Book Talks/Signings for “Chinese Laundries”
San Diego Chinese American History Museum, Aug. 11, 2007
Berkeley Chinese Community Church, Aug. 19. 2007
Calif. State University, Asian American Studies Program, Sept. 25, 2007
Lake Havasu City, Az. Writers Group, Mohave Community College, Jan. 19, 2008
Desert Jade Women’s Gp, Chinese Baptist Church, Phoenix, Az. Mar 1, 2008
Asian Pac Is Studies 200, Arizona State University, Tempe, Az. Mar. 3, 2008
Chinese Professional Club, Houston, Tx. April 11, 2008
Chinese American Museum, Chicago, Il, April 20, 2008
The laundry was the best, and at one time, the only, ‘ticket’ available to Chinese immigrants who came here starting in the middle of the 19th century to seek their fortunes on “Gold Mountain.” However, denied opportunities to most types of work by discriminatory barriers, the hand laundry became their economic lifeline, the meal ticket that enabled them and their descendants to overcome the obstacles confronting them to eventually achieve success on Gold Mountain.
Chinese laundries, born of necessity, became their stereotypical occupation, and in the early 20th century there was at least one located in virtually every town across the land. Today, however, they have all but vanished into history, made obsolete by social and technological changes. Their disappearance makes it all the more important to acknowledge the significant contribution that Chinese laundries made to the history of Chinese in North America. This book, Chinese Laundries, tells why and how Chinese laundries originated and determined the economic, psychological, and social status of the laundrymen and, for some, their families. First- and second-hand accounts of work and life in their laundries, where many lived in the back, help us see and appreciate how much they achieved despite racial prejudice, hardship, and cultural isolation.
Southern Fried Rice: Life in a Chinese Laundry in the Deep South
A personal story of my family’s laundry in Macon Ga., from 1928-1956 when we were the only Chinese in the entire city.
For more info and scholar comments: http://www.lulu.com/amazinggrace
To see a short tv interview about the book:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4681957987438873398&hl=en
