From Bahadurs research I learned that not only women from Asia were having a rough time, Indentured women were forced to sign this contract that would make them work without pay. A limit I would say that Bahadur faced was when her great-grandmother left without mentioning where she was going, so she had nothing to really look into and didn’t really know if her great-grandmother was part the women who were working without pay. Another limit I would say is when Bahadur found those diaries on that ship that had confidential documents on supervisors who slept with the Indian women. This would be a limit because as we know our true his tends to be swept under the rug or not enough is being told, so its difficult to pin point our history/background or in Bahadurs case her background.
John Long great-great-grandson of Anon was being interviewed, he was born in 1947 right after the war and is a native of Canton-Toishan-China and came to the U.S in 1954 and grew up in the inner-city of L.A south central L.A. He moved to the U.S because the communist revolution and the communist purge, so they had to escape. John became a citizen through his father who had already moved to the U.S and was already a citizen, then he started working in the real estate industry and then started his career at Kaufman & Broad finance department. John’s oral history confirms what i knew about Asian-Americans. I knew that some Asian-Americans come to the U.S for a better life and better jobs due to life threatening events that happens back home, but I feel like it’s only Asians, there are people from the Caribbean that leave their country because its rough and some go through life threatening experiences. So it’s a first-person confirmation.
Hi Yvenson,
When I first read about the contract I was stunned in actual belief. Since indentured laborers usually work by choice, I was very surprised to see they signed contracts for forced labor without pay. That’s like manipulating someone into a form of slavery. I also became skeptical about the uncovered diaries because while its implied just casual sex (in their eyes consensual) part of me feels thats not true and most likely many of these women were raped. A very sad part of history indeed. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on John. I watched Vicki Tong Young’s interview and the interviewer briefly mentioned someone name “John” and I was very confused but now it makes sense!
Hi Yvenson,
I have never heard of Asian women being forced to sign unequal treaties. After I read this article, I was very shocked, because for me this is a bargaining agreement, belonging to slavery. And no complete history has been preserved. Regarding Anon, I can understand that they want a better life.
You raise important points here, Yvenson– about the construction of truth. Who is keeping the records matters. As Nina writes, it would be sexual relationships in such an unequal power dynamic can not be truly consensual. And, yes, many of the narratives, causes, experiences etc. that we will learn about in this class are not limited to Asian America– and I’ll be eager to hear the connections that you’re making to other migration journeys.