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The White Devil's Daughters: The Fight Against Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown
A revelatory history of the trafficking of young Asian girls that flourished in San Francisco during the first century of Chinese immigration (1848-1943) and the "safe house" on the edge of Chinatown that became a refuge for those seeking their freedom
From 1874, a house on the edge of San Francisco's Chinatown served as a gateway to freedom for thousands of enslaved and vulnerable young Chinese women and girls. Known as the Occidental Mission Home, it survived earthquakes, fire, bubonic plague, and violence directed against its occupants and supporters--a courageous group of female abolitionists who fought the slave trade in Chinese women. With compassion and an investigative historian's sharp eyes, Siler tells the story of both the abolitionists, who challenged the corrosive, anti-Chinese prejudices of the time, and the young women who dared to flee their fate. She relates how the women who ran the house defied contemporary convention, even occasionally broke the law, by physically rescuing children from the brothels where they worked, or snatching them off the ships smuggling them in, and helped bring the exploiters to justice. She has also uncovered the stories of many of the girls and young women who came to the Mission and the lives they later led, sometimes becoming part of the home's staff themselves. A remarkable story of an overlooked part of our history, told with sympathy and vigor.
From 1874, a house on the edge of San Francisco's Chinatown served as a gateway to freedom for thousands of enslaved and vulnerable young Chinese women and girls. Known as the Occidental Mission Home, it survived earthquakes, fire, bubonic plague, and violence directed against its occupants and supporters--a courageous group of female abolitionists who fought the slave trade in Chinese women. With compassion and an investigative historian's sharp eyes, Siler tells the story of both the abolitionists, who challenged the corrosive, anti-Chinese prejudices of the time, and the young women who dared to flee their fate. She relates how the women who ran the house defied contemporary convention, even occasionally broke the law, by physically rescuing children from the brothels where they worked, or snatching them off the ships smuggling them in, and helped bring the exploiters to justice. She has also uncovered the stories of many of the girls and young women who came to the Mission and the lives they later led, sometimes becoming part of the home's staff themselves. A remarkable story of an overlooked part of our history, told with sympathy and vigor.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published May 14, 2019
149 people are currently reading
2291 people want to read
About the author
Julia Flynn Siler
10 books68 followersJulia Flynn Siler is a New York Times best-selling author and journalist. Her new book, The White Devil’s Daughters: The Fight Against Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown, will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in May of 2019. Her most recent book is Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America’s First Imperial Adventure. Her first book was the The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty.
As a veteran correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek magazine, Ms. Siler spent more than two decades in the Europe and the United States, reporting from a dozen countries on topics as varied as biotechnology, cult wines, puppy breeding, and a princess’s quest to restore a Hawaiian palace’s lost treasures. Her stories and reviews have also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Oxford Encyclopedia on Food and Drink in America.
A front page story for the Wall Street Journal led to her book The House of Mondavi, which involved more than 500 hours of interviews and examination of tens of thousands of pages of documents. Published by Penguin's Gotham Books in 2007, The House of Mondavi was honored as a finalist both for a James Beard Award and a Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished reporting and is now in its eleventh printing.
Her critically-acclaimed second book, Lost Kingdom, was also a New York Times bestseller.
In August of 2016, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Ms. Flynn Siler a “Public Scholar” grant for 2016-2017 to support her latest project, The White Devil’s Daughters.
In June of 2017, the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism announced that Ms. Siler had been awarded a Mayborn Fellowship in Biography to support the book. She was also named a Logan Nonfiction Fellow at the Carey Institute for Greater Good, where she spent the fall of 2017 completing her manuscript.
Ms. Siler is a longtime member of the San Francisco-based writing group North 24th Writers, whose members have published fourteen nonfiction books as well as hundreds of articles and essays in major magazines, newspapers and literary journals. She is also a member of the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto. She has taught journalism at the University of London’s Birkbeck college and led nonfiction workshops at the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley.
As a veteran correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek magazine, Ms. Siler spent more than two decades in the Europe and the United States, reporting from a dozen countries on topics as varied as biotechnology, cult wines, puppy breeding, and a princess’s quest to restore a Hawaiian palace’s lost treasures. Her stories and reviews have also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Oxford Encyclopedia on Food and Drink in America.
A front page story for the Wall Street Journal led to her book The House of Mondavi, which involved more than 500 hours of interviews and examination of tens of thousands of pages of documents. Published by Penguin's Gotham Books in 2007, The House of Mondavi was honored as a finalist both for a James Beard Award and a Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished reporting and is now in its eleventh printing.
Her critically-acclaimed second book, Lost Kingdom, was also a New York Times bestseller.
In August of 2016, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Ms. Flynn Siler a “Public Scholar” grant for 2016-2017 to support her latest project, The White Devil’s Daughters.
In June of 2017, the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism announced that Ms. Siler had been awarded a Mayborn Fellowship in Biography to support the book. She was also named a Logan Nonfiction Fellow at the Carey Institute for Greater Good, where she spent the fall of 2017 completing her manuscript.
Ms. Siler is a longtime member of the San Francisco-based writing group North 24th Writers, whose members have published fourteen nonfiction books as well as hundreds of articles and essays in major magazines, newspapers and literary journals. She is also a member of the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto. She has taught journalism at the University of London’s Birkbeck college and led nonfiction workshops at the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley.
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November 7, 2021
4.5 ☆ woman's work for women
Just because slavery was rendered illegal with the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, it didn't mean that slavery ended in the US. The enslavement of another specific demographic group was occurring on the West Coast with San Francisco as the epicenter. The White Devil's Daughters tells the history of the fight by female Christian reformers and a few other key individuals to stop Chinese teenagers and young women from being forced into prostitution or sexual slavery.
How this slavery arose and persisted for nearly a century was due to a confluence of factors including systemic racial discrimination, cultural devaluing of females, and criminally-minded people (from both the Chinese and the white populace) seeking profit.
Poor economic conditions in southern China drove thousands of men to immigrate to the US, initially for California's 1849 Gold Rush and then because they were recruited during the 1860s as cheap labor for the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. These men permanently settled in the US with the largest concentration residing in San Francisco. They were forced to live within the cramped ghetto of eight city blocks and limited in their employment opportunities. California's anti-miscegnation law kept the Chinese men focused on women from their own ethnicity. If only there were any, as men outnumbered women 10 to 1.
Huge demand-limited supply conditions attracted criminal activity from both Chinese and white factions. Financially constrained families in China could sell their daughters in indentured servitude in the mui tsai system. Organized triads tricked or bought females in China and trafficked them along the West Coast into brothels instead of positions as domestic servants. Those brothels serviced men of all ethnicities. The San Francisco Police force were corrupt and ensured that shipments of Chinese females were safe guarded at the port until the traffickers could deliver them as the valuable property that they were.
As economic conditions waned in the US, the Chinese were scapegoated. With heavy lobbying from states throughout the West, the US passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which barred the immigration of laborers and US citizenship for the Chinese. This was the first piece of federal legislation targeting people of a specific nationality. The Chinese Exclusion Act was originally set to expire after 10 years but it was extended multiple times until WWII, when it was finally ended to curry favor with China against Japan.
As the huge gender imbalance continued after the turn of the century, the value of a trafficked Chinese female rose accordingly. Corruption and graft were extensive practices as the triads needed to secure cooperation from the local authorities. The "wild west" days lingered for decades in San Francisco and culminated in the 1935 indictment of Mayor Schmitz.
Siler wove a roughly chronological historical account centering around white Christian women's missionary efforts to "elevate and save the heathen souls of women on this coast." The Methodist Episcopal Church formed the Woman's Missionary Society in 1871 and rented several rooms to serve as a refuge in San Francisco Chinatown. Even Christians are not above a little competition. Local Presbyterian women followed suit with the new California branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in 1873 and they also focused on the slave trade in San Francisco. The Presbyterians raised funds to buy property in 1874 for their Occidental Mission House, initially directed by Margaret Culbertson and then by Donaldina Cameron.
In California's history, missionaries haven't always played a positive role, especially for the indigenous peoples. In these circumstances, however, the white women missionaries helped thousands of Chinese young women escape their lives of imprisonment in the brothels. But Siler didn't make this to be a story of the white savior. As the mission directors never learned to speak Chinese, they were heavily dependent upon their translators, often the saved women themselves. The most prominent was Tien Fuh Wu, who had been rescued from a physically abusive mui tsai situation as a child and who had grown up in the Mission House. Tien and Donaldina were instrumental together as the mission's goal broadened at the dawn of the 20th century from converting enslaved prostitutes into Christians to a movement against slavery and of advancing women.
Donaldina Cameron worked on behalf of the mission for nearly 40 years, through the 1906 earthquake, the Bubonic Plague outbreak, and the 1918 flu pandemic. She was made of formidable stuff and more than deserved her nicknames - the "White Devil" by the slave traders and "Lo Mo" (or "Mama") by the stream of females who passed through the mission's doors. This was daunting work, and her ability to fundraise, to advocate, and to develop supporters was crucial. One key ally was Ng Poon Chew, who graduated from seminary but realized that he could reach more people through a newspaper than via sermons. He founded Chung Sai Yat Po, which became the most popular of the four Chinese-language newspapers and the most vocal advocate of Chinese-American women's rights.
The Occidental Mission House had been renamed as the Donaldina Cameron House, which was much merited. It's still an ongoing entity focusing on social welfare. Www.cameronhouse.org
I have visited San Francisco Chinatown and have taken walking tours, none of which has given more than a quick mention of the slave trade and human trafficking. I was thus very interested in Siler's account and learned quite a bit. This was indeed "woman's work for women" and I recommend it for highlighting a hidden section of American history.
Just because slavery was rendered illegal with the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, it didn't mean that slavery ended in the US. The enslavement of another specific demographic group was occurring on the West Coast with San Francisco as the epicenter. The White Devil's Daughters tells the history of the fight by female Christian reformers and a few other key individuals to stop Chinese teenagers and young women from being forced into prostitution or sexual slavery.
How this slavery arose and persisted for nearly a century was due to a confluence of factors including systemic racial discrimination, cultural devaluing of females, and criminally-minded people (from both the Chinese and the white populace) seeking profit.
Poor economic conditions in southern China drove thousands of men to immigrate to the US, initially for California's 1849 Gold Rush and then because they were recruited during the 1860s as cheap labor for the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. These men permanently settled in the US with the largest concentration residing in San Francisco. They were forced to live within the cramped ghetto of eight city blocks and limited in their employment opportunities. California's anti-miscegnation law kept the Chinese men focused on women from their own ethnicity. If only there were any, as men outnumbered women 10 to 1.
Huge demand-limited supply conditions attracted criminal activity from both Chinese and white factions. Financially constrained families in China could sell their daughters in indentured servitude in the mui tsai system. Organized triads tricked or bought females in China and trafficked them along the West Coast into brothels instead of positions as domestic servants. Those brothels serviced men of all ethnicities. The San Francisco Police force were corrupt and ensured that shipments of Chinese females were safe guarded at the port until the traffickers could deliver them as the valuable property that they were.
As economic conditions waned in the US, the Chinese were scapegoated. With heavy lobbying from states throughout the West, the US passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which barred the immigration of laborers and US citizenship for the Chinese. This was the first piece of federal legislation targeting people of a specific nationality. The Chinese Exclusion Act was originally set to expire after 10 years but it was extended multiple times until WWII, when it was finally ended to curry favor with China against Japan.
As the huge gender imbalance continued after the turn of the century, the value of a trafficked Chinese female rose accordingly. Corruption and graft were extensive practices as the triads needed to secure cooperation from the local authorities. The "wild west" days lingered for decades in San Francisco and culminated in the 1935 indictment of Mayor Schmitz.
Siler wove a roughly chronological historical account centering around white Christian women's missionary efforts to "elevate and save the heathen souls of women on this coast." The Methodist Episcopal Church formed the Woman's Missionary Society in 1871 and rented several rooms to serve as a refuge in San Francisco Chinatown. Even Christians are not above a little competition. Local Presbyterian women followed suit with the new California branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in 1873 and they also focused on the slave trade in San Francisco. The Presbyterians raised funds to buy property in 1874 for their Occidental Mission House, initially directed by Margaret Culbertson and then by Donaldina Cameron.
In California's history, missionaries haven't always played a positive role, especially for the indigenous peoples. In these circumstances, however, the white women missionaries helped thousands of Chinese young women escape their lives of imprisonment in the brothels. But Siler didn't make this to be a story of the white savior. As the mission directors never learned to speak Chinese, they were heavily dependent upon their translators, often the saved women themselves. The most prominent was Tien Fuh Wu, who had been rescued from a physically abusive mui tsai situation as a child and who had grown up in the Mission House. Tien and Donaldina were instrumental together as the mission's goal broadened at the dawn of the 20th century from converting enslaved prostitutes into Christians to a movement against slavery and of advancing women.
Donaldina Cameron worked on behalf of the mission for nearly 40 years, through the 1906 earthquake, the Bubonic Plague outbreak, and the 1918 flu pandemic. She was made of formidable stuff and more than deserved her nicknames - the "White Devil" by the slave traders and "Lo Mo" (or "Mama") by the stream of females who passed through the mission's doors. This was daunting work, and her ability to fundraise, to advocate, and to develop supporters was crucial. One key ally was Ng Poon Chew, who graduated from seminary but realized that he could reach more people through a newspaper than via sermons. He founded Chung Sai Yat Po, which became the most popular of the four Chinese-language newspapers and the most vocal advocate of Chinese-American women's rights.
The Occidental Mission House had been renamed as the Donaldina Cameron House, which was much merited. It's still an ongoing entity focusing on social welfare. Www.cameronhouse.org
I have visited San Francisco Chinatown and have taken walking tours, none of which has given more than a quick mention of the slave trade and human trafficking. I was thus very interested in Siler's account and learned quite a bit. This was indeed "woman's work for women" and I recommend it for highlighting a hidden section of American history.
June 27, 2019
It is not a subject often talked about but slavery continued in the United States until the early 1940s and history has often ignored it. The slave traffic of young Asian (mostly Chinese) girls and children was rampant in San Francisco which had the largest Chinese population of any other US city....the infamous Chinatown, of story and film, where thousands of Chinese were packed together in dire poverty and treated woefully. Brothels and opium dens abounded and slave traders were kept busy meeting the need for young women that the business demanded.
Enter missionary Dolly Cameron and her fellow abolitionist, Tien Fuh Wu, who herself escaped from slavery as a very young child. Their goal was to rescue and Christianize as many Chinese women as possible and they met with strong opposition from the white community. They prevailed and many young women owed their lives to these two.
The only problem that I had with this book is that it became very repetitive as the story progressed and each girls' experiences were pretty much the same. The subject matter is one that should receive more recognition but I feel that the book could have dropped a few of the chapters and still gotten the story across; however, it is still a worthwhile read.
Enter missionary Dolly Cameron and her fellow abolitionist, Tien Fuh Wu, who herself escaped from slavery as a very young child. Their goal was to rescue and Christianize as many Chinese women as possible and they met with strong opposition from the white community. They prevailed and many young women owed their lives to these two.
The only problem that I had with this book is that it became very repetitive as the story progressed and each girls' experiences were pretty much the same. The subject matter is one that should receive more recognition but I feel that the book could have dropped a few of the chapters and still gotten the story across; however, it is still a worthwhile read.
April 16, 2019
This book dives into the historical times that are often neglected by American history. This book draws out the invisible struggles and vulnerability that results from being an Asian American immigrant, and a woman. This book is a definite read especially for those who want to understand the societal construct of the model minority, of oppression in American and Asian American history. Furthermore, it is such an empowering and hopeful book for women in advocacy and in fighting for the freedom of those who are most susceptible and vulnerable. Siler did a wonderful job describing the objectification and exotification of Chinese women trafficked and sold for sex, and on the detailed research and descriptions of a time forgotten in the US. Focusing specifically on the San Francisco region which still thrives with the Chinese-American and Chinese immigrant population, I really appreciate and was astonished by the history of the rescue home.
August 2, 2019
It is not a subject often talked about but slavery continued in the United States until the early 1940s and history has often ignored it. The slave traffic of young Asian (mostly Chinese) girls and children was rampant in San Francisco which had the largest Chinese population of any other US city....the infamous Chinatown, of story and film, where thousands of Chinese were packed together in dire poverty and treated woefully. Brothels and opium dens abounded and slave traders were kept busy meeting the need for young women that the business demanded.
Enter missionary Dolly Cameron and her fellow abolitionist, Tien Fuh Wu, who herself escaped from slavery as a very young child. Their goal was to rescue and Christianize as many Chinese women as possible and they met with strong opposition from the white community. They prevailed and many young women owed their lives to these two.
The only problem that I had with this book is that it became very repetitive as the story progressed and each girls' experiences were pretty much the same. The subject matter is one that should receive more recognition but I feel that the book could have dropped a few of the chapters and still gotten the story across; however, it is still a worthwhile read.
Enter missionary Dolly Cameron and her fellow abolitionist, Tien Fuh Wu, who herself escaped from slavery as a very young child. Their goal was to rescue and Christianize as many Chinese women as possible and they met with strong opposition from the white community. They prevailed and many young women owed their lives to these two.
The only problem that I had with this book is that it became very repetitive as the story progressed and each girls' experiences were pretty much the same. The subject matter is one that should receive more recognition but I feel that the book could have dropped a few of the chapters and still gotten the story across; however, it is still a worthwhile read.
May 9, 2020
Recommended
Thank you to Knopf for my free copy!
My friend, Chelsey, tipped me off about this May release about busting a sex trafficking ring in San Francisco, and I was fascinated immediately. I read pretty widely on the topic of human trafficking, but very few accounts are about events in the United States. This well-researched book follows the rise of Chinatown in San Francisco following the Civil War and into the early 1900s. As a total history dunce, I was stunned at the confluence of historical events that created a landscape conducive to human trafficking: the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prevented Chinese immigration and led to fraudulent paperwork and trafficking; the San Francisco fire and earthquake, which destroyed property and records and left thousands of people homeless; and overt racism against Chinese immigrants that helped to victimize a whole population of men, women, and children. Meanwhile, white and Asian women worked tirelessly every day to rescue, rehabilitate, and educate survivors of trafficking, as well as raise financial and political support for the cause. Hmm, that sounds familiar! The story here is not so much exciting smash-and-grab rescues (although there are a few) but more about the reality of long-term work in social justice. It's also about the real impact that the persistent, everyday work can have, as well as the courage of determined individuals, particularly the disenfranchised women of the time.
The book takes some meandering detours that are not directly related to the thread of human trafficking, but I got the sense that the author found so much interesting information that she wanted to weave it in somehow. I get it! A WHOLE LOT happened in this time period, and there are cool nuggets that I'm glad she shared. Like how the first Chinese woman accepted to Stanford was a rescued survivor! And how an amateur photographer captured so many iconic photographs of Chinatown at this period. There are some sticky issues about the motivation of the mission house workers in regard to proselytizing and arranging marriages, and I think the author handled those topics fairly. All in all, I am really glad that this book is out there and that I had a chance to read it! I plan on passing along my copy to my mom, as it is right up her alley.
Thank you to Knopf for my free copy!
My friend, Chelsey, tipped me off about this May release about busting a sex trafficking ring in San Francisco, and I was fascinated immediately. I read pretty widely on the topic of human trafficking, but very few accounts are about events in the United States. This well-researched book follows the rise of Chinatown in San Francisco following the Civil War and into the early 1900s. As a total history dunce, I was stunned at the confluence of historical events that created a landscape conducive to human trafficking: the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prevented Chinese immigration and led to fraudulent paperwork and trafficking; the San Francisco fire and earthquake, which destroyed property and records and left thousands of people homeless; and overt racism against Chinese immigrants that helped to victimize a whole population of men, women, and children. Meanwhile, white and Asian women worked tirelessly every day to rescue, rehabilitate, and educate survivors of trafficking, as well as raise financial and political support for the cause. Hmm, that sounds familiar! The story here is not so much exciting smash-and-grab rescues (although there are a few) but more about the reality of long-term work in social justice. It's also about the real impact that the persistent, everyday work can have, as well as the courage of determined individuals, particularly the disenfranchised women of the time.
The book takes some meandering detours that are not directly related to the thread of human trafficking, but I got the sense that the author found so much interesting information that she wanted to weave it in somehow. I get it! A WHOLE LOT happened in this time period, and there are cool nuggets that I'm glad she shared. Like how the first Chinese woman accepted to Stanford was a rescued survivor! And how an amateur photographer captured so many iconic photographs of Chinatown at this period. There are some sticky issues about the motivation of the mission house workers in regard to proselytizing and arranging marriages, and I think the author handled those topics fairly. All in all, I am really glad that this book is out there and that I had a chance to read it! I plan on passing along my copy to my mom, as it is right up her alley.
January 21, 2021
I thought I had written a review of this book, but I guess I had not.
This is such an important book. In America we often think that Slavery ended with the CIvil War and the passage of the 14th amendment. But that isn't the case, slavery continued on in the United States for decades.
Hell, what this book omits is the fact that human trafficking is still a major issue going into the 21st century.
But decades after the Civil War, Chinese women were brought to the United States for the explicit purpose of being sold into slavery---usually involving sexual slavery.
This book does a great job at exploring that history.
This is such an important book. In America we often think that Slavery ended with the CIvil War and the passage of the 14th amendment. But that isn't the case, slavery continued on in the United States for decades.
Hell, what this book omits is the fact that human trafficking is still a major issue going into the 21st century.
But decades after the Civil War, Chinese women were brought to the United States for the explicit purpose of being sold into slavery---usually involving sexual slavery.
This book does a great job at exploring that history.
March 23, 2019
Most Americans believe that slavery ended in the Civil War, but it actually continued to flourish in San Francisco's Chinatown well into the 20th century. Siler re-opens a shameful chapter in the nation's history with details that will astonish today's readers. But the story is ultimately hopeful because there were incredible women who risked their lives to free these slaves. Days after finishing the book (I received an advance copy) I find myself still thinking about the many examples in this story of racism and hatred that was casually and even officially accepted by the vast majority of Americans. That makes this an especially relevant and important book for today.
November 21, 2019
4.5/5
A reminder of how our privilege, if any, was a results of many many people's tremendous efforts. And why we can't and shouldn't "staying out of politics".
Detailed review to come
A reminder of how our privilege, if any, was a results of many many people's tremendous efforts. And why we can't and shouldn't "staying out of politics".
Detailed review to come
December 18, 2019
2.5 stars. Overall I had this feeling of a "white savior" swooping in to save the needy people of color - I had expected this book to tell more of the women's stories or how Cameron's aide, Tien Wu, rose above racial prejudices of the times. Maybe I need to be more forgiving because this book was written using a lot of primary sources (with racism embedded within the language of the time). But even so, the author's use of quotes from primary sources made it feel like I was reading a research paper or dissertation, so I didn't feel like I ever "lost myself" in the story.
There were times when I could tell it was written by a white author. The most glaring example for me was when she wrote of a young girl who was rescued by the Mission House at 6 years old, and how impressive it was that after 2 years she was more fluent in English than older residents in the house. This is just so obvious to me - as it probably is to other children of immigrants - the younger you are, the easier it is to learn a new language.
I also found it a bit strange that Cameron asked the girls to perform dances and songs in an attempt to woo donors and potential supporters. In some cases, she even rouses them from sleep for these performances. Obviously the girls aren't in physical danger, but is this still not exploitation?
Reading this right after "Season of the Witch," I wasn’t super impressed by the storytelling or depth of research. Had I read these books in the reverse order, I probably wouldn’t feel this way.
There were times when I could tell it was written by a white author. The most glaring example for me was when she wrote of a young girl who was rescued by the Mission House at 6 years old, and how impressive it was that after 2 years she was more fluent in English than older residents in the house. This is just so obvious to me - as it probably is to other children of immigrants - the younger you are, the easier it is to learn a new language.
I also found it a bit strange that Cameron asked the girls to perform dances and songs in an attempt to woo donors and potential supporters. In some cases, she even rouses them from sleep for these performances. Obviously the girls aren't in physical danger, but is this still not exploitation?
Reading this right after "Season of the Witch," I wasn’t super impressed by the storytelling or depth of research. Had I read these books in the reverse order, I probably wouldn’t feel this way.
March 13, 2019
Dry, dull reading with a disorganized timeline about a fascinating time in history.
May 3, 2019
I grew up in the Bay Area and used to love going to Chinatown to eat Chinese food and look at the interesting architecture. I knew about the area's dark past - where people smoked opium in dark rooms. I also knew that Chinese men built the transcontinental railroad. But I didn't know much more about the history of Chinese immigrants in the West. So imagine my surprise to read The White Devil's Daughters and find this hidden history about Chinese sexual slavery and the women who banded together to rescue those being held against their wills. I knew nothing of this! Julia Flynn Siler has written a gripping, page-turning history on a little known aspect of San Francisco full of amazing characters like Donaldina Cameron and Tien Fuh Wu. I think this is the kind of history that will grab both men and women.
May 6, 2019
As a homegrown San Franciscan and local history buff, I thought I knew all the big stories. Not this one! Siler carefully reconstructs the brutal history of sex slavery in early Chinatown and the determined group of women who rescued victims and fought to end the practice. A fascinating, inspiring book.
July 20, 2019
I came across the book in a stack at the library and picked it up out of curiosity. As I read, I discovered an entire world of slavery, racism, immigrant detention, trafficking of humans, and more...all in the state of California. This is a well researched and easy to read history of a group of women’s fight against slavery in Chinatown, beginning in the late 1800’s and continuing well into the 20th century. It reads like a novel but is nauseatingly true.
I came away with admiration for those who survived, advocated for, and fought against the easily accepted racism and sexism of the day and culture. I came away with the questions - will we never learn from our history? Why must we continue to repeat the errors of our foreparents?
I came away with admiration for those who survived, advocated for, and fought against the easily accepted racism and sexism of the day and culture. I came away with the questions - will we never learn from our history? Why must we continue to repeat the errors of our foreparents?
January 29, 2021
It was not my favorite nonfiction book;however, it raised awareness of how slavery takes form in different ways.
I felt sad for the women sold to be prostitutes/housemaid/unwanted marriage. In addition, they faced systemic racism.
In midst of the situation, there were compassionate people who made efforts to save them.
This is a part of history that is dark but it was a reality.
I felt sad for the women sold to be prostitutes/housemaid/unwanted marriage. In addition, they faced systemic racism.
In midst of the situation, there were compassionate people who made efforts to save them.
This is a part of history that is dark but it was a reality.
August 14, 2019
An important book about White Slavery in the 19th a d 20th centuries. White slavery was rarely white women but of any race, the girls and women in this book are Chinese and Japanese. A religious organization that actually seemed to work, Mission House, chose to support Chinese girls who were brought to the USA as sex slaves and servants. Over the years laws and politics changed but these rescued girls received education and decent lives. One ultimately went to Stanford. Ms. Cameron, the head for much of the time, even made sure deported girls were placed well in China. A very interesting book.
December 15, 2021
Riding the 1 California Bus from my Telegraph Hill flat out to the Richmond District, I would pass 920 Sacramento Street on average about 4.5 times a week; seeing it’s fire-blackened, recycled bricks always inspired a certain sense of civic pride for the legendary work done by the women who worked there amongst the most vulnerable residents of Chinatown from the late 1800’s through the first half of the 20th century. This account has done nothing to diminish that pride, and yet…missionaries always evoke a visceral level of discomfort in me, however laudable their goals and however beneficial their actions. Really, ladies: I know you were busy with rescues, administration and litigation, but you couldn’t learn Cantonese on at least a functional level?
January 21, 2020
Mm. Donaldina Cameron is an important figure in Asian American history, though not without some tinges of white savior. She did have genuine relationships with her charges over the years, though, and tbh religiously motivated missionaries were certainly more helpful to the Chinese American community than the "economically anxious" politicians.
This did seem to meander a little bit towards the middle, as it initially seemed like this was going to be a biography of Donaldina Cameron and the history of the Mission House but expanded to include San Francisco Chinatown history of the period like Dr. Ng Poon Chew and his paper, and Arnold Genthe the photographer. Chapters were short- about 5 pages, including an image and really felt more like vignettes loosely in a theme together. Still, this is another book to teach people about the effects of Chinese Exclusion on American immigration policy and how it shaped our communities for the longest time. I shouldn't be surprised that not many people are as familiar with this period as they ought to be, but I have the familial connection of relatives who *did* come through via the merchant exception, and at least one paper son in my tree (I suspect others, but even though parties are long dead relatives still remain tightlipped over the whiff of illegality). I would've liked a tighter focus on the Mission House and its residents rather than an overview of Chinese American history, but again, if it's not history someone's already familiar with I can see how it's compelling.
Re: the title- "white devil" is a colloquialism I heard used to reference white people in general (baakgwai per wiki's romanization, which I guess more accurately is "white ghost") so I'm not sure if it was an epithet towards Ms. Cameron in particular, but it does make for an eye-catching title.
Given there is an Ah Toy in the Cinemax show Warrior (albeit maybe a decade or two younger than the real Ah Toy was at the time), I feel like we're going to see a fictionalized version of Cameron sooner rather than later.
This did seem to meander a little bit towards the middle, as it initially seemed like this was going to be a biography of Donaldina Cameron and the history of the Mission House but expanded to include San Francisco Chinatown history of the period like Dr. Ng Poon Chew and his paper, and Arnold Genthe the photographer. Chapters were short- about 5 pages, including an image and really felt more like vignettes loosely in a theme together. Still, this is another book to teach people about the effects of Chinese Exclusion on American immigration policy and how it shaped our communities for the longest time. I shouldn't be surprised that not many people are as familiar with this period as they ought to be, but I have the familial connection of relatives who *did* come through via the merchant exception, and at least one paper son in my tree (I suspect others, but even though parties are long dead relatives still remain tightlipped over the whiff of illegality). I would've liked a tighter focus on the Mission House and its residents rather than an overview of Chinese American history, but again, if it's not history someone's already familiar with I can see how it's compelling.
Re: the title- "white devil" is a colloquialism I heard used to reference white people in general (baakgwai per wiki's romanization, which I guess more accurately is "white ghost") so I'm not sure if it was an epithet towards Ms. Cameron in particular, but it does make for an eye-catching title.
Given there is an Ah Toy in the Cinemax show Warrior (albeit maybe a decade or two younger than the real Ah Toy was at the time), I feel like we're going to see a fictionalized version of Cameron sooner rather than later.
October 10, 2019
What an absolutely fascinating read. As a proud, almost native San Franciscan, I always strive to learn more about my home base and this book gives an unusual deep glance into one part of the city, Chinatown with a focus on a tiny part of its history. This tiny part though, with the help of this great book, has brought so many interesting things to light: racism, sexism, immigration issues and gang violence with a glimmer of hope for the better. And in this day and age San Francisco and Nay Area, and really United States in general, these issues are just as alive and well as then. 100% recommended.
November 17, 2019
Very good read. Growing up, my parents often cautioned me to be careful or I could be snatched, like many Chinese girls of old. This book provided the historical context of the trafficking of young Chinese girls from China to San Francisco between 1848 and 1943. I learned that San Francisco’s city hospital refused to treat Chinese patients, which lead the Chinese community to building a Chinese hospital of their own. We have come a long way.
May 31, 2019
Well-researched, fact filled, a bit dry.
July 7, 2023
This book is HEAVY, like filling on information. There’s so much content that I got lost a bit on certain people and what they did. Essentially it focuses on the American and once-enslaved Chinese women who fufilled their lives in helping dismantle the ongoing sex slavery occurring to incoming women from China. It has positive tones of feminism and anti-colonialism to bolster the empowerment of women’s work and their desire to help women facing sexual abuse and opium addiction. The main rescuer, Donaldina Cameron, is such an admirable and determined women that should get more recognition on her work helping these women escape dreadful lives. It’s also really solid on Bay Area history, with personal favorite focuses on the 1906 earthquake and the San Francisco world fair. Really insightful history on a subject that deserves more retrospective.
April 9, 2020
My book club stopped reading this because it's not a good time for depressing books apparently, but I kept going! I thought it was a very interesting look into SF's Chinatown in the early 20th century and the role that human trafficking played, and the women (and occasionally men) who fought against it. I did feel like the writer inferred a lot of interpersonal expression that may or may not have been there, but despite potential inaccuracy, it helped keep the story going and keep me engaged, so can't complain too much. It was striking how dedicated these women were to each other and their cause, despite a lot of people and institutions not taking them seriously. I hope to take a lesson or two with me from this book about sticking to my guns and perseverance.
July 31, 2020
This is a fascinating look at San Francisco history through the story of one of its bravest, most intriguing women. Even though I grew up in the Bay Area, I'd never heard of Donaldina Cameron and her work before. She gave shelter to nearly three thousand girls and women fleeing abuse and prostitution--often at danger to herself. Courage like Cameron's is timeless. Grateful to Siler for bringing her story to light.
December 10, 2021
Truthfully, I read bits and pieces and appreciated the many photos and their captions. This read more like an encyclopedia than a story, and it was stocked with a huge amount of data - but I couldn’t find a thread to follow. What was clear was the huge impact Cameron and her Mission House had on the lives of vulnerable Chinese women in San Francisco’s Chinatown. An important story told in detail.
December 9, 2023
I found this book fascinating, but I think it got too bogged down with all of the context the author was trying to provide around the subject--it got to be distracting. But I would definitely recommend this to those who want to learn about the history of human trafficking in San Francico's Chinatown. I also appreciated that the author attempted to call out the racism of the time, as well as acknowledging the "white savior"ness of the missionaries.
December 14, 2021
Lots of interesting information about San Francisco's Chinatown and the missionary women who made it their mission to end trafficking of women. But very academic in style (you could read just the first sentence of most paragraphs and not miss much). Great research, mediocre writing.
January 12, 2024
Very interesting subject, but the beginning of the book was clunky. Author tried to weave multiple threads of the story but it just felt disjointed. Book picked up when the subjects of the story were at the Mission House. Fascinating info about a building I’ve walked by hundreds of times.
December 21, 2019
The White Devil’s Daughters is a detailed look at slavery in San Francisco and the women who fought it. The traumatic histories are told with compassion and with an eye towards the larger history of the period starting in roughly 1874 when the Occidental Mission Home on the edge of San Francisco’s Chinatown provided refuge, shelter, and a home for the many young women desperate to escape brothels and slavery. A good introduction for me to a period of history I knew absolutely nothing about.
June 10, 2019
3.5 stars. Despite having some knowledge of San Francisco, and knowing that sexual slavery and trafficking has been going on since forever, I had no idea about this particular issue, period of history or the fight against this. So I was intrigued to pick up Siler's book that related the history of fighting against the sex trafficking and slavery and abuse of Chinese girls and women who were seeking better lives and promises of jobs in California.
Siler looks at how and why the Occidental Mission Home became a safe haven for girls and young women who had no knowledge of the country, language, culture, etc. and forced into servitude and prostitution. It was interesting to see how and why this came about, how it became such an issue, the difficulties in combating everything from slavers to the law to the "owners," etc. plus the changing history of San Francisco from the end of the Victorian Age to the big earthquake, etc.
It was an informative book but I have to agree that it was dull reading. I skimmed it rather than treating it as a book to read word by word, page by page because sometimes there's just too much detail, too many names, and occasionally time skips or jumping out of the main narrative to talk about the history. I also wished there was more about the women who ended up at Mission House and what happened to them. How many went on to live "normal" lives, how many chose to stay, etc.
Overall I did learn quite a bit but the book is not without its problems. Do think it'd be a great read for anyone wanting to know more about sex trafficking and slavery of immigrants, the history of Chinatown/San Francisco, and it might be a really great compliment to reading modern accounts of what the current administration is doing to undocumented families crossing the border.
Would also recommend having something like Wikipedia at hand. Having some basic knowledge of San Francisco, the Chinese Exclusion Act, SF's Chinatown, etc. might all be useful. A reader doesn't need to be an expert, but I felt like the book perhaps assumed a bit of knowledge on the part of the reader/felt it didn't have to give more context that might have been useful.
Library borrow was best for me.
Siler looks at how and why the Occidental Mission Home became a safe haven for girls and young women who had no knowledge of the country, language, culture, etc. and forced into servitude and prostitution. It was interesting to see how and why this came about, how it became such an issue, the difficulties in combating everything from slavers to the law to the "owners," etc. plus the changing history of San Francisco from the end of the Victorian Age to the big earthquake, etc.
It was an informative book but I have to agree that it was dull reading. I skimmed it rather than treating it as a book to read word by word, page by page because sometimes there's just too much detail, too many names, and occasionally time skips or jumping out of the main narrative to talk about the history. I also wished there was more about the women who ended up at Mission House and what happened to them. How many went on to live "normal" lives, how many chose to stay, etc.
Overall I did learn quite a bit but the book is not without its problems. Do think it'd be a great read for anyone wanting to know more about sex trafficking and slavery of immigrants, the history of Chinatown/San Francisco, and it might be a really great compliment to reading modern accounts of what the current administration is doing to undocumented families crossing the border.
Would also recommend having something like Wikipedia at hand. Having some basic knowledge of San Francisco, the Chinese Exclusion Act, SF's Chinatown, etc. might all be useful. A reader doesn't need to be an expert, but I felt like the book perhaps assumed a bit of knowledge on the part of the reader/felt it didn't have to give more context that might have been useful.
Library borrow was best for me.
December 5, 2019
Julia Flynn Siler gives a voice to the injustices shown to the Chinese who come to America, seeking freedom and reunion with family. Rather then receiving this they are forced into slavery and prostitution. they are looked down on as they seek the same thing everyone else sought when they came to America. The stories of Donaldina and Tien come alive and show the readers the hardships they each have to go through in order to save the young and the oppressed in Chinatown. In both of their lives, you can see the love and dedication they pour into each other and the lives they have affected so well and lovingly.
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