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The National Women's History Museum has launched *Chinese American Women: A History of Resilience and Resistance*, a CyberExhibit which depicts the history of Chinese American Women during their first 100 years in the United States, curated by Jean Pfaelzer, author of *Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans* (Random House, UC Press 2008).
The exhibit is at:
http://www.nwhm.org/Chinese/1.html
The CyberExhibit, *Chinese American Women: A History of Resilience and Resistance*, describes how many Chinese women arrived in the United States, sometimes kidnapped, sometimes with bound feet, how many unrecognized Chinese American women toiled in laundries, shops, restaurants and fields, while still tending to their families, and how one woman, Yoke Leen, marched into her county courthouse in 1910 and documented herself as a free woman so no man could lay claim to her. It describes Chinese American women leading strikes, forging Chinatowns, resisting vigilantes, opening shops, working in munitions factories during World War II, the first Chinese American woman to vote, and filing the earliest law suit for reparations.
"While stepping forward does not mean breaking from traditions, it is time to step out of the shadows and be our own, proud, free voices of Asian American women," Organization of Chinese Americans National President Ginny Gong said of the exhibit.
Joan Wages, Executive Director of the National Women's History Museum added, "The exhibit portrays how Chinese American women demonstrated great courage in breaking down barriers to live a better life."
"This exhibit puts Chinese American women at the center of the history of migration, labor, and civil rights. From the moment of leaving China , to immigration legislation, to home life to working life, from violence to violation, from resistance to resilience, this is a history whose time has come," said Prof. Jean Pfaelzer, the curator for the exhibit.
This exhibit http://www.nwhm.org/Chinese/1.html will have a permanent home at the NWHM, and is available now for online viewing. It opened at the OCA National Convention in Washington DC.
The National Women's History Museum (NWHM), founded in 1996, is dedicated to honoring women's many contributions to our nation. NWHM is online at http://www.nwhm.org .
Jean Pfaelzer, Professor English, E.Asian Studies, Women's Studies, University of Delaware, Library of Congress Scholar www.udel.edu/PR/drivenout/
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