An Ocean Apart: Chinese American Segregated Burials

Prior to 1965 Chinese in the United States were usually segregated in life and in death. The animosity toward the Chinese became widespread shortly after their arrival as permanent settlers in 1848 and culminated in the passage of discriminatory federal, state, and local legislation. They were the first immigrant group to be targeted as such. Even after death, the segregation continued partially because of American burial policies and cemetery practices and partially because of traditional Chinese practices as the body was prepared for burial, the funeral took place, the local burial occurred, and the exhumation of the deceased for reburial in their birth or native village in South China. The absence of wives and families due to the 1875 Page Law limiting the immigration of Chinese women and the 1882 through 1924 immigration acts designed to exclude Chinese laborers, religious leaders, and others, forced the Chinese immigrants to modify their funeral and burial practices. This study focuses upon the traditional practices, the modifications made in the United States, the plight of the Chinese immigrants as they buried their friends and loved ones from the mid-nineteenth century until l949, and recent developments, especially the second exhumation in Guangdong and reburial back in the United States.

THIS IS A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION AND REQUIRES AUDIOVISUAL (PROJECTOR AND COMPUTER) EQUIPMENT AND A SCREEN