Rethinking Alternative Contact in Native American and Chinese Encounters: Juxtaposition in Nineteenth-Century US Newspapers

Abstract

describing various US military engagements with the Seminóles under "Eneah-Marthla" (also known as Neamathla or Neah Emarthla) on the Georgia border. Of one skirmish of a scouting party it is reported that "nothing could have exceeded the bravery of this little band, who, though compelled to retreat, disputed every inch of ground, and sent many a tawny savage to his last account."' This article appeared in the column next to an announcement for Afong Moy, the "Chinese Lady," and her performance at Peak's Museum in Philadelphia. At this time Afong Moy and American Indians not only shared the representational space of the newspaper, but also that of the New York stage. According to George Odell's Annals of the American Theater, on June 19, 1835, "a party of indians Isic} was to dance and hold a council, and the Chinese Lady was there 'as usual"' (1928,42-43). In June 1836, Afong Moy took the stage again, followed by "some Tuscarora and Winnebago Indians, including five warriors, a squaw and a papoose, made even livelier some nights in December" (106-107). In April 1837, at the Lyceum, "'an Indian'... lectureid} on Wars and Treaties with Whites and Indians; apparently he had done it before." That same week, Afong Moy made an appearance at the Brooklyn Institute, "richly dressed in Chinese Costume" (86). The fact that Afong Moy and Indians were contemporary players on the New York stage challenges a traditional notion of encounter: while they did not

Underrepresented Encounters in Mining Towns: Chinese and Indigenous Relations in the Cariboo Region During the 1850s to 1920s

“…Scholars have documented physical confrontations between Chinese and Indigenous people in the American context. For example, the Northern Paiutes felt so threatened by the Chinese influence and competition over jobs that there were reports of the Northern Paiutes harassing and physically attacking Chinese people, even to the extent of threatening to kill them (Carpenter & Yoon, 2014). Zhang (2019) provides a new perspective as to why there was a Chinese-Indigenous conflict during the beginning of the twentieth century.…”