The Chinese Americans [Cover title].

Oakland, California: Oakland Unified School District, [1968]. 11” x 8½”. Stapled printed thin card wrappers. Pp. V, 25; an additional two separate unrelated leaves laid in described below. Very good minus: last leaf fully detached and possibly lacking a rear wrapper; light dust-soiling and toning; a few penciled notations to one page.

This is a rare publication detailing the history of Chinese Americans in California as well as the greater United States. In 1968, at the request of Mayor Joseph Alioto, a San Francisco Chinese Community Citizens' Survey and Fact-Finding Committee was formed. Its goal was to help “provide the many missing parts of the history of a very small minority group that played such a big part in the development of the western part of this country.” This publication marks a section of that committee's work, and, according to its preface, it was likely part of a larger work, a “Multi-Ethnic Calendar” published by the Oakland Unified School District. That calendar was to consist of seven sections related to the “five major ethnic minorities represented in the Oakland community,” which included Chinese Americans; its listed in OCLC but without any associated library holdings. The preface also disclosed the reasoning behind its publication:

“America is a land of diversity whose quality of character springs from the creativity, the toil, the intelligence and the struggles of individuals of all races and cultures. It is important, therefore, that all America's children understand and appreciate that their world is built by the hands and minds of people who are from many national, religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds . . . The Oakland community typifies the diversity that is present in the nation as a whole. Large numbers of people have grown up unexposed to a variety of ethnic groups and without knowledge of the contributions which minority groups have made to society.”

The book has a chronology of approximately 70 major historical events in Chinese American history, dating from the 1565 establishment of the Manila-Acapulco Trade Route, which brought Chinese goods (and likely the first Chinese people) to the United States, through 1965, when the national origins quota system was repealed. The chronology touched on riots, massacres and other human rights violations of the Chinese American population, as well as important dates in community development, labor organizing and industry, and the arts and sciences.

Importantly, there are short biographies (mostly one two to sentences) on approximately 35 Chinese Americans; around six of these people are also featured in longer biographies, including Wing F. Ong, the first Chinese American to be elected to a state legislature. The book also has information on holidays and traditional festivals, as well as a bibliography of books, periodicals, and audiovisual materials, which also listed Bay Area Chinese community centers, organizations, and newspapers. A two page price list entitled “Oriental Americans” accompanies this publication, and lists additional resources concerning the Chinese and other Asian American communities in the categories of history, fiction, fine arts, and “social interpretation.”

An outstanding artifact of late 1960s attempts at diversity education. OCLC shows one holding. Very good -. Item #5457

Price: $500.00