6 Portlanders' family stories of exclusion for being Chinese
Feb 23, 2016 4:40:51 GMT -5
Post by helen on Feb 23, 2016 4:40:51 GMT -5
Christine DeVillier
My earliest documented ancestors, my great-great-great-grandfather Ow Jiu Lim and his wife, left China for the United States well before the Geary Act, commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, of 1882. They immigrated legally from Taishan county, Guangdong province, China, and settled in San Francisco.
Fast forward to 1905. In an effort to circumvent the only U.S. law ever enacted to bar immigrants and impose quotas based on race, Ow Jiu Lim's grandson, Seh Gay Lim, makes his first voyage to San Francisco, claiming to be returning to his native U.S. after living in China for most of his life.
Seh Gay Lim was born in 1876, and Ow Jiu Lim was born circa 1840. It was plausible enough that Seh Gay Lim could be the son of his grandfather, and he would take advantage of this assertion in ways that would make permanent changes to the Lim family line.
In 1921, Seh Gay Lim, now settled in Texas, would orchestrate the immigration of his nephew, my grandfather Bong Woon Lim, then age 10. Entry would be granted only if he was sponsored as the son of a Chinese man already living in the United States. But his father had never come to the United States.
The family purchased a "paper" identity for my grandfather, making him supposedly the son of another man from the same village. Upon his landing in the United States, his "father" would collect him and pass him to his uncle, Seh Gay Lim. My grandfather had become one of many in the "paper son" immigration system, living with a false identity for the majority of his natural life.
My grandfather would go on to serve in World War II. The U.S. enacted the War Brides Act (Public Law 271) on Dec. 28, 1945, allowing those who had served to apply to bring spouses and children to the U.S. without being counted toward the quota imposed by the Exclusion Act. My grandfather took advantage of this.
My grandmother, Wai Chee Wong, had grown up privileged but ultimately a casualty of war. Japanese forces had invaded and plundered her village. My grandmother was sent to the safety of Hong Kong to work for her eldest brother. He would arrange to have her married and sent to the United States in 1948.
As a newlywed, she worked long, unpaid hours in the Lim family grocery store in Houston. After nearly dying during the birth of her first child, she wrote to acquaintances in San Francisco who promised to help her make her own wages. She was able to convince my grandfather to make the move. In San Francisco, she saved enough to purchase a home, the house I would grow up in, on the outskirts of Chinatown.
Years after my grandfather settled in San Francisco, the Chinese Confession Program from 1956 to 1966 gave Chinese Americans the opportunity to "confess" their identities and pledge allegiance to the U.S. as naturalized citizens in exchange for protection from deportation, as they were suspected of being spies or allies of now-Communist China. Years after the program ended, my grandfather decided to confess anyway. He finally reclaimed his true name at approximately 70 years old.
I am not ashamed of my family's history. I believe the Exclusion Act was racist, unjust and illegal. My grandfather was thrown into it as a child and had to make the best of his situation.
www.oregonlive.com/history/2016/02/oregon_chinese_exclusion.html
My earliest documented ancestors, my great-great-great-grandfather Ow Jiu Lim and his wife, left China for the United States well before the Geary Act, commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, of 1882. They immigrated legally from Taishan county, Guangdong province, China, and settled in San Francisco.
Fast forward to 1905. In an effort to circumvent the only U.S. law ever enacted to bar immigrants and impose quotas based on race, Ow Jiu Lim's grandson, Seh Gay Lim, makes his first voyage to San Francisco, claiming to be returning to his native U.S. after living in China for most of his life.
Seh Gay Lim was born in 1876, and Ow Jiu Lim was born circa 1840. It was plausible enough that Seh Gay Lim could be the son of his grandfather, and he would take advantage of this assertion in ways that would make permanent changes to the Lim family line.
In 1921, Seh Gay Lim, now settled in Texas, would orchestrate the immigration of his nephew, my grandfather Bong Woon Lim, then age 10. Entry would be granted only if he was sponsored as the son of a Chinese man already living in the United States. But his father had never come to the United States.
The family purchased a "paper" identity for my grandfather, making him supposedly the son of another man from the same village. Upon his landing in the United States, his "father" would collect him and pass him to his uncle, Seh Gay Lim. My grandfather had become one of many in the "paper son" immigration system, living with a false identity for the majority of his natural life.
My grandfather would go on to serve in World War II. The U.S. enacted the War Brides Act (Public Law 271) on Dec. 28, 1945, allowing those who had served to apply to bring spouses and children to the U.S. without being counted toward the quota imposed by the Exclusion Act. My grandfather took advantage of this.
My grandmother, Wai Chee Wong, had grown up privileged but ultimately a casualty of war. Japanese forces had invaded and plundered her village. My grandmother was sent to the safety of Hong Kong to work for her eldest brother. He would arrange to have her married and sent to the United States in 1948.
As a newlywed, she worked long, unpaid hours in the Lim family grocery store in Houston. After nearly dying during the birth of her first child, she wrote to acquaintances in San Francisco who promised to help her make her own wages. She was able to convince my grandfather to make the move. In San Francisco, she saved enough to purchase a home, the house I would grow up in, on the outskirts of Chinatown.
Years after my grandfather settled in San Francisco, the Chinese Confession Program from 1956 to 1966 gave Chinese Americans the opportunity to "confess" their identities and pledge allegiance to the U.S. as naturalized citizens in exchange for protection from deportation, as they were suspected of being spies or allies of now-Communist China. Years after the program ended, my grandfather decided to confess anyway. He finally reclaimed his true name at approximately 70 years old.
I am not ashamed of my family's history. I believe the Exclusion Act was racist, unjust and illegal. My grandfather was thrown into it as a child and had to make the best of his situation.
www.oregonlive.com/history/2016/02/oregon_chinese_exclusion.html
