out, Chinese individuals and first-generation immigrants became litigants in cases about naturalization and civil rights.
    • In re Ah Yup (1878): The federal circuit court held that a native of China, of the Mongolian race, was not entitled to naturalization under the Revised Statutes; Chinese were not considered “white persons” for naturalization purposes.
    • United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898): Established birthright citizenship for persons born in the United States, even if their parents were foreigners, creating tension with exclusionary immigration policies.
  • The role of race and policy:
    • The anti-Chinese laws framed immigration and naturalization as a racial problem, enforcing a hierarchy that privileged white (Caucasian) citizens while excluding Mongolian and other nonwhite groups.
    • The legal debates reveal how Congress and courts struggled with concepts of race, citizenship, and national belonging in a rapidly expanding United States.

The Page Act of 1875: Textual Overview

  • Purpose: Supposed to prevent entry of subjects from China, Japan, or other Oriental nations who might engage in contracts for “lewd and immoral purposes.”
  • Key provisions (Sec. 1–5):
    • Sec. 1: Consuls must determine whether an immigrant has entered into a contract for a term of service for lewd purposes before delivering immigration permits; if such a contract exists, the permit is withheld.
    • Sec. 2: Any American citizen who knowingly transports or employs such a person for a term of service risks indictment and penalties (fine and imprisonment).
    • Sec. 3: Prohibits importation of women for prostitution; voids related contracts.
    • Sec. 4: Prohibits contracts to supply labor for a term of service to those imported illegally; makes such contracts void and subjects violators to penalties.
    • Sec. 5: Declares unlawful for aliens undergoing criminal conviction or for women imported for prostitution to immigrate; sets enforcement and bonding measures to deter landings of implicated persons.
  • Enforcement and penalties:
    • Vessels can be inspected; offending vessels may be forfeited; bond requirements apply; penalties include fines up to $2000 and imprisonment up to one year for violators under Sec. 2, Sec. 4, and Sec. 5.
  • Practical effect:
    • The Page Act established a model of immigration control predicated on racialized and gendered stereotypes about Chinese and other Asians, creating a framework for later, more expansive exclusionary policies.

In re Ah Yup (1878) and Naturalization of Chinese Immigrants

  • Case overview: Ah Yup, a native Chinese citizen of Mongolian race, petitions to become a naturalized citizen of the United States under the then-current naturalization laws.
  • Central questions:
    • Is a Mongolian race a “white person” under the naturalization laws?
    • Do the naturalization provisions exclude all but white persons and those of African nativity/descent, or is the term