"Let My Body Be Buried Here": Taking a Long View of Chinese Immigrants to the American West

Summary

Many Chinese immigrants spent much of their lives abroad, changing their attitudes toward the host country and picking up cultural competencies. Immigrants joining 1850s communities faced different circumstances than those arriving in the 1880s; and those who remained into the 1920s lived much differently than they would have earlier. Yee Ah Tye was born around 1820 in southern China. He came to California early in the Gold Rush, married, and was the father of many children. Before he died in his 70s, Yee asked to be buried in America, "in land where I have lived." His long and successful career in California has been archaeologically documented at more than one site. We suggest that archaeologists should consider age and the diversity of immigrant experience in their interpretations. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Being Chinese: Current Scholarship on the Chinese Diaspora in 19th-Century North America   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 353