Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco

by Judy Yung

Unbound Voices brings together the voices of Chinese American women in a fascinating, intimate collection of documents―letters, essays, poems, autobiographies, speeches, testimonials, and oral histories―detailing half a century of their lives in America. Together, these sources provide a captivating mosaic of Chinese women's experiences in their own words, as they tell of making a home for themselves and their families in San Francisco from the Gold Rush years through World War II.

The personal nature of these documents makes for compelling reading. We hear the voices of prostitutes and domestic slavegirls, immigrant wives of merchants, Christians and pagans, homemakers, and social activists alike. We read the stories of daughters who confronted cultural conflicts and racial discrimination; the myriad ways women coped with the Great Depression; and personal contributions to the causes of women's emancipation, Chinese nationalism, workers' rights, and World War II. The symphony of voices presented here lends immediacy and authenticity to our understanding of the Chinese American women's lives.

This rich collection of women's stories also serves to demonstrate collective change over time as well as to highlight individual struggles for survival and advancement in both private and public spheres. An educational tool on researching and reclaiming women's history, Unbound Voices offers us a valuable lesson on how one group of women overcame the legacy of bound feet and bound lives in America. The selections are accompanied by photographs, with extensive introductions and annotation by Judy Yung, a noted authority on primary resources relating to the history of Chinese American women.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

560 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 1999

About the author

Professor Emeritus Judy Yung is a second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco Chinatown. She received her B.A. in English Literature and Chinese Language from San Francisco State College and her Master’s in Library Science and Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.

Judy Yung headed the Chinatown Branch Library in San Francisco and the Asian Branch Library in Oakland and worked as a journalist for East West newspaper before joining the faculty at UC Santa Cruz, where she taught courses in Asian American history, women’s studies, oral history, and mixed race.

Dedicated to reclaiming Chinese American and women’s history, she has written numerous books and articles about Chinese immigration and Chinese American women and served as a historical consultant to the Chinese Historical Society of America, the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, and many other historical and film projects through the years.

Judy Yung is the recipient of book awards from the Before Columbus Foundation, Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS), and Western History Association; as well as the AAAS Lifetime Achievement Award and UC Santa Cruz’s Excellence through Diversity Award and Excellence in Teaching Award.

She currently resides in Santa Cruz with her husband Eddie Fung and their cat, Sparkie.