Synopsis: On May 6th, 1882 - on the eve of the greatest wave of immigration in American history - President Chester A. Arthur signed into law a unique piece of federal legislation. Called the Chinese Exclusion Act, it singled out by name and race a single nationality for special treatment: making it illegal for Chinese laborers to enter America on pain of imprisonment and for Chinese nationals ever to become citizens of the United States.
The Chinese Exclusion Act, a two-hour film for national broadcast on PBS during the 2018 season, will explore in riveting detail . . . in American history - one that sheds enormous light on key aspects of the history of American civil liberties, immigration, and culture - during one of the most formative periods of U.S. history. . . . . . .
Directed by Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu. Narrated by Hoon Lee and featuring the voices of Russell Wong, Fenton Lee, Yuet-Fung Ho and Josh Hamilton. Produced by Steeplechase Films and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). Premieres Tuesday, May 29, 2018 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET on PBS.
The Certificate of Residence, a legal form of documentation that was added as a provision of the 1882
Exclusion Act when it was extended under the Geary
Actin 1892. Every
Chinese immigrant was required to carry a Certificate, or face threat of deportation. Over 100,000
Chinese residents refused to register for documentation under the
Act- a massive
act civil disobedience.
Saum Song Bo, a
Chinese law student in America, wrote a formal response in
The New York Sun after receiving a solicitation for funds towards the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. He points out the irony of soliciting funds for such an endeavor from a population deprived of basic American rights, "Whether this statute against the
Chinese - or the Statue of Liberty - will be the more lasting monument to tell future ages of the liberty and greatness of this country, will be known only to future generations."
Wong Kim Ark's 1898 landmark Supreme Court case citing the 14
th Amendment established birthright citizenship, securing citizenship for all children born in the United States.
Women detainees at Angel Island. Unlike Ellis Island, where 98 percent of incoming immigrants made their way through, eighteen percent of the applicants at Angel Island were initially rejected - and five percent deported outright - after grueling interrogations, and harrowing detentions.
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AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS
Ric Burns, Director and Co-Writer
Li-Shin Yu, Director and Editor
Hoon Lee, Narrator
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