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Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs

  • Description
  • Specs
  • Schedule

Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs presents a visual history of the social, political, and judicial disenfranchisement of Chinese Californians — as well as moments of Chinese agency and resilience — in the decades before and after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. The exhibition is drawn exclusively from the California Historical Society’s collections and consists of 11 free-standing pop-up banners.

In this sepia-toned photograph, three young Chinese men sit behind the wheel of a car in a photography studio. The backdrop for the photo shows a house and gate. Handwritten on the photograph are the words
Courtesy California Historical Society
In a sepia-toned photograph, two adults and one child stand on a street. The adults are looking at a bulletin posted on the wall of a building. The child stares straight ahead and holds hands with one adult.
Courtesy California Historical Society
A Chinese woman poses for a portrait in a photography studio in this sepia-toned photograph. The woman is wearing fine clothing and surrounded by Asian-inspired objects, including an intricate table and footstool.
Courtesy California Historical Society

Significant numbers of Chinese people began to arrive in California during the Gold Rush, coinciding with growing national debates about inclusion and assimilation. The 1866 Civil Rights Bill and the Fourteenth Amendment extended the rights and privileges of citizenship to African Americans and some Native Americans, but the “Chinese question” persisted. 

Anti-Chinese sentiment, fueled by fears that Chinese laborers were taking jobs away from white men, led to protests, violence, and vigilante expulsions up and down the West Coast. The 1882 Exclusion Act and the more stringent 1888 Scott Act banned Chinese laborers from immigrating; prohibited Chinese people from becoming citizens; and tightened restrictions on previous residents reentering the country.

In the United States during the Exclusion Era years, depictions of Chinese people ranged from deeply derogatory to highly exoticized. The Chinese Pioneers exhibition examines the visual record of how mainstream culture influenced, aligned with, and/or diverged from politics and state actions. Photography played a potent role in both Chinese people’s interactions with the dominant culture and in the government’s fledgling systems of registration, identification, and surveillance.

Exhibit Sections:

  • Introduction
  • Sinophobia and Exclusion
  • Studio vs. Street Photography
  • Photography and the Surveillance State
  • Life Goes On

Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs was organized by the California Historical Society and tours through Exhibit Envoy thanks to the generosity of the Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation.

Specs

Audience:
General
Rental Fee:
$1,000 + shipping via FedEx for an 8-week booking
Size:
~36 linear feet; 11 freestanding banners @ 33” w x 80” h each
Languages:
English, Spanish (via a binder), Mandarin or Cantonese (TBD, via a binder)
Security:
Limited
Installation Images:
View Here

Exhibit Components:

  • 11 free-standing, retractable, pop-up banners
  • Spanish and Chinese translated text in binders
  • Exhibition press kit with digital publicity images and template press release

Schedule and Availability

Past Dates

December 11, 2022 – February 5, 2023
Sutter County Museum, Yuba City, CA
February 19, 2023 – April 16, 2023
Locke Foundation, Locke, CA
April 30, 2023 – June 25, 2023
Imperial Valley Desert Museum, Ocotillo, CA
July 9, 2023 – September 3, 2023
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, San Francisco, CA
September 17, 2023 – November 12, 2023
San Lorenzo Valley Museum, Boulder Creek, CA
November 26, 2023 – January 21, 2024
Delta Educational Cultural Society, Asian American Heritage Park, Isleton, CA
February 4, 2024 – March 31, 2024
Linda Vista Library, San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA
April 14, 2024 – June 9, 2024
Museums of Lake County, Lakeport, CA
June 23, 2024 – August 18, 2024
AVAILABLE
September 1, 2024 – October 27, 2024
Clarke Museum/Humboldt County Historical Society, Eureka, CA
November 10, 2024 – January 5, 2025
AVAILABLE
January 26, 2025 – March 23, 2025
AVAILABLE
April 13, 2025 – June 8, 2025
AVAILABLE
June 29, 2025 – August 24, 2025
AVAILABLE
September 14, 2025 – November 9, 2025
AVAILABLE
November 30, 2025 – January 25, 2026
AVAILABLE
Ask us about dates in 2026 and beyond!

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