Discrepancies in Dixie: Asian Americans and the South

Abstract

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the relationship between the Asian American and the American South. The figure of the Asian American is perceived to be discrepant in and antithetical to the American South. Within the American imaginary, the Asian American as perpetual foreigner and alien is always seen as a recent immigrant, and therefore associated with contemporary times, while the South is perceived as an anachronistic and isolated region. This renders the two—the Asian American and the South—allegedly mutually exclusive and incongruous. In these imaginings, the South remains a space quintessentially American but one steeped in an antebellum era of White supremacy, anti-Black racism, and outdated isolation. In supposed contrast stands the figure of the Asian American who is associated with immigration and borders, globalization, and contemporaneity.

Terminal Identities: The Racial Classification of Immigrants in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-century Death Records

“…The Supreme Court case Gong Lum v. Rice (1927) ruled that Chinese Americans were not white but "colored," despite Gong Lum's assertion that he identified himself and his daughter, whom he sought to enroll in a white school, as Chinese (Desai and Joshi 2013). Despite this ruling, authorities in Georgia tacitly permitted Chinese students to attend white schools while at the same time maintaining strict anti-miscegenation laws (Bronstein 2013).…”

“…Much of the early immigration to the South from China was for the purpose of agricultural labor; they sometimes arrived as Spanish speakers via Cuba (Desai and Joshi 2013). Over time, Chinese workers began leaving the fields to work in laundries and restaurants in urban areas (Chow 2007).…”