I wanted to take this opportunity to share a story from my research that I couldn’t find a place for in my project.
apparently the passing of the Chinese exclusion act and the assembling of the statue of liberty were not all that far apart in time. In fact very soon after the Chinese exclusion act was passed, New York began fund raising to build the pedestal on which lady liberty stands.
Many Chinese Americans were asked to contribute funding to this statue that represented the inclusive vision of America. and they were not happy about it.
This is an excerpt from the book “Yellow Peril: an archive of anti Asian fear”
I don’t blame them for being unhappy about it, that’s ridiculous!