The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 488
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
force, had proved themselves completely loyal and unusually in-
dustrious over a period of six years under military control, had
earned the privilege of continued residence in the United States,
should not be repatriated nor deported to Mexico, had earned the
trust of the nation, and were entitled to the assurance that their
children, after them, be secured the full measure of citizenship in
this, the land of their own nativity.
Congress was evidently convinced that justice demanded such
a decision, in spite of an overwhelming public opinion then de-
manding that all Orientals, as such, be excluded from citizenship,
and restricted in residence, and which expressed itself in statute
law as early as 1882 with regard specifically to the Chinese.
In any event, Congress seems to have been pre-eminently vin-
dicated. Approximately 50 per cent of the Chinese remained
permanently in San Antonio. Of those who continued to reside in
the city of their detention, a number entered the retail grocery
business, and with the aid of a jobbers cooperative managed by
themselves to a large extent, prospered for many years. Still others
operated restaurants. Their children were educated in the public
schools and the colleges of the state. At no time were these people,
nor their fellow Chinese living in the city before the advent of
the refugee company, ever associated in an organized minority
group in conflict with the surrounding non-Chinese majority. It
is common knowledge locally that during the Great Depression
of the 193o's no Chinese family appeared on the public relief
rolls. A Chinese Baptist church accepted a number of the younger
generation into its ranks. The author had some contact with a few
of the remaining members of Pershing's Chinese company and
had several of their children and grandchildren in his public
school classes. Almost invariably, through attitude and behavior,
the children revealed the excellence of their family life, and they
usually made superior students.
The addition of the refugee Chinese to American society seems
amply justified and confirms the wisdom of Congress in accept-
ing the recommendations of General John J. Pershing and Wil-
liam Tracy Page, the benefactors of these deserving people from
the East.49
49Additional information on this Chinese group may be found in Edward Eugene
Briscoe, Pershing's Chinese Refugees: An Odyssey of the Southwest (Master's
thesis, Saint Mary's University, 1947).488
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/585/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.