By Andrew Hamlin
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Chinese Exclusion Act volunteers. Front: Rhonda Farrar, Lily Eng, Hao-Jan Chang, and Joyce Liu. Back: Jackie Lum, Stan Ching, Trish Hackett Nicola, and Tamia Duggan (Courtesy: Trish Hackett Nicola)
Each Wednesday, between late morning and early afternoon, a small group of dedicated volunteers meets at Seattle’s National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) headquarters, on Sand Point Way near Magnuson Park.
They sit as silently as possible, observing strict safety and preservation protocols, as they slowly but meticulously pore over historical documents ranging in vintage from 81 years old, to 141 years.
Their mission? To organize and index NARA files relating to the Chinese Exclusion Act (CEA), passed by the U.S. Government in 1882, to prohibit immigration of Chinese laborers (with some exceptions), for 10 years afterward.
The Geary Act, made permanent in 1902, strengthened the original CEA, and though exceptions, court challenges and legal evasions followed for decades afterward, the legislation remained in effect in some form until its repeal through the Magnuson Act of 1943. That act came about through Magnuson Park’s namesake—Warren G. Magnuson, Washington state congressional representative (later senator), and longtime Seattle resident.
Since each exception to the CEA had to fill out paperwork justifying that person’s case for exception, along with a great deal of personal/biographical data and updates on their status, an enormous amount of paperwork exists.
Volunteer Lily Eng found files of multiple relatives who were interrogated during the Chinese Exclusion Act enforcement period (Courtesy: Natasha Mozgovaya | Voice of America)
“The 50,000 CEA files at the National Archives-Seattle are for Chinese entering and leaving the ports of Seattle, Port Townsend, and Sumas, Washington, and Portland, Oregon,” explained Trish Hackett Nicola, who’s been working on those archives for more than 20 years. “Their final destination could be anywhere in the U.S.”
“All of the case files have been indexed by name on the case file, archive box number, and case number. About two-thirds of these files have also been indexed by the other names the person may have gone by, certificate of residence or identity number, beginning and ending dates of the file; date, port, and vessel for last entry; residence, occupation; citizenship category; gender, photograph in file, interrogation, disposition, and comments. The comments area notes other documents found in the files, such as, maps, family group photos, marriage/birth certificates, and passports.”
The CEA, says Nicola, isn’t a subject well-covered in most American history classes. In fact, many folks, even many Chinese Americans, haven’t heard of it.
Archive volunteer Stan Ching, who is part Chinese, grew up in Hawaii but moved to Seattle 42 years ago. He researched his own ancestry, but he didn’t learn about the CEA until he attended a 2019 lecture by Nicola at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry.
“Growing up in Hawaii, we knew nothing of [the CEA’s] existence nor felt any ramifications. Hawaii was truly a melting pot—I experienced no racism.
“However, I’m sure my Chinese grandparents felt its ramifications once Hawaii was annexed in the 1880s and the Exclusion Act procedures were enforced. I know that my father, born in Hawaii, a U.S. citizen, still had to obtain a residence card and documents when he journeyed to China for a few years in the 1930s.”
A California marriage certificate included in one of the Chinese Exclusion files (Courtesy: Natasha Mozgovaya | Voice of America)
Nicola started at NARA working on an unrelated project. However, she happened to do her work the same days as Loretta Chin, who worked over CEA files, and became intrigued. Chin began working with the files the same year, 1993, that they arrived at NARA.
Loretta Chin, Nicola remembers, “showed me some of the things she was finding in the files—the photos, the stories, the laws, and the history. She was a wonderful teacher and so excited about the files and the information in them, that I decided I wanted to work with the files, too. I wanted to be able to work with Loretta and learn as much as I could. As a genealogist and historian, it is thrilling to work with original documents that are over 100 years old.”
Chin eventually had to step down due to health problems. But a team of eight volunteers, including Nicola and Ching, continues with the work. Becoming a project volunteer takes time, training, delicacy, and dedication, but new faces are always welcome.
“You get a short glimpse into someone’s life, or specific parts of someone’s life, over a long period of time,” said Nicola. “There are many sad stories. People said what they needed to say to enter or leave the country. It wasn’t always true. If people entered the country with a false identity, they had to live with another person’s identity for the rest of their lives. It was very stressful for them and their extended families.”
In Stan Ching’s words, “This is a very important era in American history for all to know and understand. This should not be forgotten.”
Concluded Nicola, her sympathy for everyone undergoing “this long, involved, torturous process, has only grown. It is easy to relate this law to other immigrant groups in our current time.”
For more information on the Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files, or to volunteer, visit https://chineseexclusionfiles.com.
What the volunteers at the Chinese Exclusion Act files are doing to save family histories is nothing short of heroic. Many descendants do not know their family histories because of fears parents and grandparents had that children would accidentally reveal information that would lead to the family’s deportation, even after immigration reform of 1965. Thank you, writer Andrew Hamlin!
Please encourage people to come to the National Archives to search for their family’s Chinese Exclusion Act case file. Contact them at seattle.archives@nara.gov
Thanks.
Trish Hackett Nicola