Erika Lee - Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America

ANGEL ISLAND

IMMIGRANT GATEWAY TO AMERICA

ERIKA LEE & JUDY YUNG

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Copyright 2010 by Erika Lee and Judy Yung

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Title page photo: Immigrants boarding the ferry at Angel Island after passing inspection.
(Courtesy of California State Parks, 2010.)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lee, Erika.

Angel Island: immigrant gateway to America / Erika Lee, Judy Yung.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-19-973408-5

1. Angel Island Immigration Station (Calif.)History.

2. San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)Emigration and immigration.

I. Yung, Judy. II. Title.

JV6926.A65L44 2010

304.87309041dc22 2009054343

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper

In memory of our great teachers Him Mark Lai, Ronald Takaki, and Jon Gjerde

For Mark, Benjamin, and BillyE. L.

For EddieJ. Y.

CHAPTER ONE
GUARDING THE GOLDEN GATE
The Life and Business of the Immigration Station

CHAPTER TWO
ONE HUNDRED KINDS OF OPPRESSIVE LAWS
Chinese Immigrants in the Shadow of Exclusion

CHAPTER THREE
AGONY, ANGUISH, AND ANXIETY
Japanese Immigrants on Angel Island

CHAPTER FOUR
OBSTACLES THIS WAY, BLOCKADES THAT WAY
South Asian Immigrants, U.S. Exclusion, and the Gadar Movement

CHAPTER FIVE
A PEOPLE WITHOUT A COUNTRY
Korean Refugee Students and Picture Brides

CHAPTER SIX
IN SEARCH OF FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITY
Russians and Jews in the Promised Land

CHAPTER SEVEN
EL NORTE
Mexican Immigrants on Angel Island

CHAPTER EIGHT
FROM U.S. NATIONALS TO ALIENS
Filipino Migration and Repatriation through Angel Island

CHAPTER NINE
SAVING ANGEL ISLAND

EPILOGUE
THE LEGACY OF ANGEL ISLAND

IT HAS BEEN A PRIVILEGE to write this book and to work with so many people who care about preserving Angel Islands immigration history as much as we do. Documenting the histories of the major immigrant groups to pass through Angel Island has required extensive outreach into local communities as well as traditional archival research. This book could not have been completed without the generosity of many colleagues, research assistants, volunteers, librarians, archivists, families, and individuals who have shared their time, energy, knowledge, ideas, and stories with us.

The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation staff and board have supported this project from the very beginning. Grant Din, Erika Gee, Daphne Kwok, Felicia Lowe, Julie Phuong, Katherine Toy, and Kathy Owyang Turner have been instrumental in assisting us with research, outreach, and marketing efforts. Executive Director Eddie Wong has been an especially supportive partner and advocate.

Our Scholars Advisory Board, including Robert Barde, Albert Camarillo, Catherine Ceniza Choy, Charles Egan, Steve Fujita, Jennifer Gee, Richard Kim, Bill Ong Hing, Maria Sakovich, and Jane Singh generously provided early counsel, research leads, and collegial support.

We received generous research funding from a number of institutions, including the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and Georges Van Den Abbeele, Office of the Dean, Division of Humanities, University of California, Santa Cruz. The Fesler-Lampert Professorship in the Public Humanities, a College of Liberal Arts Sabbatical Supplement, and an Arts & Humanities Imagine Fund Award from the University of Minnesota also provided Erika Lee with much needed time and research support.

A team of committed research assistants in Minnesota and California tracked down photographs and documents, catalogued sources, and dug through archives with cheerful efficiency: Kelly Condit-Shrestha, Kimberly Foley, Marisa Louie, Ki Jung Nam, Kim Park Nelson, Maria Sakovich, Andy Urban, Jeannie Woo, and Elizabeth Zanoni.

In addition, we have been gratified to receive the research assistance of the following volunteers: Elizabeth and Joe Chan, Franklin Fung Chow, C. F. Kwok, Dana Lew, Jean Lew, Barbara Lutes, Alice Murata, Franklin Ng, Kio Tong-Ishikawa, Katherine Toy, and students in Carol McKibbens Introduction to Public History class at Stanford University, including Christine Cho, Victoria Gray, Laura Gutierrez, Ivan Jimenez, Jairo Marshall, and Sabine Moller. Many volunteers assisted us with the data entry of over 70,000 Angel Island case files, including: Leonard Chan, Lillian Chan, Angelina Chang, Craig Charnley, Helen Chin, Kenneth Chin, Melody Chin, Vincent Chin, Vana Curtis, Grant Din, Eddie Fung, Mary Geong, Lynette Choy Uyeda Gin, Yoshiko Ho, Jim Huen, John Jung, Elsie Lam, Denise Leo, Lillian Louie, Marisa Louie, Arlene Lum, Diana Lum, Matthew Lum, Rose Marr, Grace Toy, Pamela Wong, Jeannie Woo, Irene Yee, and Myrna Yee.

We were fortunate to have the following volunteers assist us with the difficult task of translating documents, articles, and poems from various Asian languages into English: John Akiyama, Christine Cho, Charles Egan, Marlon K. Hom, Jikyung Hwang, Yuko Konno, Jean Lew, Hyonggyu Rhew, Yoshiko Yokochi Samuel, and Brian Yang.

Many people also assisted us with research details and with locating families with Angel Island connections, including: Estrella Ravelo Alamar, Henry Hyungju Ahn, Jonathan Beecher, Nina Bogdan, Susan Briggs, Philip Choy, Dorothy Cordova, William Estrada, Hardeep Gosal, Jayasri Majumdar Hart, Yoshiko Ho, Harjit Gosal Khaira, Peter Klassen, Daphne Kwok, Casey Lee, Hyung W. Lee, Marie Matsumoto, Baylan Megino, Yuki Ooi, Amita Rodman, Vicki Ruiz, Grace Shimizu, Jane Singh, Harold and Sonia Sunoo, Kei Tanaka, Terri Torres, Michael Tripp, Katherine Toy, Richard Villegas, William Warrior, Gail Whang, William Wong, Ikumi Yamagisawa, Steve Yee, Connie Young Yu, Rev. Suk-Chong Yu, and Lydia Zaverukha.

The following people generously shared their Angel Island family histories with us: Estrella Ravelo Alamar, David and Kathy Ang, Jim Ariki, Rani Bagai, Liana Belloni, Elisa Brooks, Virginia Dilim, Ann Yuri Dion, Betty Kawamoto Dunn, Joyce Ellorin, Eliseo Felipe, Nick Friesen, Yaho Fujii, Jim Hullana, Mary Hyodo, Arliss Jann, Lourdes Kelly, Dick Jiro Kobashigawa, Don Lee, Michael Lopez, Donald Lyang, Sally Matsuishi, Mabel Meu, William Mock, Yoshio Murakawa, Janice Muto, Donald Nakahata, Herbert Neufeld, Hiro Nishikawa, Ted Schulze, Nora Steiner, Tami Takahashi, Chie Yazuki Takeshita, Sheridan Tatsuno, William Warrior, Deak Wooten, Tomoyo Fujita Yamasaki, Yae Kami Yedlosky, Irene Yee, and Lily Zaima. Their time and cooperation have allowed us to tell a more complete and rich history of immigration through Angel Island.