ABSTRACT

The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943) was the only immigration legislation passed in the U.S. that specifically barred a group from entering the country based on race or ethnicity. The act prohibited the admission of Chinese to the U.S. except for those who fell under the exempt classes of merchant, diplomat, student, or teacher. It also prohibited the naturalization of Chinese.
While the exclusion act severely limited Chinese immigration, the Chinese over time developed strategies and methods for gaining entry into the country. Some were admitted as members of the exempt categories specified above, while others found loopholes, manipulated the laws, deceived immigration inspectors, or successfully challenged unfavorable decisions in court. While a couple of thousand Chinese men were able to gain admission to the U.S. each year during exclusion, only about two hundred Chinese women were admitted annually.
This study focuses specifically on the small number of Chinese women who immigrated to the East Coast and were processed in the Boston District Immigration Office during the exclusion period. Through information gathered from the Chinese Exclusion Act case files kept by the INS, the study examines the categories of women who were eligible to come to the U.S., the routes they took to reach the Northeast, the tedious immigration process which included lengthy interrogations, and the responses of women who were denied entry by immigration inspectors.

The evidence shows that many Chinese immigrants were experienced transnational migrants, knowledgeable about U.S. immigration laws, and adept at negotiating the complex immigration and legal systems.