REDRAWING THE BOUNDARIES ★^671exclusion. One Chinese activist complained that the photos, which bore a strik-
ing resemblance to “mug shots” of persons under arrest, criminalized people
“innocent of any crime” and created a “national rogues’ gallery” of Chinese
residents. In 2012, Congress passed a Resolution of Regret apologizing for the
exclusion laws and acknowledging their role in exacerbating racial discrimina-
tion. It was sponsored by Judy Chu, a Chinese- American member of the House
of Representatives from California.
By 1930, because of exclusion, the number of Chinese had declined to 75,000.
On the West Coast, the Chinese suffered intense discrimination and periodic
mob violence. In the late- nineteenth- century West, thousands of Chinese immi-
grants were expelled from towns and mining camps, and mobs assaulted Chi-
nese residences and businesses.
Chinese fought these measures with methods both illegal and legal. Many
refused to carry identification as a protest against what they called the “dog
tag” law. Some obtained fraudulent documents that created “paper identities”
showing them to be a family member of a U.S. resident, or a member of a group
exempted from exclusion, and thus eligible to enter the country. After the San
Francisco earthquake of 1906, some claimed their citizenship papers had been
destroyed in the fire that devastated much of the city.
Drawing on the legislation of the Reconstruction era, Chinese victims sued
local governments for redress when their rights were violated and petitioned
Congress for indemnity. Their demands for equal rights forced the state and
federal courts to define the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment. For example,
between 1871 and 1885, San Francisco provided no public education for Chi-
nese children. In 1885, the California Supreme Court, in Tape v. Hurley, ordered
In what ways did the boundaries of American freedom grow narrower in this period?Beginning in 1909, as part of the enforcement of Chinese exclusion, all Chinese in the United
States were required to carry a government- issued certificate, the first widespread use of
photographs as proof of identity. This certificate, issued in 1924, belonged to Anna May Wong,
an American- born movie star.