Beyond Exclusion: A Historical Examination of Chinese International Student Protests During the Chinese Exclusion Era (1882-1943) (Poster 32)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Friday 11:45am
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

This study examines three protests by Chinese international students during the Exclusion Era as acts of resistance against anti-Asian racism. They include the 1906 protests at the University of California over barriers to student entry; the nationwide mobilization in 1909 following the Elsie Sigel murder; and the 1923 protests at Columbia University against The Flower Candle Wife for its derogatory portrayal of Chinese culture. Analyzing these events through the lenses of U.S. imperial ambitions, Asian American identity formation, and students’ involvement in transnational networks, the project reveals the complex interplay among education, immigration policy, and U.S.–China relations amid a shifting global landscape. Their resistance also represents a crucial part of minority student struggles prior to the Civil Rights Movement.

Author

• Yu Wang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign