Some half million Chinese immigrants settled in the American West in the nineteenth century. In spite of their vital contributions to the economy in gold mining, railroad construction, the founding of small businesses, and land reclamation, the Chinese were targets of systematic political discrimination and widespread violence. This legal history of the Chinese experience in the American West, based on the author's lifetime of research in legal sources all over the West--from California to Montana to New Mexico--serves as a basic account of the legal treatment of Chinese immigrants in the West. The first two essays deal with anti-Chinese racial violence and judicial discrimination. The remainder of the book examines legal precedents and judicial doctrines derived from Chinese cases in specific western states. The Chinese, Wunder shows, used the American legal system to protect their rights and test a variety of legal doctrines, making vital contributions to the legal history of the American West.
Some half million Chinese immigrants settled in the American West in the nineteenth century. In spite of their vital contributions to the economy in gold mining, railroad construction, the founding of small businesses, and land reclamation, the Chinese were targets of systematic political discrimination and widespread violence. This legal history of the Chinese experience in the American West, based on the author's lifetime of research in legal sources all over the West--from California to Montana to New Mexico--serves as a basic account of the legal treatment of Chinese immigrants in the West. The first two essays deal with anti-Chinese racial violence and judicial discrimination. The remainder of the book examines legal precedents and judicial doctrines derived from Chinese cases in specific western states. The Chinese, Wunder shows, used the American legal system to protect their rights and test a variety of legal doctrines, making vital contributions to the legal history of the American West.
John R. Wunder is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A widely published author and editor, his recent works include Reconfigurations of Native North America: An Anthology of New Perspectives and Americans View Their Dust Bowl Experience. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.
"[Wunder] extends the history of local and state laws beyond
California to the greater American West, including the states and
territories of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and New
Mexico. Given the overrepresentation of California in Chinese
American history more broadly, this is a vital contribution in and
of itself."--Beth Lew-Williams, Journal of Arizona History
"An understanding of the legal position and problems that Chinese
Americans faced in the nineteenth century is crucial to an
understanding of Chinese American and Asian American history, and
this single book provides the foundation necessary."--Southern
California Quarterly
"Possessing a JD as well as a PhD in history, Wunder is
exceptionally well qualified to tackle the issues of the legal
treatment of the Chinese in nineteenth-century
America."--California History
"Very few other historians of Chinese America can match [Wunder's]
ability to place Chinese legal issues so securely within the
context of national events and relations among ethnic
groups."--Oregon Historical Quarterly
"Wunder excels in his breadth of coverage of legal trends relating
to the Chinese in the American West and in the depth of his
research in archives across the region. His prose humanizes these
cases by sharing the personal stories, motivations, choices, and
impacts on the people involved, while clearly explaining the legal
issues under consideration."--Montana The Magazine of Western
History
"In many cases, Wunder did the painstaking work of counting
instances. Readers will find a ready reference of key details such
as tabulated incidents of anti-Chinese violence from 1850 to 1910
and 'Chinese Litigants before Southwest Supreme Courts, 1849-1902.'
. . . Adding to the value of these essays is the Foreword by Liping
Zhu, which contextualizes the significance of the Chinese cases and
Wunder's recovery of them."--Victor Jew, Western Historical
Quarterly
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