The Chinese Exclusion Act:

A Time of Violated Rights

Hannah Chang Senior Division Individual Website

Process Paper When selecting my topic, it seemed reasonable for me to find one that related to my family in some way. Since both my parents and grandparents are of Chinese decent, I decided a topic that had to do with Chinese events would interest me most and would be the best topic for me. After browsing a list of possible subjects, I had a general idea of my topic and narrowed it down to the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act was a big impact in history and related to the theme of this years 2014 NHD. Also, the rights of the Chinese that were violated by the act gave me an instant connection to the topic, making the decision quick and easy. When beginning my research, I first looked the available resources online. As suggested by my teacher, I looked into the National Archives online and found that there were several documents available which included newspapers and court cases from the period of exclusion. After learning of a local location of the archives, I began communicating through email with archivist Gwen Granados. She not only helped me find documents to look at in person at the National Archives in Riverside, but also suggested other sources such as books and websites for more information to help with my project. I also visited the public library and found several books as secondary sources. I was able to find several political cartoons from websites such as the Library of Congress and Calisphere. One of the more plentiful locations for research was at UCR where they had several online databases with countless sources such as newspapers and political cartoons. The only downside was the limited access as it was only viewable on the UCR internet system. Regardless, after using the resources suggested to me and those I found on my own, the majority of my research was complete and I was ready to gather my information and combine it to complete my project. After creating an account on Weebly, I began constructing my website. I began by creating an outline of possible website sections and the content that could be included in each. To attempt to creatively and effectively present my topic and my views I integrated several visuals such as pictures and videos as well as factual information into my website. I included many political cartoons from that time period since they were popular in expressing opinions. I tried to organized my website well and allow for navigation to be easy. My topic relates to the NHD theme, Rights and Responsibilities, because the exclusion act prevented the Chinese from entering America and stripped any Chinese in the country of their civil rights. I find that it the governments responsibility to protect the peoples rights, regardless of race, and the discrimination the Chinese received was not in any way rightly justified. (Word Count: 493)