San Jose youth keep Chinese American heritage alive at History Park

"Anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. has a familiar ring to Connie Young Yu, a Chinese-American author and historian. Her family has roots in San Jose's Market Street Chinatown, one of five Chinatowns in the city's history and a community that was destroyed by arson fueled by anti-Asian fervor. The Geary Act, passed in 1892, required Chinese laborers in the U.S. to carry photo passports. Until it was repealed in 1943, authorities could stop them at any time to ask to see their identification, and people without documentation could be detained, jailed, or even deported."

""The Chinese really felt segregated," said Yu. "We're seeing parallels between history and what's happening now with ICE and the threat to birthright citizenship." That reality is being felt by Chinese American youth in the South Bay who want to honor their community's history by getting involved with the Chinese American History Museum."

"The building is a replica of Ng Shing Gung, or the Temple of Five Gods, which was built in the Heinlenville Chinatown in 1887 and served as a hostel, community center and Chinese school. Heinlenville, which was built after the Market Street Chinatown was burned down, flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, until the land was sold to the city and buildings were razed in the 1930s."

San Jose's Chinese-American community experienced violent exclusion including arson that destroyed Market Street Chinatown and the Geary Act that forced Chinese laborers to carry photo passports and face detention or deportation until 1943. Community members experienced segregation and later generations see parallels with modern immigration enforcement and threats to birthright citizenship. Students and young volunteers in the South Bay engage with the Chinese American History Museum to honor that past. The museum, located in San Jose's History Park, preserves photos and artifacts documenting early immigrants who worked as ranchers, laborers, and builders on the Transcontinental Railroad. The museum building replicates Ng Shing Gung from Heinlenville.

Read at The Mercury News