Monthly Archives: December 2022

Piecing Together the Past: The Chinese Experience in the American West

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Author Mark Johnson & Certified Genealogist Trish Hackett Nicola present:

PIECING TOGETHER THE PAST: THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE IN THE AMERICAN WEST

Sunday, January 8, 2023
2:00PM: Presentation
3:15PM: Reception & Book Signing
Fr. Healy Chapel Theater
Seattle Preparatory School. 2400 11th Ave East
Seattle, WA 98102

“Highlighting voices of Montana’s Chinese residents via their own words, Johnson artfully connects personal accounts with regional and global history. The result is an important book about risk, agency, resilience, resistance, cooperation, and hope.” -Kelly J. Dixon Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana

From 1882-1943 the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the United States, the only group singled out so specifically for exclusion. Yet, the very process used to discriminate against this group has produced a rich documentary record that archivists and historians use today to describe this aspect of American and world history.

Join Trish Hackett Nicola, genealogist and expert on the Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files, and historian Mark Johnson, Prep faculty member (2003-2007)* and author of The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky to learn about the preservation, interpretation, and use of these sources in telling the history of the Chinese experience in America.

This event is sponsored by the Prep student-run Asian/Pacific-Islanders Club (APIC).
*Mark taught Collegio at Seattle Prep and is the recipient of the 2007 Ignatian Educator Award.

BOOK EVENT RSVP

Mark T. Johnson is an associate professor with the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives. Author of the recent book The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky: A History of the Chinese Experience in Montana, Johnson focuses on telling the history of Chinese communities in the American West in their own words and through a global lens. Details on these projects are available at www.BigSkyChinese.com 

Trish Hackett Nicola is a Certified Genealogist® with over thirty years of family history and genealogical research experience. She has conducted historical research for authors and published many articles on her own research. Her main interest is the Chinese Exclusion Act case files located at the National Archives at Seattle. Her blog contains a sampling of interesting files is located at ChineseExclusionFiles.com