Virtual Tenement Talk: The Chinese Question

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For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, join us on YouTube Live for a special virtual Tenement Talk honoring the 2022 Bancroft Prize-winning book, The Chinese Question. Author and historian Mae Ngai will discuss her decade of research into the global politics of Chinese immigration through history across five continents. She will be joined in conversation by Jia Lynn Yang, author and national editor at The New York Times.

Born from the need to debunk myths of 19th Century Chinese immigration, The Chinese Question weaves together economics and global history to explore the interactions between Chinese and Western settler populations in gold mining regions. Ngai details the perspectives of Chinese arrivals in colonies and territories, the differences and similarities they encountered, and ultimately, how the tensions and racism born from these areas gave rise to restrictive immigration laws and new understandings of race. In this conversation, we’ll explore this critical history and how it helps us understand the roots of anti-Asian racism prevalent today.

 

While this program is free, you can donate to support future programming from the Tenement Museum here. 

This program will continue to be available on our Youtube channel following the LIVE screening.